Six Awesomely Gay Things About The Venture Brothers

The Venture Brothers may have started out as a funny little parody of Johnny Quest and 1960s superhero comics, but over the course of four seasons it's evolved into an incredibly complex and detailed satire of pop culture. It also might be the gayest cartoon on television right now.

The show centers on self-serving super-scientist Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture and his sons Hank and Dean, naïve Hardy Boys wannabes stuck in a permanent state of clean-cut curiosity. But they're just a small slice of a massive ensemble cast that includes some of the most original gay characters we've seen in years.

Without further ado, here are six super gay things about The Venture Brothers.

1. Shore Leave

Shore Leave is a nautical-themed hero who once belonged to a team of G.I. Joe-style agents modeled after the Village People. Presently, he's a member of SPHINX, a secret organization that hunts down unlicensed supervillains. Joining him is Mile High, who pretended to be his lover as part of a deep-cover assignment ... although that didn't prevent them from having actual sex.

Flamboyant and sassy, Shore Leave could easily have been depicted as just another clichéd stereotype, but he's actually a pretty excellent example of a gay action hero. Plus, he proves that being effeminate doesn't prevent you from kicking major ass.

Shore Leave and fellow agent Brock Sampson prepare for action:

2. The Alchemist

A middle-aged, magical monk with a love of Jimmy Buffett, The Alchemist is an openly gay member of the supernatural-themed Order of the Triad. Although he's employed his sorcerous abilities to search for a cure for AIDS, “Al” takes his work far less seriously than his overdramatic colleague Dr. Orpheus, and he's less likely to go out vanquishing evil than to fret about his ex-boyfriend who broke up with him via MySpace.

Al joins the Order of the Triad: