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!

ANOTHER DAY OF WONDER:
Has it been a year already? In a week-and-a-half, it'll be time for the third Wonder Woman Day. The event, organized by gay writer Andy Mangles, raises money for domestic violence shelters and crisis hotlines. This year, the day is being celebrated in Portland as well as Flemington, New Jersey with creator appearances and a silent auction for Wonder Woman original art. The art being auctioned includes work from gay artists like J Bone, Tim Fish, Patrick Fillion and JA Fludd.

THE BOY-MEETS-BOY BUSINESS TIMES:
It's been a tough year for YAOI fans: first starup publisher Iris officially calls it quits, then YAOI-focused DramaQueen and groundbreaking publisher Tokyopop fall upon hard times. For a little while, it sounded like another major publisher of boy-meets-boy manga, Digital Manga Publishing, was in trouble when news of layoffs hit the web. Thankfully, the rumors of DMP's demise have turned out to be rather exaggerated. While talking with Deb Aoki, DMP calms the waters, saying that they've had to pull back due to economic conditions, and unfortunately that means a slower release schedule.

Flower of Life

And Fumi Yohsinaga fans will be happy to hear that the fourth volume of Yoshinaga's shoujo series Flower of Life finally has a release date (May 2009, if you're one of them), though that's all that's coming out from the very gay-friendly Yoshinaga. Similarly, DMP has also launched YAOI Club, a "superstore" for boy-meets-boy manga that reportedly offers solid discounts on older titles (cool, I just spotted All Nippon Air Line for seven bucks), so DMP isn't acting the way fallen publishers like BeBeautiful and DramaQueen did.

YAOI Generation's Breath

However, amid the frustrating news about troubled publishers, there's news of a new publisher entering the scene. YAOI Generation recently announced their first title, breath by Chifumi Ochi. I guess only time will tell if YAOI Generation can fill the gap left in DramaQueen's wake.

SO SUPER INTERVIEWED:
So Super Duper creator Brian Andersen has hit our radar more than a few times lately and I really enjoyed this interview at the Rain on the Roof blog. The talk brings up a few new discoveries about Andersen, like his Mormon upbringing, missionary work in Guatemala and his mangling of the Spanish language.

I particularly found the origins of So Super Duper to be revealing:

"Originally I wanted to do So Super Duper as a weekly webcomic, but after I decided to get a table at the Alternative Press Expo I figured I would just print the first 30 pages of the story as a first issue to build interest. After the thoroughly enthusiastic response I got (people actually liked it and bought it!) from the first issue at the convention I switched gears and decided keep it a print book. I’m so glad I did. It’s brought a more solid, firm story to each issue and has allowed me to plan and develop the plot as an ongoing story arc instead of single, but sized story elements played over weeks at a time."

So Super Duper and creator Brian Andersen

I am constantly impressed with webcomic creators who manage to put out new content every week and I'm even more impressed with how Andersen has managed to get so much work in print. Talk about a workhorse!

THE 30TH CENTURY EXPECTATIONS GAME:
While last week offered more bad news for Legion fans, Graeme McMillan thinks he sees a curve ball coming. McMillan notes that mothballing the team just as a big Smallville appearance is coming up seems a bit of a waste, but also notes how the DC has been throwing a number of fake-outs lately:

"This wouldn't be the first time DC has tried this approach - they prefaced Final Crisis's revamp of the Jack Kirby New Gods characters with a series called Death of The New Gods, after all - but their timing does appear to be slightly off; shouldn't this kind of fake-out be done so that the "Ha, only joking! Here they are again after all!" reveal comes on the 50th anniversary, instead of the whole "Yeah, time to put the toys down for awhile" part?"

While I'm certainly looking forward to that Smallville episode (which hasn't been scheduled to air yet) and hoping deep, deep down it's instantly followed by the kind of spin-off talk that followed Smallville's Aquaman episode ... after all, the Legion would be an apt template for any network who wants its own Heroes. I'm trying to keep my hopes down so that I don't get disappointed when nothing happens. Still, I've been figuring we'll be hearing about the next Legion revamp once Legion of 3 Worlds comes out, which is why I'm hoping that the mini-series ends with the team's few gay characters getting pulled out of limbo.

The Legion of 3 Worlds

I've been having trouble finding copies of The Legion of 3 Worlds, though I've been reading the spoilers I can find ... has anyone been reading it? I'm guessing it's turned out to be more popular than expected if all the shops I've visited are sold out.

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!

THE LEGION CLOSES SHOP WITH NUMBER 50 IN YEAR 50:
Unfortunately, it's a familiar story to Legion fans: DC's long-lived, gay-fave franchise is canceled once more.

With an emphasis on diversity from its earliest days (though fifty years ago that diversity didn't look anything like it does today), a chosen family dynamic and strong iconic women (something still uncommon in superhero titles that don't get filed under 'X'), the Legion will probably always have a place in the hearts of gay superhero fans. Still, that hasn't stopped the franchise from seeing dwindling sales and enthusiasm.

A Legion pin-up by gay artist Phil Jiminez

There've been plenty of attempts made at failure analysis with the Legion: there's too much history for new readers to understand, fans are still divided over the abrupt change of the "five year gap" era, spin-off series like L.E.G.I.O.N. and Legionaries made things difficult for lapsed readers, weariness over having to emotionally connect with a new team every five years, etc.

The new Legion of Super-Heroes 1989 and 1994 revamps:

The franchise has also gone through various phases of gay inclusiveness. Paul Levitz set up the foundation for Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet's relationship, which had a prominent role when the series moved focus onto the adult lives of the Legionnaires. The series had a minor gay relationship when Shvaugn Erin turned out to be Sean and longtime boyfriend Element Lad didn't blink.

When the series was restarted in the wake of Zero Hour, series creators revealed that one of the characters was conceived as gay from the beginning and eventually the title started dropping heavy hints about Lyle Norg, who appeared in a Secret Origins story that just overflowed with homoeroticsm. It turned out that Lyle was indeed meant to be gay, but when the series got a new editor attempts to out Lyle were stopped.

The new Legion of Super-Heroes 1999 and 2005 revamps:

The Legion currently is the focus of a Final Crisis tie-in miniseries, The Legion of 3 Worlds, which promises to end with just one incarnation of the team left standing. I'll certainly be interested in how that turns out and if any of the Legion's LGBT characters get another chance in the spotlight. It's a real shame that a franchise that connected so strongly with gay fans hasn't had any LGBT inclusiveness for over a decade.

The overwhelming hoyay of Secret Origins #47 inspired
the attempt to out Lyle Norg in Legionnaires #66

I'm curious ... the Legion was once one of DC's top titles but it's had a major fall in the past couple decades. What's the team's biggest issue in your mind? More importantly, what does DC need to do to get the team back at the top?

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF DC FAILURE ANALYSIS:
I'm not sure if this bit of news will be much of a blip on the radar of AfterElton.com readers, but last week DC Comics announced that it would be shutting down its Minx imprint. The girl-focused line of graphic novels was partially aimed at the readers of shoujo manga titles like Fruits Basket and Nana which also have a following among gay readers, but apparently never succeeded well enough for DC's tastes in two years.

Minx's comics included works from creators with LGBT-inclusive histories
like Andi Watson and Mike Carey

While gay shoujo readers weren't the primary audience, I suspect we can diagnose Minx's problems just as well; did any of you ever sample any Minx graphic novels? I was always interested in the imprint, but every time I went to the bookstore I'd end up catching up on Beauty Pop or Absolute Boyfriend instead. Did any of you shoujo comic fans check out Minx titles, or was it even on your wish list?

WE WONT HAVE JACK THOMPSON TO KICK AROUND ANY MORE:
Late last week, it began to look like the light at the end of the end of the tunnel was in sight for gamers and the video game industry when longtime antagonist Jack Thompson was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court.

Thompson is best known for his crusades against video games, a fight that took the place of his previous battles against rap acts like the 2 Live Crew and Ice T, but (unsurprising for a conservative activist) he had his anti-gay moments amidst it all. Since it's looking like we won't have Jack Thompson to kick around much longer, I figured it's worth taking a look back at Thompson's history.

After the break: The gay highlights of Thompson's career

IF COMIC STRIPS WERE DRAWN BEFORE A STUDIO AUDIENCE THIS IS WHEN YOU'D HEAR THEM GO 'AWWWWW':
The Concord Monitor recently ran a delightful little autobiographical comic strip by Clay McCuistion about his civil union to his partner, Max. (You can check it out as a JPEG or as a PDF file), "How We Got Gay Married". McCuistion's strip is so mundane, it's adorable.

A panel from "How We Got Gay Married"

Yeah, it did get the expected grumpy readers writing:

One woman said she didn't want to be confronted with "this garbage" and said she would canceled her newspaper subscription. Another said that the cartoon format seemed intended for children - but that the subject matter was inappropriate for kids. A third caller said he had no trouble with gay people but didn't want the issue of civil unions "pushed on me" by his morning newspaper. In a letter to the editor, the minister of a local church accused the newspaper of promoting "sodomy."

I should be a little bothered about the anti-gay crowd getting worked up (or the racist anonymous comment at the end of the article) but McCuistion's comic has me in too happy a mood.

WHEN THINGS ARE BETTER BEHIND THE SCENES:
Gay advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign recently released its 2009 Corporate Equity Index and gaming sites were quick to note that three gaming companies recieved a prefect score -- Microsoft, EA and GameStop. The HRC says their index measures anti-descrimination policies.

However, as comment threads at sites like GayGamer have noted, how does the way a company treat its LGBT employees match up with how they treat their LGBT customers? Microsoft still has gay gamers frustrated with their banning of "gay" as an X-Box Live gamertag, as well as the declaration that identifying yourself as gay is "inappropriate sexual innuendo".

Where do you find the balance? Does seeing Microsoft's employment practices make up at all for any frustration their X-Box Live policies may have created?

METAPHORICALLY, SHE'S STILL WEARING THOSE SATIN TIGHTS:
When she first hit the national radar, pop culture fans were quick to notice the resemblance Gov. Sarah Palin held to a number of celebrities, including TV Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter. Some people have also called Palin a Wonder Woman and it turns out the still-fabulous gay geek icon had a few words to say about that comparison:

Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman

Don’t get me started. She’s the anti-Wonder Woman. She’s judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they’ve got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness … that’s just not what Wonder Woman is about... Doesn’t mean that I’m godless. Doesn’t mean that I am a murderer. What I hate is this demonization of everybody but one position. You’re un-American because you’re against the war. It’s such bullshit. Fear. It’s really such a finite way of thinking about God to think that your measley little mind can know the mind of God. It’s a very little God that way. I think that God’s bigger. I don’t presume to know his mind. Or her mind.

Let me join Dorthy Snarker in swooning... though, I guess we're swooning for different reasons.

And going on a nerd tangent, am I the only one who sees those signs calling Palin "Superwoman" and gets nostalgic for time-traveling superhero historian Kristen Wells? Yeah, I figured it was just me. Y'know I don't think Marvel would let a trademark like that laspe...

Sigh, not that Superwoman...

Speaking of the Amazon Princess, MTV's Splash Page blog asked if we'll ever see a Wonder Woman movie.

Sadly, it sounds like we're as likely to see Emma Peel return to the big screen just as soon as we see Diana, with producers Leonard Goldberg and Joel Silver lamenting a lack of good ideas, even when Joss Whedon was attached to the project. That seems a shame, considering Wonder Woman's iconic nature... is there another superhero who appears on so much merchandise without appearing on the big or small screen?

AFTER THE BREAK: Best. Rock Band addition ever and nostalgia for the adventure game

SLAYERS, SLAYERS EVERYWHERE:
One of the more intriguing bits of video game news to come out last week was the announcement that an MMO set in the Buffyverse is in the works. The downside? This means a Firefly MMO coming from the same people is being shelved.

Wait, there was a Firefly MMO in the works? Yeah, that's the LA Weekly's reason for expressing cynicism about our chances of actually getting to play slayer.

The Buffy cast, as we last saw them.

While I see more MMO potential in Buffy than Firefly ("Another mission where we have to take the long route to avoid the authorities and barely make any profit?") I'm really having a hard time imagining it ... or rather, I'm having a hard time imagining how one would translate the Buffyverse into a variety of balanced character classes. This one will be interesting to watch ... that is, if we actually get news of how the game is developing, something we didn't get with that Firefly MMO.

APPARENTLY IT TAKES DECADES FOR A CAMP CLASSIC TO MAKE IT OVERSEAS:
Here's some exciting and surprising news for gaymers who appreciate the obscure and campy. This week, Cho Aniki (long pegged as the gayest videogame of all time) became officially available to American customers for the first time thanks to the Wii's Virtual Console. In light of the recent discussion on how the iPhone could revolutionize gay gaming, I wonder if there's a similar potential in outlets like WiiWare (where another gay-inclusive game, Eternity's Child, debuted) and the Virtual Console, which lessens the financial risks that might make a publisher wary. It'll be interesting to see if it sells well enough for more Cho Aniki games to hit the Virtual Console.

Cho Aniki

Deep down, tho, I'm hoping that this makes that final Eternal Champions game a possibility. (The original EC is a WiiWare title.) Sure, it wasn't a great fighting game, but Shadow Yamato is one of my favorite fighting game characters: gotta love a corporate spy who managed to remain covert despite dressing as The Huntress instead of working a cute business-casual number.

Eternal Champions' Shadow Yamato

ROCKIN' MOVE ON HIS PART:
The original rock & roll rhythm game, Guitar Hero is getting a new edition, Guitar Hero: World Tour soon and the new version boasts plenty of real life stars as playable characters, including:

One of Guitar Hero: World Tour's playable characters

Hey, cool, it's Neil Patrick Harris in video game form! No, wait, I've just been handed a note telling me that's not Neil Patrick Harris, that's actually Sting you can play as in the game. I guess I'll go back to hoping that I'll be able to play as Keith Strickland in some rhythm game:

The B-52s' Keith Strickland: Still dreamy

Excuse to post a picture of Strickland aside, wouldn't The B-52s be awesome in a Guitar Hero game? I know you can download a few B-52's tracks into Rock Band, but wouldn't it be neat to have them as playable characters?

After the break: What other gay sites are saying about Ultimate X-Men...

A CHANCE TO BUILD A MORE INCLUSIVE CITY?
Gay-friendly MMO City of Heroes announced the next expansion and there could be interesting days ahead: Architect will introduce player-created content, along with "day jobs" (or secret identities), two new powersets, a new reward system and more features. As I mentioned when the game hit its fourth anniversary, I think the ability for players to create their own missions could mean a lot for Paragon City's very active gay community.

Overall, the Mission Architect system certainly sounds promising since we'll be able to "weave characters and story throughout multiple missions in a single arc" which should allow for some pretty deep missions. However, one aspect that has my attention is how player-created missions will be evaluated: Players will rate story arcs created through the Mission Architect and some stories will be designated "Dev's Choice" by the game developers, which will make the mission give out rewards equal to the official missions.

By giving players the ability to create game content, we could have a way for gay-inclusive stories to become a part of the game and a way to bring gay characters into the fabric of Paragon City, even if content created through the Mission Architect most likely won't become incorporated into CoH continuity.

The potential downside lies in the community evaluations. Not only will players be evaluating stories submitted through the Mission Architect, it sounds like subscribers will also be able to report offensive content, meaning missions that include gay content could be marked as offensive simply for the inclusion of gay characters ... otherwise known as the YouTube effect.

The wedding of Manticore and Sister Psyche

Since I can already hear the cries of "Why does there need to be such a big deal about sexual orientation? I don't care if a character is gay or straight." from the usual suspects, I'll point out that that City of Heroes has had stories where heterosexual relationships were front and center. We've seen Calvin Scott seek out heroes to help his wife and the "Wedding Pack" was promoted with an in-game wedding between two major characters, so sexual orientation has been a part of the game.

USA VIA TARDIS:
While I don't entirely trust the original source, I have to admit I'm more than a little intrigued by the rumor that two of the three upcoming Doctor Who specials might be set in the USA. The three specials will be Russell T. Davies' last Who stories and considering how Davies brought a gay sensibility to the long-lasting sci-fi franchise, I can't help but dream up what he might come up with, including possible American companions.

I can't help but think of an American sci-fi series with a gay sensibility, Pushing Daisies, and how much fun it would be to see Kristin Chenoweth paired up with David Tennant. Combining those two high-energy performers would make for an explosive combo.

Kristin Chenoweth

Since Davies gave us one openly gay man in the role of a sci-fi hero, why not repeat that feat here by teaming the Doctor up with Neil Patrick Harris? Considering the two actors' flair for comedy, they'd be amazing to watch together.

Neil Patrick Harris

One thing dampening my excitement is the fact that Davies has discussed being a Britney Spears fan (you might remember Davis' second episode featured the Spears single "Toxic") and there were rumors she might appear on Who a while back. Then again, maybe she can be related to villainess Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen, who introduced "Toxic" as an ancient earth love song. I did like Lady Cassandra.

But who would your dream American companion for the Doctor be?

THE FINAL MMO FRONTIER:
City of Heroes gets a lot of coverage here, and that's partly because the superhero MMO has an active gay community, one that's really good at getting the word out about their activities. I'm starting to wonder if the upcoming Star Trek Online will be the next MMO to have a major gay presence. The game isn't even out yet and there's an online community for gay players, the Stonewall Fleet. This shouldn't be surprising, considering the loyal gay following Star Trek has held.

Star Trek Online

It'll be interesting to see if Star Trek Online can capture the appeal of the classic sci-fi franchise. The game is being developed by Cryptic Studios, who gave us City of Heroes (and is also working on the Champions MMO), which has gamers hopeful. On the other hand, Star Trek Online is heading into new(ish) territory when it comes to being the Captain of your own ship; that aspect of Pirates of the Burning Sea didn't work for me and I can't think of an MMO that's become a hit with ship-based gameplay. It'll be interesting to see setting the MMO decades after The Next Generation will help or hurt the immersive feeling of the game. Still, undoubtedly there will be missions in the Mirror Universe (which was even able to give us a good Enterprise episode) which should be pretty cool.

Anyone excited about Star Trek Online? What are you hoping for in a Trek MMO?

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE POCKET-SIZED?
The gamers at LesbianGamers.com asked an interesting question recently, wondering if the iPhone opens up games to more gay content:

"Given the ease with which programming and distribution – via the Apps Store – has been made by Apple, one would imagine it is only a matter of time before some smart gay programmers are out there releasing gay themed RPG's, utilities and other software on the device. Apple are only charging a bare minimum set up cost for the ADK ($100 at time of writing) and they take care of all distribution and credit card transactions (though they take a 30% cut – which is more than fair) linked to the software developed (or you can put it up as a free application)."

Could gay-inclusive games like The Hook Up find their way on the iPhone?

"Technically the iPhone also has additional features your other gaming handhelds lack. Features like the GPS and camera could add additional functionality to games. These aside though the accessibility of the iPhone for developers is where it's way ahead of the pack and with this accessibility should – hopefully – come an array of games which throw old conventions out the window."

Basically, the gay gaming potential of the iPhone lies in open-source development, low barriers to distribution and the creative culture that Apples encourages among its customers. The website for The N (home to queer-inclusive series like Degrassi and South of Nowhere) has a lesbian-inclusive dating sim, The Hook Up, which, from what I've seen, is very popular and is about the right size for a mobile platform. Could the iPhone open the potential for these kinds of games to finally become available?

AFTER THE BREAK: Gratuitous beefcake, do you really need more?

COMIC-CON VERSUS THE SHARK:
It feels like every year the San Diego Comic-Con is followed with some kind of discussion of if the event has outgrown San Diego, gotten too big for its own good or just generally jumped the shark. (This year's Nerd Prom certainly has drawn some complaints.) Graeme McMillan compiles the gripes, including complaints from the mainstream press sent to cover it, celebrities unable to get to their parties due to the huge crowds, comics publisher IDW talking about puling back and more press complains about too little comics at the Comic-Con.

What, Paris Hilton's appearance only gets mentioned in a quote? I thought she and Kim Kardashian were supposed to represent the end of Comic-Con's geek cool?

It's been a couple years since I've been able to get myself to Comic-Con (I am going through such withdrawal, I could mug someone for a Cafe 222 waffle ... if people were in the habit of carrying a hot breakfast on them) but I've long said that there's so much going on that Comic-Con that Comic-Con is what you make of it. You can focus on the indie comics, the manga publishers, the capes and cowls or just be there for the TV/film coverage without getting to bogged down in other aspects. Has that changed in the past two years of growth?

However, I've said for a few years now that the TV and film studios are overlooking the potential of Comic-Con by focusing on male-skewing titles. After all, thanks to the rise of publishers like Viz and Oni, Comic-Con attendees includes the fans of Nana, The Wallflower and Hopeless Savages and I can see those fans getting excited over an Ugly Betty panel. I'm disappointed that, so far, that audience keeps getting overlooked.

OFF*PRINT:
This was the news I was expecting/dreading when the news of Tokyopop's financial troubles first came out. Jen Lee Quick recently revealed that her incredibly likable (and adorably quirky) boy-meets-boy title Off*Beat won't see an ending anytime soon:

"as some of you probably heard Tokyopop is doing a lot of restructuring in the company. many of the OEL projects got affected. Off*beat got put on "hiatus". what does that mean exactly? i'm not entirely certain myself. i apologize for not sharing the news earlier but i was hoping to learn more information about the future of the project. all i can say still at this moment is that i have expressed deep concern to my former editor that i wanted a means to finish the story and give my readers closure. i'm trying not to say too much because i want to keep my options and relations as good as possible. i was given a kind of vague response quite some time ago that things were still being re-organized on their end and they were looking in to options for allowing their creators to finish their stories.

in short, tokyopop put the freeze on off*beat and there's nothing i can do about it until i hear otherwise...which maybe never."

The quirky and endearing Off*Beat

I'm not surprised, as I noted earlier, since the series has been behind schedule for a while. Still, it's disappointing to hear that the story won't be completed anytime soon; Off*Beat was a charming story that I would have loved even if it were a traditional opposite-sex romance. Fingers crossed that something happens to let us see the how Christopher and Colin's courtship wraps up.

IT'S NEVER JUST ONE THING:
Well, sadly, it's never one thing. A week before I heard about Tokyopop's problems, YAOI publisher DramaQueen had also hit troubled waters and now the Boys Next Door Blog is reporting that DramaQueen's anthology Rush looks like it won't be putting out any more issues, another hint that the publisher might not make it survive these troubles. Rush was DramaQueen's attempt to put out new material with western creators and, it seems, those creators have found their efforts frustrated by business troubles.

"Night and Day"'s Adder (by Akira Atsushi, left) and "Roulette"'s Riley (by Tina Anderson, right):

Rush was one of many titles that I never got around to sampling, so I can't say much about it. Are there any Rush readers out there who will be missing the series?

YAOI may be one of the few genres of manga still seen as having plenty of growth potential but with Iris, DramaQueen and Tokyopop hitting hard times, that seems to leave YAOI Press as the last healthy publisher creating new male romance comics.

Treasure by Studio Kawaii

I'm wondering: do we have any followers of YAOI Press out there? At last year's YAOI-Con, I ended up picking up period pirate romance Treasure! and mostly found it to be a fun bit of escapism (plus I liked how the story set up the naval setting as a way for the protagonists to try to escape the homophobia of the era).