June 27, 1969 marked a definitive moment for the gay community: When a police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, it sparked an uprising from the bar's patrons, who had had enough of the harassment the raid symbolized (and, according to many accounts, were already upset over the recent death of gay icon Judy Garland earlier in the week).

The revolt grew, as people from nearby bars stepped in to support the Stonewall patrons, eventually turning into a protest that lasted for five days. While the idea of gay pride and that gay people had the right to exist without constant harassment had been building for some time thanks to groups like the Mattachine Society, the uprising energized the gay rights movement. A year later, the event was marked with the first Pride Parade and several major cities celebrate Pride on the last Sunday in June because of Stonewall.

One website is celebrating Pride with a webgame inspired by the Stonewall Rebellion. Stonewall Brawl takes designs from gay cartoonist Eric Orner (creator of The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green) and turns them into a Streets of Rage-style side-scrolling fighting game, where you play a character that fights police officers, collects martini power-ups and unleashes a superpower based on disco fabulousness.

When news of Stonewall Brawl first came out reaction was pretty mixed. Critics wondered if the game would reflect the diversity of the Stonewall Revolution's participants (the Stonewall Inn's patrons were mostly Black and Hispanic, and the uprising probably wouldn't have happened if not for the drag queens and transgenders who were a key part), asked if the game could be taken out of context to make the gay community look bad (after all, it is a game about violence against the police) and worried that turning the Rebellion into a game would trivialize a key event for gay rights.

This week, Marc and Lee talk about their visit to Comic Con in New York (which had more attendees than there are survivors on Batttlestar Galactica!), news for gay metalheads, domestic partner benefits for super heroes, Manazon, their final uncensored thoughts on Torchwood's second season and a whole lot more! Watch now!

• Global Viz:
  As expected, there were a good number of announcements at the New York Comic Con last weekend, but the ones that floored me involved manga publisher Viz working with western creators. First off, Stan Lee will be writing a series for Jump SQ magazine (a Japanese manga magazine published by Viz’ parent company) with Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei, Ultimo. With that team, it sounds like a sure bet Ultimo will make a quick hop to our side of the pond.
  However, the bigger news to me is the announcement that Viz is planning on publishing original graphic novels. I’m feeling pretty hopeful about this initiative, when Viz’ competitor Toykopop started publishing their “global manga”, we got some great gay-inclusive titles like OffBeat, Steady Beat and the incredible 12 Days. Then again, Tokyopop was publishing titles like Fake and Gravitation long before they started accepting submissions. (And I’m having trouble of thinking of any Viz titles with gay characters, aside from The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross.)
  
  
• Hughes Vogues:
  Easily, the most buzzed-about piece of swag from the NYCC was this promotional fashion magazine-inspired poster featuring the Women of the DC Universe by Adam Hughes. I am just in awe of this piece, especially how you can identify most of these characters through the personality they display on paper and with subtle clues to their trademark costumes in the different gowns. Can you identify who’s who without checking the caption?

  
  From left to right: Catwoman, Oracle, Zatanna, Black Canary, Power Girl, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batwoman, Vixen, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn

  I’m pretty pleased to see Batwoman is a part of the group. Considering how many times her solo series has been put off, I’m happy to see some acknowledgment of Ms. Kane.
  The poster has inspired Johanna Draper Carlson to announce a contest (timing and prizes TBA) for someone to do a version featuring the men of the DCU. Do you have a feel for how Dick Grayson or Kyle Rayner would wear a suit differently?
  
  
• Time for a catnap:
  In other news of lesbians in the DC Universe, DC announced at the NY Comic Con that the GLAAD award-winning title, Catwoman would be ending. Considering how this has been one of DC’s most mainstream queer-inclusive titles since it began, that’s disappointing to hear (though isn’t Holly off being a goddess – literally – these days?). On the other hand, another lesbian-inclusive series, The Secret Six, will be making a return with Gail Simone continuing to handle the concept. Under Simone’s pen, we got a Secret Six that was run by Scandal Savage and a newly hunkified Catman, I hope that continues:

  

  Which brings this bulletpoint full circle.
  
  
• Spending your gay geek dollars:
  You might have noticed a story in the news about GLAAD pulling out of a San Diego Pride event at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in your news reading this week but I thought it would be worth bringing up to gay geeks that the Manchester Grand Hyatt is a popular option for those attending ComicCon. I know a hotel room for ComicCon is harder to get nowadays than a copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special, but would knowing about Manchester’s stances make you pause about getting a room at his hotel?
  
  After the break, find out which classic BBC sci-fi series might be getting a revamp, check out the trailer for Mortal Kombat vs. the DC Universe and more!

In this week's episode, find out what Karl Lagerfeld is doing in Grand Theft Auto IV, what Jenna Jameson is doing in a comic book and what John Barrowman is doing on a game show with a bunch of kids.

Lee and Marc also review the latest episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Torchwood and give you an exciting preview of Torchwood's season finale. Last but not least, they list their ten favorite gay geeks.

• What's gay at the NY Comic Con?
  Who's attending the New York Comic Con, this weekend? Queer comics advocates Prism Comics will be helping to bring some gay sensibility to the gathering. On Sunday, Ivan Velez, Jr. leads a "Gays in Comics" panel that asks, "Glorified, Gentrified or Ghetto-Sized?" to a group that includes Phil Jimenez, Tim Fish, Stephen Sadowski and Jose Villarrubia. And on Saturday, don't miss the acclaimed Ariel Schrag's appearance at Jim Hanley's Universe.
  
  
• 8 Years, 100 Million, 35 titles:
  Electronic Arts bragged this week that The Sims franchise has sold over a hundred million units. There are a lot of reasons behind the game's popularity, I think one important factor is that you can't find a more gay inclusive video game (though it's probably just as important to note how gay friendly its fanbase is). I still remember the thrill of picking up the first Sims game on the release date and figuring out that, yes, you could have same-sex romances. That gets me thinking to how a gay couple in the first game could only move in together, while The Sims 2 let same-sex couples become unioned and enjoy the same wedding ceremonies... I wonder if any more equality will be seen by gay sims in the upcoming third game.
  
  
• Old Kingdom, New Screenplay:
  While I'm not sure if the devoted fanbase for Garth Nix' fantasy novel Sabriel includes a gay segment, I always figured that to be the case -- don't gay geeks have a weakness for brainy heroines from Nancy Drew to Barbara Gordon? Sabriel fans this week got some promising news this week as Nix announced that he's working on a Sabriel screenplay with gay ally Dan Futterman. Normally, I'd be worried about getting the tone right but considering the last time Futterman adapted a novel into a screenplay we got Capote, I think the project is starting out on solid ground. On and since I've got an excuse, here's the handsome Mister Futterman:

  

  Any Sabriel fans out there? (And who would you cast to play the young, hunky and easily befuddled Prince Touchstone?)
  
  
• Raise your hand if 'Huh?':
  Well, here's a very surprising bit of news, the next game in the Mortal Kombat series will be a Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe game. Honestly, I'm having a hard time imagining this working out to either brand's advantage -- Mortal Kombat wouldn't be the same without the fatalities (even the repetitive ones from Armageddon) while the idea of The Flash (sadly, Wonder Woman is now an inapt example -- thank you very much Infinite Crisis) punching off his enemies heads doesn't sound like the DC game I've been waiting to play. On the other hand the idea of Dick Greyson battling Johnny Cage does have its appeal (or how about Black Canary versus Mileena). What do you think?
  
  
• "Get out of the house and play (in someone else's house)!" :
  I only just saw this year-old ad for the pen & paper Dungeons & Dragons and I'm curious what people think:

  

  (In case the image is too small, the ad reads, "If you're going to sit in your basement pretending to be an elf, you should at least have some friends over to help. Get together. Roll some dice. Have fun.") It feels a bit full circle to see the P&P RPG calling another type of game anti-social. That gave me a chuckle, at least.