This week:

• Will a gay writer save NBC's Heroes?
• Catch up on 30 days of good LGBT comics this November.
• Is YAOI publisher DramaQueen making a comeback?
• Which Legion character is making a surprise appearance?
• Are True Blood's vampires a bad analogy?

This week, the guys of Angry Puppy throw a Rock Band 2 party with a John, a Paul and a couple of Lizes for good measure. Find out who made the cut for the Angry Puppy Rock-Adjacent Cameo Hall of Fame, or APRACHoF, for those in the know.

In TV this week, Marc and Lee review not just the good stuff (Heroes, Fringe, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, True Blood), but also the worst of the worst (ahem, Knight Rider). They watch, so you don't have to!

Also in this episode: the new Sci Fi Channel series Sanctuary and the long-awaited review of Cthulhu, now with a gay protagonist and 100% more Tori Spelling.

All this and more geeky goodness, right after the jump!

WARM UP YOUR VOCAL CHORDS FOR A "ONE OF US" CHANT:
Get your Barrowmania hats back on, cuz a certain Scottish actor has come a-courting. In an interview with the National Post of Canada John Barrowman talks about his love of science fiction, declaring himself a "G-Double-E-K":

"I grew up watching Doctor Who," he says. "I'm of the Star Wars generation; I love science fiction. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica ... love 'em."

"I love every morning, getting up to go to work because that little boy inside of me jumps with excitement every time I'm going to fight an alien or shoot a rocket gun or be on a spaceship or be with the Doctor or get onto the TARDIS," he gushes. "So every time I'm working on it, I'm really, really happy."

Barrowman: "G-Double-E-K"

Okay, so there's a little optimist Lyle on one shoulder and a cynic Lyle on the other. The optimist is going "Aw, sah-woon." while the cynic is muttering something about people who say they like Star Trek and follow the sentiment with a series of imitations of Checkov asking about "nuclear wessels".

METAPHORS FOR QUEER RIGHTS MOVE TO SAN FRANCISCO, FILM AT ELEVEN:
It's been a pretty high-profile change to the status quo, so you've probably heard that the X-Men made a move to San Francisco with the 500th issue of Uncanny X-Men. But editor Axel Alonso gave us an interesting teaser when he talked with the San Francisco Chronicle recently:

Q: Is there a chance we might see one of the X-Men come out?

A: Yes. Yes. The city being what it is, certain characters whose sexuality might have been ambiguous are going to feel free to be who they are. I will qualify and say that I never go into the situation with a mandate or an agenda. It has to come along naturally. We're not going to rush into it. But I see it happening.

San Francisco, open your Golden Gates...

Considering the current team working on the X-Men, I see more than a little reason for optimism. Alonso is the editor responsible for Peter Milligan's excellent run on X-Force/X-Factor and the current X-Men writing team includes people responsible for some notable gay moments in comics. Uncanny X-Men is co-written by Ed Brubaker, who created Holly, the temporary successor to Selina Kyle, in his Catwoman run. The adjectiveless title (currently called X-Men: Legacy) comes from the pen of Mike Carey who's was very gay-inclusive on Vertigo titles like Lucifer and Hellblazer, even though in most cases that was a matter of including gay people amid those titles' high bodycount. Finally, Astonishing X-Men has the mind of Apollo and Midnighter creator Warren Ellis working for it.

From the way Alonso phrases things, it sounds like any gay mutant who might come out would be one who has been quietly coming to terms with their sexuality for a while ... so who's been pinging your gaydar? Anyone think it might turn out that Beast wasn't joking when he came out a few years back?

The new Infinity Inc.

By the way, speaking of Peter Milligan, is anyone reading his gender-twisting work on Infinity Inc. at DC? There's nothing specifically gay about the series, so far, but the series includes one guy who sometimes deals with his insecurity by turning into a woman (leading to plenty of gay teasing from one friend) and another guy whose struggle with narcissism is complicated by his ability to clone himself. Of course, the series is already has its final issue scheduled to come out in a few months. Sigh.

AFTER THE BREAK: New life for the gayest video game never to get a US port, Calvin and Hobbes gets mashed up and more!

• No more Heroes: Origins:
  So, NBC announced its TV schedule for the next year and, unfortunately, there wasn't anything really gay on the schedule. (Our sister site has reasons to be hopeful for Knight Rider, however.) One bit of bad news is that the Heroes spin-off, Origins, is dead. I was looking forward to the spin-off, which had recruited some big names to direct episodes, including Kevin Smith, who said he'd like his episode to introduce two gay heroes. That leaves us back to hoping the regular Heroes team will eventually see a gay character, which means my cynical side is doing a "Told you so" dance.
  
  

• Titans Together!:
  I missed this announcement the first time around, but apparently there's also a Teen Titans movie in the works, which will take inspiration from the classic version Marv Wolfman and George Perez gave us, which certainly had its share of gay fans. As much as I loved the animated Titans, it'll be interesting to see an adaptation that could look at the darker side of those characters. Hm, so many story possibilities just from the early issues ... and any chance of seeing Debra Winger make a cameo appearance?
  
  

• Cylons, the way they were:
  Tonight Battlestar Galactica returns, but I'm also getting excited about the upcoming spin-off, Caprica, which promises to be a sci-fi soap. It turns out the prequel series will explore the origins of the Cylons. I was initially feeling a bit cautious about this spin-off but the more I hear the more I want to see Caprica ... how about you BSG fans?
  
  

• Good news for It-getters, bad news for Lady Nocturne:
  Fans who share Stephen Colbert's comic book geekiness have been a little bit frustrated with how slow the Tek Jansen comics have been coming from Oni Press. Some good news came in today for fans of Colbert's Gary Stu: the series is back on schedule, with the second issue coming out in late June. (June? I'm going to be waiting forever for that collection, aren't I?)
  
  

• I think the real question is "Why is there a Pussycat Dolls reference in a fantasy MMO?"
  Considering World of Warcraft's history with gay characters, I was feeling wary when I heard about a discussion asking "Has Blizzard gone out of their way to make male elves gay?" However, the discussion sounds pretty positive, asking if Blizzard is playing to gay stereotypes in order to make a cheap, gay joke. I haven't really taken the time to get to know WoW, so I'm pretty curious to hear from any AfterElton readers who play it: do male elves' emotes encourage homophobic humor or is it all a matter that should be handled by GMs? Still, I did enjoy this bit of WoW machinima:

• Young Heroes in Love, Marvel edition:
  Yesterday, I gave my reaction to Young Avengers Presents #3, where the young romance of Hulking and Wiccan took another small step forward (an encouraging sign considering how much disappointment gay superhero readers have faced). Here's another take, with an interesting discussion in the comments. I can understand the worry that if the relationship isn't made clear, it'll be retconned away eventually, but I think the relationship has been pretty solidly established. In this case, I'm not worried about seeing another gay couple like the Legion's Lyle and Condo.
  
  

What, no unicorn? Neil Patrick Harris (we think?) in the first Dr. Horrible teaser

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Responding to Kevin Spacey's disparaging comments about the new reality show that looks to cast an upcoming UK production of Oliver!, judge John Barrowman says, "You know what, shut up!" Thank you, John. We've been wanting to say the same thing to him for years!

• This week's How I Met Your Mother made a cute reference to star Neil Patrick Harris's career-launching role in Doogie Howser ... including that damned blue screen!

• The gay-and-galpal novel Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List is being developed as a vehicle for Heroes' Hayden Panettiere. Let's just hope Ely fares better than her last gay BFF!

• Look! Our American Gladiators aren't the only ones with "gay porn pasts" (or as I prefer, "gay-adjacent porn pasts"): A recently-ousted Australian Gladiator has been uncovered as having posed for a gay website. Guess who's shocked? Nobody.

• Michael Ausiello has some scoop on a gay kiss coming up in an upcoming Grey's Anatomy episode that deals with two gay soldiers: He notes, "Interested thesps must be Caucasian, hot and be comfortable sharing a 'very romantic kiss' with another dude."

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...