Brilliantly queer comic book Power Bear tackles gay shame and mental ill-health

In a world of buff, statuesque heroes, power bear is bringing body positivity and mental health discussions to the queer community.

Imagine a superhero. They can be tall and muscular, like Henry Cavill’s Superman, or have the shoulder-waist ratio Chris Evan’s Captain America. Maybe they even have their love “America’s ass”.

But a new generation of heroes is slowly emerging in pop culture that is more representative of the beauty and variety of body shapes in the real world.

“Bears are hard to find in mainstream comics,” Łukasz Majcher, creator of power bear, he tells PinkNews.

“The only character I could put in that category is Marvel’s Hercules, but I’m guessing that when he shows up on screen sooner or later, a young actor with an athletic build will be hired for his part.”

Majcher, a comics creator from Berlin, embarked on a mission to create a protagonist who would speak to those who feel underrepresented in the world of superheroes, especially those within the LGBT+ community.

The result is power bear, which follows the story of a seemingly unassuming office worker.

Max feels trapped in an “endless cycle of meaninglessness” as he struggles to balance his relationship, work, and a family member’s sudden decline in health. During a shower scene, Max recalls how he was “full of energy” and going about housework singing Kate Bush’s “Babooshka” in his lap tops.

“Nowadays, I barely have enough strength to get the toothpaste out of the tube,” he says.

Meanwhile, a group of aliens judge the value of Earth’s continued existence. While many believe humanity is doomed, an alien believes there is still hope for the planet, and it’s up to Max to save the world. Bizarre superhero shenanigans ensue when Max becomes the only Power Bear.

Majcher describes the prevailing representation of the LGBT+ community in pop culture as “colorful rainbows and unicorns.”

While that may be true, there is another side to the coin: complex people, who struggle with poor mental health, self-esteem issues, and body confidence, among other things.

“I’m happy with the positive reception from our community in mainstream culture, but on the other hand, the mental health issue faced by sexual minorities is too often forgotten,” explains Majcher.

“I often see muscular, hairy guys on Instagram who are itching to post their selfies. I’ve met some of them personally and very often they are people who struggle with hang-ups and don’t feel as sexy as they are perceived to be.”

Majcher had wanted to create Power Bear for a long time, but felt defeated and doubted his creative abilities, struggling to see projects through to completion.

Despite constant encouragement from her mother, it was only when she met her boyfriend Stefan that she truly found her inspiration.

“[Stefan] he felt flattered and at the same time also recognized as a fully valuable person suffering from a disease [depression] which normally no one talks about,” says Majcher.

“Depression makes people feel weak and insufficient and like a failure, a loser. But what if that person suddenly got superpowers?

Majcher spoke with several people from the broader LGBT+ community living with mental health issues as they created power bear and was “surprised” by how many people could relate to his partner and his struggles.

“I wanted our experiences to spark debate and be heard,” he explains. “Many times I have heard the opinions of my readers that I have hit the nail on the head.”

Adds Majcher: “It made me even more convinced that I had chosen the right direction.”

It would be easy to assume that a gay comedian named power bear would lean towards sex. Majcher said that bear comics are “popular in the underground” in part for this reason, especially on the Internet, where fanfic abounds.

There is also a community that enjoys “bara erotic manga,” a Japanese manga genre that features men with varying degrees of body fat, muscle, and body hair.

But power bear it renounces the “erotic” scenes to focus on its central theme.

“I would like it to be a comic for everyone,” adds Majcher. “Max, the main character of power bear, struggles with his own traumas and depression. Each of us can identify with this problem, regardless of sexual orientation.”