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Comic recruits superhero with
HIV |
A superhero with HIV has joined the long-running
Green Arrow comic, the first major comic book series to deal with the
virus.
Mia is a teenage
runaway
who discovers she contracted HIV during time
spent as a homeless prostitute.
The DC Comics character adopts the name Speedy and becomes a
crime-fighter.
"Mia is coming to terms with it in the way most young people are," said
writer Judd Winick. "Young people, for good or for bad, are still pretty
fearless."
Life focus
Published in the US on Wednesday, the latest issue of Green Arrow shows
Mia becoming the lead character's sidekick after discovering she is
HIV positive.
"It's not as a death wish, but she can't fool around anymore," said Winick.
"This isn't about an abbreviated life span. It is about life
having focus."
Winick said he wanted to approach HIV from the point of view of other
young people.
"It isn't about death and dying," he said. "With drug combination
therapy people are living a very long time.
"She seems to be unafraid of death, she's mostly feeling like no-one is
ever going to love her."
Avoids metaphor
As Speedy, she will later join the Teen Titans comic book series
alongside Batman's sidekick Robin, Cyborg and Raven.
Independent comic publisher Image introduced ShadowHawk, the first
superhero with Aids, in 1993 but Speedy is the first HIV positive hero to
appear in a major comic book series.
"Comics have a long history of telling lessons," Winick added.
"They tell stories through metaphor, but sometimes I feel we don't
need the metaphor. Why should it be that Mia contracts some alien
virus?"
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-10-15 15:01