Marvel Comics invites you to a Super Marriage

Editor's Note: This post looks at Marvel Comics’ “Astonishing X-Men #50”,  part of the monthly X-Men books.

By Topher Kohan, CNN

Marvel Comics’ mutant character Northstar has not often been a headliner. If all you know about the X-Men is what you've seen in movies starring Hugh Jackman, then you likely don’t know him at all.

That changes with this week's “Astonishing X-Men #50” when Northstar takes center stage and prepares to go from one of the first openly gay superheroes in comics to the first married gay hero at Marvel. That's if his paramour and manager Kyle says yes, of course.

Northstar has had a tumultuous history. He starred in “Alpha Flight,” a long-running and well-remembered series for Marvel in the 80s and 90s, but his star fell not long after he came out as a gay man.

At the time his coming out was a huge development, but since then it has been ignored, played up for positive effect or played almost for laughs, such as a brief period where Northstar was retroactively declared to be an actual fairy. (Seriously, this is a storyline in a comic book you can own.)

“Astonishing X-Men #50” is an easy jumping on point for new readers of the line and has the added bonus of featuring Northstar, an X-Men character that I personally think is great.

He promotes AIDS awareness and mental health, two issues dear to his heart thanks to obstacles faced by his adopted daughter and his sister, respectively.

Earlier this year Archie comics had a same-sex wedding in its books that got a lot of press, but this is the first time a superhero is tying the knot.

Read more on CNN's Geek Out! blog