Behind Marvel and DC's Pride Anthologies

June is Pride Month, and this year sees something new in terms of how comic book publishers are participating in the event, with both DC and Marvel releasing extra-length anthologies showcasing LGBTQIA+ talent and creators for the first time in an attempt to highlight each company’s commitment to diversity.

As unlikely as it may seem, the decision by both companies to release Pride specials for the first time in the same year isn’t a continuation of the ongoing slugfest between the two biggest comic publishers, but a coincidence brought on by editorial forces inside both DC and Marvel pushing to increase diversity in each company’s output.

“Every year is the right time for a DC Pride anthology,” DC editor-in-chief Marie Javins tells The Hollywood Reporter, “but cultural moments like Pride and AAPI Heritage months are ideal opportunities to get energy behind stories in the Pride anthology or [May release] DC’s Festival of Heroes — they’re on everyone’s radar already, leading to creativity and excitement.”

The 88-page Marvel’s Voices: Pride has its roots in the Marvel’s Voices program, which launched as a podcast in 2018. That expanded a one-off anthology in 2020, and this year into a number of standalone anthologies, each spotlighting different groups, starting with Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices in November 2020 and February’s Marvel’s Voices: Legacy, timed to Black History Month.

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