In this week's unintentionally Joss Whedoncentric edition, Marc and Lee review the latest installment of the comic book series Buffy Season 8 as well as the Astonishing X-Men.

Turning to television, along with their usual review of Doctor Who, Marc and Lee give a preview of the next movie in here!'s "Everyday Gay Heroes" series, Solar Flare.

And in the return of Lists, find out who are the nine greatest lesbian and bi female characters in the sci fi/geek world.

Check it out after the break!

In this week's episode of Angry Puppy, Marc and Lee talk about breaking movie news (keywords: Jake Gyllenhaal!), George Takei's Secret Talent, Jack and Ianto's Weevil-hunting clinch, some new X-Men books, and much, much more.

• "It's Spawn but gay":
  Gay comics site Pink Kryptonite interviewed Prism Comics co-founder Charles "Zan" Christensen this week. The discussion included his gay-themed comic Mark of Aeacus, the development of Prism and other queer comic creators. Prism has been very effective as a comics advocacy group, working to make it easier for gay readers to support LGBT and LGBT-friendly creators, and Zan's been a big part of that empowerment.
  

• If you dare wear short robes...
  Long time comic readers likely know artist Colleen Doran. A Distant Soil stands out as an early example of a gay male character with a dedicated female fanbase. She also co-pencilled the infamous Legion issue where Shvaughn Erin was revealed as transgender. Right now, Doran is sharing unpublished art from her 1987 Marvel mini-series Fallen Angels, including this scene of X-hottie Jamie Madrox (aka The Multiple Man) in a robe so short it "nearly gave (Fallen Angels) editor Bob Harras a heart attack". It's a fun example of Doran's challenged the exclusionary tendencies of comic book fandom. Besides, it involves Madrox, who's been hinted as having a bisexual side. Doran promises pages that took inches off of Harras' headline all on their own. I wonder if she means this newly-posted page of Jamie fighting for his clothes:

  

  Doran muses that "it’s not every day you get to draw a mighty Marvel mutant in a struggle with a sentient mutant cybernetic lobster for control of a pair of pants." Sadly, true. (BTW, that's just a portion of the art Doran shares, be sure to visit her site for the full pages and more of Doran's wonderful work.)
  

• Uuuuh, yeah, I guess you could say our priorities are misplaced:
  I don't know how to react to this except to shake my head. Parenting game site What They Play asked its readers what they would find more offensive in a video game. The site's users answered that they'd be more offended by two men kissing than a "graphically severed human head". Seriously? At least gay kisses placed a distant second to a heterosexual sex scene. I know American audiences are generally more tolerant of violence than sexuality but still ... these people would rather their kids play Mortal Kombat than The Sims?
  

• Apocalyptic anticipation:
  Since I know there's a lot of anticipation for the third installment in the Fallout series (which has been gay-inclusive in the past) I thought some Week in Gay Geek readers might be excited to see some new teaser screens.

  

  The apocalypse looks pretty good.
  

• Attention Q-Mart shoppers:
  YAOI readers might want to take note that publisher 801 Media announced on their blog that some of their earlier titles are almost out of stock, so if you've been procrastinating on one of 801's titles, "now or never" time might be coming soon. I've had my eye o Ichigenme, a title from Fumi Yoshinaga (one of the creators I highlighted in my look at YAOI comics) since realizing how Yoshinaga nimbly mixes gay issues with escapist romance.
  

• The week in comic mash-ups:
  The first movie I ever saw in the theatres was Race for Your Life Charlie Brown, so I'm probably likely to like anything that puts the Peanuts through a new creative filter and that includes this illustration of the Peanuts characters as the Watchmen characters:

  

  Since I always quibble, I do wonder about how the characters were matched up, Snoopy as Rorschach is brilliant and Charlie Brown as Dr. Manhattan actually makes some twisted sense... but Linus as The Comedian? (I see him as more of a Night-Owl myself) and Lucy as the Silk Spectre? What do you think? How would you mix Peanuts characters with Watchmen mystery men?
  

• I wonder, wonder why the WonderCon:
  For those of you who are heading out to Wondercon in San Francisco this weekend, local alt-weekly the Bay Guardian takes a look at what's gay at the convention. Meanwhile, Prism Comics has an even fuller agenda for gay fans. The San Francisco Chronicle also takes a look at the con's gay content. In addition to those panels, the Prism Comics booth is a place where you can usually find a wide variety of LGBT comics.
  
  
• Wolverine adds three hunks and Morrison creation:
  While most gay bloggers have been quick to notice the increasingly hunky cast of the Wolverine movie (which now includes Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Daniel Henney, along with Hugh Jackman), it's the news that Dominic Monaghan will be playing Beak that has gotten my attention. Beak? Beak? My inner Grant Morrison fanboy is pretty excited to hear that one of his characters is going to be a part of one of the X-Men films. Now, if only we could see signs of how Morrison pushed the franchise (creatively as well as its gay metaphor) forward in his New X-Men run show up in future films. Oh, and because the excuse doesn't come up often, here's an illustration of how abtastic the Wolverine film is getting:

  

  There aren't many guys who can manage to still look hot despite being stuck with Sally Brown's hairdo, but Jackman certainly manages it. (I'd link you to the Tim O'Neil comic I stole that joke from, but I can't find it anymore ... can anyone with better Google-fu help?)
  
  
• Wii old school gamers love the Commodore:
  One way of establishing your nerd credibility -- at least if you're old enough -- is by reminiscing about Commodore. (I get to mix my Commodore geekery with my marketing geekery by being able to tell people how my parents bought me two of Commodore's failed C64 emulators ... anyone remember the Commodore Plus 4 or the Commodore 128?) Wii owners are going to get the chance to indulge in that nostalgia when Commodore classics become available as Wii Ware titles in Europe. Now, if only someone would realize how the genius Dan Dare video game needs to be introduced to a wider audience. (And is Dan Dare the nexus of video game, anglophile and comics geekdom?)
  
  
• Turok the Guykiss Hunter:
  Well, this could have made it interesting, a conceptual storyboard for the Turok videogame reveal a cut scene where the game's dinosaur hunter locks lips with another guy.

  

  I'm not sure how the Turok franchise just keeps on going. No matter how much I ignore it, it keeps coming back (unlike Quantum and Woody or other Acclaim title I liked). Is there a quality about this one the rather generic title and bland story descriptions are hiding?
  
  
• Boys on film:
  The Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic The Boys was optioned for a possible film recently, which I have to admit has me a bit worried. While Ennis' history as a comic writer is mostly gay friendly (we did have complaints about his work on Midnighter and I'm not sure if there's a gay-friendly angle to The Boys' infamous "hamster" cover), his edgy style of humor is the type where some of his gay jokes can take on a homophobic undercurrent if mishandled by the screenwriter (and from what I've read about The Boys the title does have the occasional crude gay joke), this is one film I'll be keeping a cautious watch over.