Virgil

Published by Image Comics in 2015, Virgil is a “queersploitation” revenge fantasy graphic novel written by American author Steve Orlando, illustrated by J.D. Faith, and colored by Chris Beckett and Thomas Mauer. Set in contemporary Kingston, Jamaica, the story follows Virgil, a shady and morally ambivalent police detective who bears a major personal secret: he is homosexual.  When Virgil is exposed as a gay man, a major taboo in Jamaica, four of his friends are beaten to death and his boyfriend, Ervan, is kidnapped. Vowing revenge, Virgil pounds the pavement in search of Ervan’s kidnappers and violently dispatches everyone who gets in his way. As Virgil closes in on the truth of what happened to Ervan, he must contend with rampant homophobia throughout Jamaica and overcome an environment of bigotry, prejudice, and antigay violence. Virgil has been called “a powerful read, and one that beats its way into your consciousness with surprising force” by IGN, and “a blood-splattered neon journey of awesomeness” by Geeks WorldWide. Orlando credits 1970s Blaxploitation movies such as Shaft, Foxy Brown, and The Harder They Come as inspiration for the graphic novel. Virgil was named winner of the 2015 IGN Best Original Graphic Novel and the 2015 VLA Graphic Novel Diversity Award Honor.

Narrated in the omniscient third-person perspective, the story commences in Kingston, Jamaica. Virgil is a black Kingston native and police officer who uses brute force to solve crimes. Despite Virgil’s macho demeanor, he has been harboring a secret for over 30 years. Virgil is a gay man who hides his softer effeminate side from the public and his coworkers because Jamaica is staunchly homophobic and violently antigay. Virgil’s police squad shares the antigay sentiment. In the beginning of the novel, Virgil busts a dope dealer for possession of drugs and a handgun. Virgil confiscates cash from the drug dealer and goes to the bar to spend the money on drinks with his colleagues. While at the bar, one of Virgil’s fellow officers explains that a man on the north side of the city hung his teenage son to death for being gay, or a “battyman.” As a result, Virgil keeps his true identity as a gay man under wraps. Afterwards, Virgil visits a massage parlor brothel in celebration with his close childhood friend, Omar. Despite being a gay man, Virgil has sex with women to keep his secret intact, fearful of being ostracized at best or killed at worst. Virgil and Omar brag about having sex with Brooke from the nearby shop, and Teja from two blocks away. Following their time at the brothel, Virgil and Omar say their goodbyes and go their separate ways.

Virgil returns home to find his boyfriend, Ervan, waiting for him. After the two have sex, Virgil and Ervan share a conversation about their dreams of fleeing the homophobia and violent bigotry in Jamaica and living in Toronto, Canada, where homosexuality is widely accepted and openly embraced. Virgil and Ervan speak about the difficulty of saving enough money to make their escape a reality. Later, Virgil has a mishap at work that infers his homosexuality. As a result, Virgil’s police squad rifles through Virgil’s work locker and destroys his belongings. The group finds a homosexual book in the locker and burns it. Later, the squad conducts a brutally violent attack on Virgil and Ervan during a dinner party they throw for some of their queer friends. During the vicious attack, Virgil is severely beaten. Four of Virgil’s friends are battered to death, while Ervan is captured and taken away somewhere unknown. When Virgil awakes in a shallow grave at the beach and finds that he was left for dead, a friendly group of people take him to the hospital. When Virgil learns that Ervan is missing, he vows revenge on his homophobic attackers. Battle after battle ensues as Virgil goes on a series of bloody rampages that leave several people dead in his wake. Along the way, flashbacks are provided to contextualize Virgil’s intimate relationship with Ervan. When Virgil is given the opportunity to flee Jamaica for Canada, he resists in order find his true love and avenge his other friends’ deaths. In addition, Virgil sets out to beat and batter everyone who ever spoke ill of him personally or of homosexuality at large.



As Virgil continues to violently avenge Ervan’s kidnappers, he loses his job and his house. With nothing left to lose, Virgil escalates his violent tendencies and continues to waylay criminal hordes. Virgil is slandered in the public newspapers and he eventually becomes the target of the vengeful drug dealers he busted in the past, including the most powerful kingpin, Bandulu. As the violence escalates and the bloodshed increases, Virgil can’t help but to remember romantic flashbacks of Ervan. Virgil expresses his feeling of being trapped and how he longs to escape the bigoted oppression and widespread hatred in his homeland. It becomes clear that in saving Ervan, Virgil intends to free himself as well from a world that has rejected him. After defeating both Bandulu and his former police chief, Virgil survives a gauntlet of intense violence. In the end, Virgil is reunited with Ervan and the two continue their plans of relocating from Kingston to Toronto.

In addition to Virgil, Orlando has written several comic books. His work for DC Comics includes issues of Justice League of America, Wonder Woman, Batman, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Milk Wars, and many more. Outside of DC, Orlando’s work includes Crude, Undertow, Outlaw Territory, Love is Love, Hello Mr., The Liberator, Dead Kings, Namesake, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Side B: A Music Lover’s Anthology, and much more. In 2015-2016, Orlando launched Midnighter and Midnighter and Apollo, both of which were nominated for GLAAD awards.