This week:

• What's gay at this weekend's Alternative Press Expo?
• The Transgender Day of Remembrance is seeking webcomic submissions.
• Fallout 3 finally hits the store shelves. Can a game with such a strong following live up to fans' expectations?
• Fable 2 just may be even gayer than its predesessor.
• Could we give up Pushing Daisies if we got a Bryan Fuller-led Star Trek?

Check it all out after the break!

This week:

• The demise of the Minx imprint gives us a chance to ask, "Who draws the hottest guys?"
• A critical and gay fave comic gets canceled yet again
• Nick Fury heads into unintentional camp-ville
• Gay-inclusive game Fable 2 hits the stores

 

Check it all out after the break!

GETTING CLOSE TO CAPRICA:
I usually end up totally geeking out at this time of the year, as the Television Critics Association is a time when some interesting TV news and discussions starts coming out. Here’s one rumor that has me particularly excited – the Sci-Fi Channel has reportedly ordered two scripts for the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica.

That’s encouraging news since I long had the impression that Caprica’s pilot would air as a mini-series before the network would decide to make it a series or not, as it did with Galactica. This probably means that The Sci-Fi Channel thinks Caprica is good enough to please us Galactica fans. Hopefully there’ll be some official news when the Sci-Fi Channel has its TCA session next week.

EMBRACING TRACING PAPER:
Scandal apparently broke out last week amongst the YAOI community in Japan when Embracing Love creator Youka Nitta admitted to having traced images from various fashion ads. You can check out a collection of side-by-side comparisons at this Japanese web page. As Brigid Alverson notes, I find it interesting how Nitta frequently took images of opposite-sex couples and changed them into male couples:

The page that got Nitta in trouble and the ad that inspired it.

Nitta’s faced a few consequences as her work seems to been dropped from an upcoming issue of Be-Boy Gold magazine and she’s also canceled her planned appearance at YAOI-Con. I wonder if this will further affect the availability of Nitta’s work in the United States. Embracing Love is hard to find due to financial trouble at Be Beautiful, the publisher who licensed the title, a situation that became even more complicated when the Japanese publisher Biblos went into bankruptcy and put Be Beautiful’s licenses in limbo. DMP just published one of her titles earlier this year and has another title coming out in December.

If it's up to American audiences, I doubt this will hurt Nitta’s presence here. While her tracing is a big scandal in Japan, I’ve seen a few American artists whose tendency to copy and alter images became a running gag (like Greg Land and Rob Liefeld) and it didn’t seem to hurt them. Then again, maybe manga audiences will react differently.

I know Nitta has a few fans here (and I probably would be one of them if I ever could find myself a copy of the second volume of Embracing Love); does this change your impression of her work in any way?

After the break: Gays in games and comics ... and what's Stephen Fry doing in this column?

• Getting a piece of the pi:
  Hey Math Geeks (or, if you're like me, Math Pun Geeks) didja know it's Pi Day? Yep, today is March 14, and therefore the day to celebrate the number we couldn't measure circles without. And if you didn't realize it even the hip kids at NPR are total nerds. Yeah, perhaps it's an odd thing to note, but then again I had a co-worker who'd take April 20th off every year.
  
  
• And you thought Rorschach had issues...:
  The fine Pink Kryptonite crew recently named Captain Excelsior as a webcomic to watch and, after taking a peek, I'm in total agreement. The webcomic follows the comically soapy dysfunctions of a superhero family -- think The Incredibles meet Soap with the morality the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia crew. Excelsior's son is rather hilariously dealing with coming out right now, which, so far, is one of the comic's more human moments. Of course, Captain Excelsior frequently has fun with that old Lois Lane joke:
  

  

• The two great teams that (you'd think would) go well together:
  While we're still waiting for news on the second volume of Young Avengers, it turns they'll soon team up with the kids from Runaways once more thanks to Marvel's Secret Invasion event. I have to admit, I'm not yet excited about this but maybe it'll turn out to be the team-up I hoped Civil War: Young Avengers/Runways would be.
  
  
• From the department of solicitation of clever and subtle plans:
  There may not be much more than a teaser image here but this one's too good not to share. The Fable 2 team recently shared a bit of teaser art with the Gay Gamer gang. This character is described as, "one is for all the girls, gays or male gamers who just feel adventurous!" Once again, I do love the Lionhead Studio guys for their inclusiveness.

  

  I have to admit, tho, there's something about this design that makes me expect him to be a bit dim with a tendency to suggest subtle and clever plans that are neither clever or subtle.
  
  
• A hilarious work of PhotoShop genius:
  Ah, the creative minds you can find on the internet. Over at the frequently-hilarious Chris' Invincible Super-Blog, we get a peek at DC's long-forgotten light-hearted silver age title, Li'l Bru¢e Wayne:

  

  Ah, those were the good days, when Frank Miller were telling stories about the Happiest Kid on Earth.

• Legion no more?
  Here's a bit of news I'm feeling very mixed about: things are looking grim for the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon. The part of me who's been a part of the Legion's gay fanbase for ages is a bit saddened to hear this but, on the other hand, the animated adaptation missed the comic's best qualities for me, never capturing the melodramatics of the 30th century's teen superteam found in classic stories like "The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires!" I'm talking to a gay audience, here, so there has got to be some Legion fans reading -- do you think anything we're missing out on much if the Legion cartoon doesn't get a third season?

• Gay comics chatter:
  Finally, here's a bit of Wondercon hype I missed the first time, but still seems worth watching. So Super Duper's Brian Andersen and comics retailer Rich Boutell appeared on Bay Area talk show OUT Spoken:
  

2007 was quite a year for gay geeks, with gay representation in comics books, on science fiction television and in video games being a frequent discussion topic. While these topics aren't entirely new, this year the discussion was at its most active.

On TV, we saw ourselves more often, especially on BBC America's Torchwood ... even though we had frustrating setbacks on shows like Heroes. Things looked incredibly bright for gamers, who found themselves expecting a good number of games with expected gay-inclusiveness and found it easier to find each other.

Additionally, gay geeks became more visible. Logo debuted its collection of animation, Alien Boot Camp,which included bumpers showing gay fans at comics and sci-fi conventions, as well as gay comic creators like Alison Bechtel. For a long time, this subset of queers weren't seen often, with gay geeks being happily surprised when they found each other, but that's changing as our visibility within the gay community increases.

Let's take a look back at the past year, shall we?

Here they come, the sound of drums

If we were to declare a king of the gay geeks, Russel T. Davies would be the candidate to beat. The Doctor Who producer did plenty to increase gay visibility on sci-fi television. The past season of Who regularly showed gay people as simply a part of the human tapestry. More importantly, 2007 was the year Torchwood made its USA debut. The series quickly became BBC America's biggest hit and, seeking to maintain the momentum from season one's success, the network announced that the second season will air only two weeks after it airs on BBC Three.

The success of Torchwood, as well as Doctor Who, is a significant development for gay sci-fi fans. On Torchwood, Captain Jack Harkness is a very different way of portraying queer men on television: as a dashing, heroic lead. Meanwhile, Captain Jack's return to Doctor Who this season continued to show his relationship with The Doctor as one having the kind of strained affection previously seen only with female companions like Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler.

While Doctor Who is an obscure series for American fans, it's a major franchise in the UK and the series is the target of constant rumors and speculation regarding arrivals and departures both in front and behind the cameras. Those rumors included talk that Davies' may be cutting back on his Who duties with Steven Moffat taking over the series. Moffat wrote some of Who's most popular episodes and created the gay-inclusive Coupling and Jeckyll. If the speculation has any merit, Moffat sounds like a promising replacement.

We're still holding on for our hero on Heroes, Monday nights

For some media pundits, Heroes is a solid example of what diversity should look like on television,; but for people who actively advocate for increased diversity, the show is a mix of potential and problems. Last December, we noted that early promotion for the series had Zach as gay but that the show had suddenly turned away from the idea. Discussion into the character continued into the new year. Out producer Bryan Fuller confirmed that the character was written as gay, only to have those plans derailed by the management of Thomas Dekker, who played Zach. In its second season, Heroes was supposed to add a lesbian character but she, too, disappeared before becoming a major presence.

• Out of Outsiders:
  I haven't brought up the controversy over Batman and the Outsiders #1 so far because the situation has seemed a bit too complicated to fit after a bulletpoint. However, Lisa Fortuner does a good job putting it together. (As always when visiting Newsarama, I recommend avoiding the comment threads.) Basically, was DC deliberately trying to draw attention to the relaunched title (one of the few featuring gay characters) by handing it to a writer widely regarded as homophobic? Have they sunk to gay baiting as a way to get people talking about the title (one previously written by Judd Winick who has been honored by GLAAD multiple times) before its release?

• And to think that I'd never be disappointed in news about Fable or NiGHTS:
  Two notable news bites came in for gaymers this week. First, the gay-inclusive RPG Fable 2 is getting a release date ... kinda. The game is scheduled not to become available until "late 2008". Hm, I guess I have time to play catch up, then. (I still haven't finished my copy of Planescape: Torment myself.)
  
  Equally frustrating, it was announced that the Playstation 2 version of the campy classic NiGHTS into Dreams is currently planned as a Japan-only release.

• In this version, when you win we all lose... or maybe it's the other way around:
  Back in May, bloggers at Girl-Wonder introduced the Anti-Feminist Comics Bingo Card which put together every cliched argument that comes up whenever a discussion of female characters in Western comics comes up. It was a humorous way to note all the arguments that come up again and again -- usually from people who think they're the first ones to bring up such an idea. 
  
  The idea was one that resonated with a number of bloggers who created versions dealing with other areas of geekdom. Now, inspired by a post containing enough cliched anti-gay arguments that people weren't sure if it was serious Girl-Wonder's Kate Fiztsimons has created the Queer Comics Controversy BINGO card:
  
  
  
  
  
  I do think one common argument is missing from the BINGO card -- the one which tries to claim that LGBT people don't make up a big part of the population so there's actually a sufficient number of gay characters in comics. Sigh.

• After all, pretty elven men is the natural order of things:
  One arena where I still see homophobia in video game forums is the discussion of designing male and female avatars. I still encounter attitudes that believe that attractive female avatars should be normal and common but there's something wrong about a player who wants to have a good looking male avatar. After the brouhaha over same-sex marriage in the game, I was intrigued to hear that Lord of the Rings Online doesn't follow that trend. You can't make an elven male less pretty by giving him a macho scar and hobbit women have all the unglamorous hobbit features.

• Nomination summation:
  The Young Adult Library Services Association just announced its final list of nominations for Great Graphic Novels for Teens. I'm pretty pleased to see Dead High Yearbook (which is edited and includes a story by out creator Ivan Velez, Jr.) as well as Fumi Yoshinaga's very gay friendly YAOI title, The Moon and The Sandals on the list. (Pictured, a panel from Dead High.)

• Errors, regretted:
  Last week, I pointed to a New York Times profile of Gail Simone and repeated the Times' discussion of Simone as the first female writer to get an ongoing gig on Wonder Woman. That claim was the topic of debate at Comics Worth Reading, where CWR readers brought up runs by Mindy Newell and earlier writers. Simone makes an appearance in the comment thread to confirm that she doesn't see herself as breaking ground that way. For what it's worth, Simone is the first ongoing female Wonder Woman writer (Jodi Picoult did a fill-in run earlier in the year) since the Amazon was revamped in 1987.

• Link of the week:
  There's a new home for the LGBT (and LGBT-friendly) players of City of Heroes: City Folk offers a community where gay fans can plan events, recruit for supergroups and otherwise make connections. I can't really say if City of Heroes really is the most gay friendly MMO as Gay Gamer's Fruit Brute says, but the gay community of Paragon City is easily the best at getting the word out about their activity. If you sign up, tell 'em Lyle sent you!

• It's still too late for Wonder Woman, however:
  With all the grim news about the Writers' Strike, comic fans have a silver lining to hope for -- TV writers who dabbled in comics (only to leave their stories running late) might now have the time to return to those projects (reported in a variety of spots including Lying in the Gutters). Hey, if that means Allan Heinberg returns to Young Avengers (home to two of the coolest gay superheroes you haven't heard of), I could momentarily stop missing my Heroes.
  
  
• A new mayor in Paragon City:
  NC Soft buys out City of Heroes, taking most of the game's staff with it. (Jack "Statesman" Emmert isn't part of the transition. Judging from some of the comments he made on the game boards, I'm not sure if I'll miss him.) Considering how NC Soft has been incredibly supportive to the game's community of gaymers, I think CoH will hold onto its reputation as one of the most gay-friendly MMORPG games.
  
  
• Fighting evil by disco ball light, Winning love by disco ball light:
  The Absorbascon turns a snarky eye to Dazzler, one of the Marvel universe's most fabulous heroines. (That wimpy Jem wishes she were half as cool as Alison Blaire.) I loved Dazzler back in her day. I mean:

She fought supervillains wearing mirrored roller skates, with face paint make up while also carrying around a shiny little purse. Also:
She knew the secret to make-up that doesn't smudge easily. Too bad she didn't think of selling that secret... and don't get me started on how her bit of Marvel superhero family angst (™) was her search for her long-lost mother.

• Who wants to be a Fable?:
  Lionhead Studio is conducting a charity auction to become a supporting character in their upcoming game Fable 2. Will that make you one of the many characters your protagonist will be able to romance and marry?
  
  

• Link of the week:
  There's a new gay geek blog in town: enter DoorQ.com, which is chock full of reviews, news and previews. Now if I could get the webmasters to give me an RSS feed for Christmas, everything would be peachy.
  
  

We've been covering the Television Critics Association lately, but there's another big entertainment conference going on -- E3, where video game publishers hype their upcoming products to the press. There's not a lot of gay visibility to be found in video games, but that's been changing quite a bit recently. One notable game is Fable, a role playing game that aimed to allow the player's actions have an effect on the game's setting and on your character. If your character spent a lot of time in the sun, you'd develop a tan. If your character performs good deeds, townspeople are more likely to be friendly. Fable also had an open-ended romance system where you could potentially court any NPC, including ones the same gender as your avatar.

A sequel, Fable 2, is currently in development and the Gay Gamer boys were able to score an interview with the legendary Peter Molyneux who heads the studio that developed both Fable games. While Molyneux downplays the edginess of Fable same-sex romances, he does acknowledge how the game's publisher was resistant to the idea:

We said this is about having choice and consequence, and allowing people to choose which person they chat up is part of it. When you came to think about it, there’s a man, there’s a woman, there’s a boy, there’s a girl – same-sex marriage just came up naturally.

There was one interesting moment after I said you can get married to the same sex at a previous E3: There was a poll that year in Germany that asked what was everyone’s favorite feature in Fable 1, even though they hadn’t seen it yet and we hadn’t done an awful lot of work on the same-sex marriage. And the poll came out as same-sex stuff. It was absolutely amazing; it was fantastic!

And (Fable publisher) EA were hemming and hawing about same-sex stuff, because it is different and they’ve got to sail quite a safe line. Then they saw this poll, and that was really useful.

Considering Molyneux' history as an innovator, it's not surprising that he'd realize that an open-ended role playing game couldn't limit a player's character to the heterosexual default. (The Movies, another game from Molyneux' studio which puts you in charge of a movie studio, also avoids forcing heterosexual pairings.) Fable isn't the only game where players could control a gay character (Bully is a recent example, with The Sims and Fallout also coming to mind) but these moments of inclusion are still rare, making games like Fable 2 notable exceptions.