In an exciting announcement Wednesday, Marvel Comics announced that June’s Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1 will feature the debut of a brand-new transgender superhero: Shela Sexton, A.K.A. Escapade, a mutant with the power to switch places with anyone — or anything.
Escapade was co-created by artist duo Ro Stein and Ted Brandt and Lambda Literary Award-winning writer Charlie Jane Anders, with superstar colorist Tamra Bonvillain providing colors for the twenty-page story. “I wish I could hang out with Shela in real life,” Anders said in an interview with Marvel.com. “She is a total goofball, a cool weirdo who has a super strong sense of justice and a profound loyalty to her friends.”
Shela’s powers are pretty unique, and have a wide range of applications. In addition to switching physical places with someone, Escapade can also trade situations and circumstances, so if she stood next to the President, she could simply become the president — for a few hours, at least. It’s an interesting concept, especially for a trans character, and could easily lend itself to creative uses of the comics medium.
According to Anders, Escapade’s first… well, escapade, will be a heist carried out with the help of her friend Morgan Red, another trans mutant, and the duo’s genetically engineered flying turtle Hibbert. (Do we detect a Simpsons reference?) It’s not just a robbery for the sake of being gay and doing crime, either. “[W]hen this story picks up, Shela […] was shown a vision of the future, in which something really terrible happens,” Anders explained, “and it’s kind of her fault, and she’ll do anything to change that future.”
And fear not, gentle readers — there are plans for Escapade beyond this single adventure. Anders is slated to write a story arc in Marvel’s New Mutants series this fall, in which Escapade will join up with her first super-team whether she wants to or not. “There is a LOT at stake, and let’s just say that Shela has a lot to learn,” Anders teased.
Stein and Brandt are having a busy Pride season of their own. In an exclusive to Them last month, the Eisner Award-nominated duo revealed their story about superhero Connor Hawke coming out as asexual in the pages of DC Pride 2022. “It’s very exciting to be part of bringing a new character into Marvel comics,” Stein said in a press release Wednesday. “Working with Charlie Jane’s script was a lot of fun, and I hope people enjoy reading about Escapade as much as we did putting together her first outing on the page.”
If you want to read this moment in comics history, preorder from your local comic shop now — Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1 hits shelves June 22.
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