Suggested Theme Song: “Victoria” by the Kinks
I came up with the Dandy in a dream. It was a strange one, which showed sample art during a TV interview with the men who were going to bring back this obscure, and highly progressive comic strip character from the early 1900s and late 1800s. The men who were to do this, in the dream, were Alan Moore and Bruce Timm. I was very excited about this possibility, and so when I woke up, I thought that this was something that needed to happen.
Unfortunately, I do not know either of them, the character had never really had existed, and I’m not sure how to become close enough buddies to them to get them to work on this project. Unfortunately, the idea wouldn’t go away, and in fact, became more elaborate.
I pictured the character as being a cross between Oscar Wilde, and Bugs Bunny (who, I must mention, was prone to being coyly flirtatious with his male enemies, and tended to dress in drag an awful lot). This really does put me at another disadvantage, as here you have a character who cannot be toned down – he is too big for life, and has to be. While I prefer people grounded in reality (and hate the way that Television and movies have failed to represent any gay people I know), the Captain would not work that way, and is exceptionally fun to write and draw. I sincerely hope he is also fun to read.
Full disclosure – on paper it would seem that I am the right person to write this strip. I am not gay, I am not Irish (Hell, I’m American)… and I’m also not a superhero who worked for Queen Victoria. Luckily for me, this means that no one is more than 50% more qualified than me to write this. What I am definitely qualified to write about is being the person no one is quite sure how to deal with, and being the one who gets his true strengths from defending himself. And that’s what the Dandy is really about. He’s sharp tongued and tough, because that was the only way he made it through life in general.
Anyone who reads this and thinks that I am here to mock, malign, or stereotype, please give this a bit more of a chance. There is method in this, and reasons for why he acts as he acts.
Think about it in terms of Victorian society. This was a time when the words drumstick, white meat and dark meat were applied to parts of the chicken, because women were expected to faint if they heard a body part named (Note: this may not actually be true, but let’s not let truth stand in the way of a perfectly good explanation). A man as out as this character has the benefit of being able to hide in plain site, while everyone else looks the other way. In many ways, just as Batman hides in the shadows, the Captain here hides in the light, in order to do his job, and keep people off guard. And he’s a guy willing to throw his all in to do a good job, because, let’s face it, the only thing keeping him from being sentenced to hard labor (as Wilde was, remember), or worse, is the friendship and respect of a sovereign who is approaching 70.
As you can see, there’s a lot more beyond this origin story.
I hope you enjoy it. Let me know.