This week’s Marvel’s Voices: Pride 2022 #1 reveals a queer youth center in the Marvel Universe named for Matt Baker. The Matt Baker House is an LGBTQIA+ Youth Center. As Bleedingcool points out, it is in Queens, New York. It honors Baker, a gay comic book creator whose work permeated the forties and fifties. He is the first known African-American artist to find success in the comic book world. Notable works include Phantom Lady and It Rhymes With Lust.
Who Is Matt Baker?
Matt Baker is a comic book artist from the Golden Age of comics. His Voodah from Crown Comics #3 is the first known black hero in American comics. He later worked for Atlas Comics, the predecessor to Marvel. He contributed to Western comics with Stan Lee, including Western Outlaws, Quick Trigger Action, Frontier Western, Strange Tales, and many more.
Sadly, Baker passed away from a heart attack in 1959. He was only 37 years old. Following his death, many are discovering the impact he had on the comic book industry. Now his presence is forever felt in the Marvel Universe.
What Is The Baker House?
A story in Marvel’s Voices: Pride 2022 #1 from Grace Freud, Scott B Henderson, Lee Townsend, and Brittany Peer introduces the youth center. In the story, the Matt Baker House hosts a support group for superpowered trans teens, Supertrans. Dennis Dunphy, a.k.a. D-Man, conducts the group. This introduces several new trans characters into the Marvel Universe, including Pity Girl, Aphelion, Good Arson, and Faceshopper.
However, since this story takes place in the Marvel Universe, not everything goes as planned. A Spider-Man battle crashes through the youth center, and the teens must deal with it. Meanwhile, another story in the anthology focuses on trans supervillain Escapade. She shows up at the Baker House during her own journey in finding her place in the world.
