This is, um, super:

Perry Moore's young adult novel Hero - which tells the coming-out story of a gay teen superhero - is being developed as a one-hour series for Showtime by comics legend Stan Lee.

We knew that Lee and Moore were working together on something from their appearance together at a gay comics event earlier this year, but this is great news. Showtime of course brought us the groundbreaking Queer as Folk and The L Word, and while something based on a young adult novel might not be as racy as either of these series, it will no doubt continue the trend of out-loud, out-proud television.

We can't wait to hear more! In the meantime, check out our interview with Moore and our interview with Lee.

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.

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

SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN, CAN BREAK INTO SONG LIKE OLIVE SNOOK CAN:
Here's a bit of news I didn't expect, apparently there's a Spider-Man musical coming to Broadway. There's reason to feel optimistic about the project -- it's directed by Tony-winner Julie Taymor while the music comes from Bono and The Edge. Still, despite those names I can't help but think of It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman.

Right now, Spidey is set to hit Broadway late in 2009 or 2010 (I want to know which city gets the test run). I'm not much of a Broadway geek, mostly because I now live in a city where the Spamalot tour sticks around for just one week (admittedly that's better than a one-Starbucks town), so I don't have a strong feel for how much optimism Taymor should inspire... what do you Broadway fans think, does this sound like the next Lion King or Carrie?

I GUESS IT WON'T BE A GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW MOVIE:
Marc Guggenheim is currently on the geek radar as the writer on Amazing Spider-Man and as one of the people working on the Green Lantern movie, but he also hits my gay pop culture radar as a writer on the first season of Brothers & Sisters and an Executive Producer on the gay friendly Eli Stone. Unfortunately, thanks to an interview at The Pulse he also hits an offensive note with some comic fans. In discussing the controversial One More Day storyline (where Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane was erased from continuity) he oddly brings up the issue of gay marriage:

"Part of the problem with the controversy behind One More Day is the understanding of what was retconned overstates the extent of what was done," he said. "Everything that happened in the last twenty plus years of comic book history happened! The only difference is that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson weren't married. They still dated. They still lived together. They still love each other. They just weren't married. Judging from the letters and death threats we received, I think some people were confused. It all still happened."

One More Day

"Here's my attitude, if anyone is upset about the marriage going away, then they must all be pro gay marriage," he continued. Because if you're pro gay marriage, you understand the distinction between a marriage and a civil union -- that a civil union is not equal to a marriage. We downgraded Mary Jane and Peter to a civil union. If that bothers you, then you're pro gay marriage."

Uhm, what? Is he saying that marriage and civil unions are the same thing and that gays who see a difference between the two (y'know, like those Federal benefits that straight couples have the benefit of taking for granted) are like those silly fanboys who are angry over a superhero story? Is he trying to play on the homophobic tendencies of superhero fans to make them feel stupid?

Comics blogger Dorian Wright, who drew my attention to Guggenheim's comments, explains his annoyance:

That's a rather nice bit of gay-baiting he pulled off. Guggenheim basically just called anyone who didn't like the One More Day story-line a f----t, while phrasing himself in such a way as to make it look like he's being gay-supportive.

What do you think? Does Guggenheim's comments rub you the wrong way, can reactions to Brand New Day be compared to marriage equity without trivializing an important civil rights issue?

THE MOST UNEXPECTED BATUSI PARTNER:
Comics gossip monger Rich Johnston has an interesting new rumor this week. Johnston claims that the legal battle between Fox and Warner Bros. over the upcoming Watchmen movie might lead to the live action Batman TV series hitting the DVD store shelves. The rights to the DVD has been a matter of dispute between the two studios for a while -- while Fox owns the film but Warner owns the rights to the characters. Johnston says that Fox is hoping that Warner will sign over the rights to selling Batman on DVD in order to get Watchmen into the multiplexes without delay.

Two great things I never expected to put together in an image:

From a gay geek perspective, that's an interesting collision. The Watchmen comic stands out as an early gay-inclusive comic (even though today we'd be complaining about them being "barely there") while the Batman TV series is full of camp and gay fave performers like Ertha Kitt and Julie Newmar. If Johnston is right on this one, it sounds like a win-win for the fans, at least.

After the break: Which sci-fi show has a Torchwood shoutout in the works?

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?

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!

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).

WORLDS COLLIDE ... AND MERGE!:
Probably the gayest and most surprising headline to come out of San Diego last weekend was the announcement that the characters from Milestone Comics has been acquired by DC with the characters to be incorporated in the DC Universe. For those of you who don't remember it, Milestone was a short-lived DC imprint headed by a coalition of African-American creators seeking to remedy the lack of diversity in comics, with their best-known character being Static, thanks to the Static Shock cartoon.

Overall, Milestone's offerings were very inclusive both on the page and behind the scenes, including LGBT characters, so I'm looking forward to see what DC does with them. Among Milestone's gay characters are Static's close friend Rick Stone, the closeted Fade from Blood Syndicate (a series co-created by Ivan Velez Jr), lesbian couple Donner and Blitzen as well as transgender cop Marisa Rahm.

When news like this breaks the cynical part of me usually wonders how the ball will get dropped. But in this case, Milestone co-founder Dwayne McDuffie will be involved in the transition and Milestone characters will be a part of some of DC's hit titles (for example, Static will be joining the Teen Titans), so I'm feeling pretty hopeful.

A big part of the challenge of adding diversity to superhero universes is that the Direct Market is pretty hostile to new concepts, leaving us stuck mostly with characters who've been around for decades, back when diversity wasn't considered. Of late, DC has tried to address this by giving old concepts new identities, including a Latino Blue Beetle, an Asian Atom and a lesbian Batwoman. Milestone aren't new concepts and Static is pretty far from being an unknown character, so maybe this will be another way to increase diversity at DC.

The short-lived !mpact line from DC

Meanwhile, on a similar note, we also learned that DC also acquired the Archie Comics superheroes, who also saw a short life as the DC imprint !mpact. As far as I recall, there wasn't any gay content to be found at !mpact, but it'll be interesting to see if these characters endure the way the characters DC has acquired from companies like Fawcett, Charleston and Quality Comics have lasted. The characters will be introduced in a Brave and the Bold story written by J. Michael Straczynski.

SECOND CHANCE ON THE SMALL SCREEN:
Another bit of happy-making news is the announcement that longtime gay-fave team The Legion of Super-Heroes will be appearing in an episode of Smallville this season. The ep comes from the pen of Geoff Johns, which certainly has my hopes up. As excited as i was over the idea of The Legion getting an animated series a couple years ago, the challenge of bringing the Legion to TV was made a little too clear by that adaptation's failures. The Legion has plenty of characters (Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5, for instance) whose powers aren't visual, making them harder to include in the action. I think Johns could handle that challenge nicely.

Now, obviously, the whole team can't be a part of the episode but who's on your wish list?

50 years ago, Adventure Comics #247 changed the DC Universe

The Legion had a pretty good presence in San Diego (this being the team's 50th Anniversary), including a panel on the title's gay following. I've only seen one, which seemed to largely discuss topics pretty familiar to gay Legion fans. I have to admit, I adore the Legion but it drives me crazy that a title with a gay following that is so heavy on romance hasn't managed to establish and maintain any gay characters. I know all the continuity reboots have made it challenging but it's too bad that the Legion's loyal, gay readers aren't a bigger priority.

After the break: Save Middleman, Soul Caliber hunks and more!