Heroes' Zack: Nope, still gay.

One of our eagle-eyed readers (thanks, Andros!) pointed out that despite being de-gayed by the network over a year ago, the character of Zach (or Zack, as he's called in written form) on NBC's Heroes is still pinging the gaydar in the show's online graphic novels. 

In case you missed the whole brouhaha, the cheerleader's best friend, Zach (played by Thomas Dekker), was conceived and written as a gay character until the creative forces behind the show were pressured to de-gay him. The character disappeared shortly after, as Dekker was cast in the soon-to-debut Terminator series.

But it looks like the folks behind the supplemental graphic novels that accompany Heroes still carry a torch for the lost gay teen, as evidenced by a recent issue that flashed back to Claire's time in Odessa. It seems that Elle (Kristen Bell) was spying on Claire and quickly dismissed the notion that Claire and Zack were romantically involved or that she could seduce Zack into giving her a videotape she was after.

Sure, the book doesn't actually confirm Zack's sexuality outright, but the repeated references are rather amusing, considering.