The Pied Piper is the first costumed character in superhero comics to use the word “gay” in relation to himself. Minor civilian characters had used it before, but never someone from the capes and tights set. He’s also the first canonically queer supervillain (albeit a reformed one), and the first character to come out decades after his introduction, as opposed to being introduced as queer from the get-go.

Maggie first debuted in Superman #4 (April 1987), and was created by John Byrne. She’s a captain in the Metropolis PD’s Special Crimes Unit (SCU), which deals with superpowered menaces. She becomes a recurring character in the Superman books and eventually, a grudging ally of the Man of Steel’s.

Publishers would submit their comics to the CCA, and if they met all the requirements of the Code, they would be allowed to publish with a seal on the cover that said “Approved by the Comics Code Authority.” You could absolutely publish a comic without CCA approval, but many retailers wouldn’t carry it if you did. So most publishers bent over backwards to comply.

Gregorio de la Vega, better known as Extraño, debuted in 1988 and is the first openly gay superhero in a mainstream comic. Though Extraño and the characters around him never originally used the word “gay,” his publisher, DC Comics, did. And Extraño’s sexuality is repeatedly made perfectly clear in the text, as opposed to being heavily veiled to sneak past the Comics Code Authority.