• 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!

Yesterday, the latest issue of Young Avengers Presents arrived in comic shops. It focuses on gay Avenger Wiccan, who spends most of the issue getting to know his long-lost brother. The story also includes an early scene where Wiccan discusses his worries in his bedroom with his boyfriend, Hulkling. I can't think of a scene like that in superhero comics before, where a gay couple is shown in such an intimate setting while their relationship is in a stage that's still fresh and innocent.

I talked with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who wrote the issue, about Hulking and Wiccan's romance: "It's not something we see a lot (in superhero comics)," he said. "You don't see a lot of young, blossoming gay love."

In terms of gay representation, Young Avengers has been a quietly revolutionary comic. Hulkling and Wiccan were outed without any fanfare: readers picked up that they were gay because their dialouge had a dynamic reminiscent of superteam couples like The Fantastic Four's Reed and Sue, The X-Men's Scott and Jean or The Legion's Val and Jekkie.

Gay characters in comics are usually either "barely there" gays or lead into a "very special issue". Seeing gay characters who are equal members of a team and whose sexual orientation isn't a surprising character twist still leaves superhero fans a little bit confused.

The Authority's Apollo and Midnighter had a similarly subtle coming out, one that also left readers wondering if their gaydar was set to "oversensitive". There is one major difference between Hulkling and Wiccan and Apollo and Midnighter, however: The Authority is a title aimed at mature readers (primarily for violence) while Young Avengers is geared for the same age groups as the rest of Marvel's superhero titles.

This wasn't without controversy; some Young Avengers readers might remember a frequent contributor to the letters column who kept insisting that the relationship would undoubtedly lead to sexual content that would be inappropriate for an all-ages title.

Typically, when it comes to age ratings, any sort of gay content earns a higher rating, but Hulkling and Wiccan are presented as equal to any other relationship in the Marvel Universe. That a teenage gay male couple are shown sitting on the same bed without any apologies or worries is another quiet but solid step toward equal treatment for gay couples.

Alan Heinberg’s Young Avengers, which featured gay male supercouple Hulking and Wiccan, ended its first “season” in June 2006. The characters went on to co-star in the 2006 mini-series Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways, a title that ruffled the feathers of some gay fans. (The mini-series also starred the characters from another series, Runways, that includes a lesbian character and her shapeshifter Skrull girlfriend Xavin.)

Hulkling and Wiccan return to form in Young Avengers Presents, a six-issue mini-series that gives each member of the team a moment in the spotlight. In the second issue (which hit comic shops Wednesday), Hulking takes the lead as he meets with his father Mar-Vell. Wiccan is there to support his boyfriend through the tough time.

I got to chat with Brian Reed, writer of Young Avengers Presents #2 to get his take on writing the team’s gay couple, stepping in the footsteps of Allan Heinberg and how alien cultures in the Marvel universe might view sexual orientation.

AfterElton.com: One thing gay readers found really satisfying about Allan's work on Young Avengers was that Hulkling and Wiccan were written very much the same way as opposite-sex couples have been written in the past, with an intimate, affectionate tone to their battle banter. I think you capture that really nicely in your issue of Young Avengers Presents...
Brian Reed: Well thank you.

AE: And I was wondering, was that a conscious effort or did you just write them the way you would write … say, Vision and Wanda?
BR: Yeah, it was how I would write my wife and I. It was, ‘These were two people who are in love, there we go.’ You know what I mean? When you’re in love with someone and you spend all your time with them, you pick up certain conversational cadences with them and that was how I approached it.

AE: Minority characters in comics are so rare that their fans tend to be very protective of them – sometimes plot points and storylines that are meant innocently give an unintended message – was that an extra concern tackling a diverse cast like the Young Avengers?
BR: No, I joke that I have two first audiences. The first one is me and am I having fun telling the story I’m telling because if I’m not then you’re not going to have any fun reading it. The very next audience is whatever editor I’m working with – that’s because it’s their job to tell me, “Yes, you’ve entertained yourself but you’re the only one you’ll entertain.”

So when I approached the Young Avengers stuff, I sat down, I re-read the Young Avengers series, familiarized myself with who everybody was, how they behaved and just tried to match personality with my own storytelling.

AE: I think that shows, and the thing I enjoyed about this issue was that it felt like going right back into the series.
BR: That was the goal, yeah.

AE: Hulkling comes from two different alien races, the Kree and the Skrulls. In Runaways, we learn from Xavin that the Skrulls have a rather fluid view of sexuality and gender. Since Teddy is Kree and Skrull, have you thought about how Kree culture would view Teddy’s sexual orientation and his having a relationship with a teammate?
BR: I didn’t really think much about the Krees because working that into the story was going to feel like I worked that into the story. It was very much the story of a father and son meeting for the first time and honestly in my initial outline about ‘find out about the boyfriend’ and then I just went ‘Why?’ I’m so totally forcing that, it would have come off as a bad sitcom joke and that’s not what this story is – that’s forcing something in – and one of the first things to come off the list, too.

AE: If he had the chance, what do you think Mar-Vell would have thought of Wiccan?
BR: He would have seen another warrior, honestly. His great pride in Teddy in that Teddy has chosen to be a warrior and that Mar-Vell was conscripted as a child. He got to the point where it was ‘You’re 12 years old, now you’re in the army. Off you go.’ because that’s how the Kree worked. He was very proud of Teddy for saying ‘Hey, look, I need to stand up for what I think is right and what is good.’ and becoming that warrior. I think if he saw Wiccan he’d say, “You found yourself another warrior. Congratulations.”

AE: I read that you’ve said that you wanted to tell the story of Teddy and Mar-Vell meeting in the Captain Marvel mini-series but that didn’t work out. Was it satisfying to give that meeting a full issue?
BR: It was incredibly satisfying. When I originally pitched the Captain Marvel mini-series, Steve Wacker, the editor on the book, came back and said, “You’ve pitched five story arcs worth of plot and you have five issues. Let’s pare this down, let’s find what that story is and let’s do that five issue story.” I had Rick Jones, I had Teddy, I had time travel problems, all that stuff and Teddy was one of those things – because all those things kept getting trimmed away – I kept leaving in, I kept wanting him to be in there. And it finally came down to, ‘Wow, he’s just not part of the story that was being told.’ When I was given the chance to not only tell the story about Teddy but to do it from Teddy’s point of view, I couldn’t be happier.

AE: The worrisome thing about a Young Avengers Presents for me is that because Young Avengers has mostly been in the hands of Allan, when a new writer take it on you worry “Is this going to change the course of the character?”
BR: Marvel has that concern as well. All of our stuff got bounced by Allan. I read notes on how my story went. There were certainly things that – every writer, any artist coming into an artistic project has a tendency to go ‘I would have done it this way’ but that’s human nature. There was some of that in the notes, some of ‘I like this’, ‘I like that.’ So, it was nice we were able to run things by him and make sure it was in the vision.