Star Wars Pride Month Covers Feature Lando Calrissian and More

Lando Calrissian and other LGBTQ+ characters from a galaxy far, far away are featured on Pride [...]

Lando Calrissian and other LGBTQ+ characters from a galaxy far, far away are featured on Pride month variant covers for Marvel's Star Wars comics in June. These new covers complement Phil Jimenez's Pride month variant featuring LGBTQ+ characters from the Marvel Universe. The covers offer artwork depicting LGBTQ+ Star Wars characters. There are six covers and they'll appear on the titles Star Wars #14, Darth Vader #13, Doctor Aphra #11, Bounty Hunters #13, The High Republic #6, and Star Wars: Wars of the Bounty Hunters #1. The characters appearing on these covers are Doctor Aphra, Sana Starros, Rae Sloan, Yrica Quell, Terec and Ceret, and Lando Calrissian, each rendered by LGBTQ+ artists and adorned with new Pride versions of each title's logo.

"This talented team of artists is bringing so much passion and enthusiasm to these covers," Editor Tom Groneman said in a press release. "For me, sharing that passion with fans and readers is a wonderful celebration of the most unique, compelling, and iconic characters in the Star Wars galaxy."

Doctor Aphra #11 Pride Month Variant
(Photo: Jan Bazaldua, Marvel Comics)

Above is the Doctor Aphra #11 cover by Jan Bazaldua and Rachelle Rosenberg featuring Sana Starros. Other artists working on the variants include Javier Garron, Babs Tarr, Jacopo Camagni, JJ Kirby, and Stephen Byrne. Those covers are soon to come.

Lando's inclusion in this initiative seems to concern that he is pansexual. Though there's no defining reference to his sexuality in the film, Solo: A Star Wars Story star Donald Glover, who played Lando, expressed the opinion that Lando is pansexual during interviews leading up to its release.

"How can you not be pansexual in space?" Glover shared with Sirius XM's Entertainment Weekly Radio. "There are so many things to have sex with. I didn't think that was that weird. Yeah, he's coming on to everybody. I mean, yeah, whatever. It just didn't seem that weird to me 'cause I feel like if you're in space it's kind of like, the door is open! It's like, no, only guys or girls. No, it's anything. This thing is literally a blob. Are you a man or a woman? Like, who cares? Have a good time out here."

Solo writer Jonathan Kasdan said something similar. "I would say yes," Kasdan told The Huffington Post. "There's a fluidity to Donald and Billy Dee's [portrayal of Lando's] sexuality. I mean, I would have loved to have gotten a more explicitly LGBT character into this movie. I think it's time, certainly, for that, and I love the fluidity ― sort of the spectrum of sexuality that Donald appeals to and that droids are a part of. He doesn't make any hard and fast rules. I think it's fun. I don't know where it will go."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

2comments