Marvel Voices: Pride #1: Somnus and Daken in “Man of His Dreams”

I love Daken.

Daken has always been one of Marvel’s more compelling and nuanced characters and one of the few queer characters who has had the opportunities to openly flaunt their sexuality (for better or for worse) on the page and quite frequently too.  Daken is in a sense groundbreaking and for that I, and the queer community, will forever be indebted to Marjorie Liu and Daniel Way.

Fast forward to Tom Taylor’s All-New Wolverine and we see Daken appear in the “Orphans of X” arc with his character pushed further into new territory: we actually see Daken the anti-hero. Daken the brother. Daken the… soft boy?

Of course the most recent iteration of the flirtatious once-villain has been seen in the since-cancelled X-Factor series and thankfully it looks like the kind, loving Daken is finally sticking around.

This story is about love, forgiveness and inclusion. Daken recounts a heartbreak of time gone by and reiterates a story familiar to a lot of queer people still today: hidden love, living for someone else, hiding who you are and sadly the more common ending: dying whilst living a lie.

Daken’s “fling” from many moons ago is none other than the brand-new character of Somnus (created by Steve Orlando and Luciano Vecchio) who has the ability to control peoples dreams. A queer character who, due to the time, culture and society lived a lie to protect his family.

The art is beautiful too. Claudia Aguire is one of my firm favorites and boy does she delivery a handsome and brooding Daken along with some beautiful soft colors.