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!

I really don't have much to say other than that Neil Patrick Harris, Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion and company certainly made the most of their time during the writers' strike.

This. Looks. Awesome.

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

For updates, be sure to check the official site. (Big ups to Ben for the tip!)

Geeks, gays, and lotsa folks in between got a real kick in the pants over the weekend when Buffy and Firefly creator Joss Whedon revealed on his fansite that he is in production on a three-part web musical starring none other than out actor Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. Joss can explain it better than I can:

So.....

The bag is catless.

During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each. Writing with me was my brother Jed, his fiancee Maurissa, and my other brother Zack. To my shock and surprise, we finished it. To my greater shock and surprise, we managed (with the help of many people I'll be praising at length soon) to drag it into preproduction (yes, just as DOLLHOUSE was given a start date two months away and all my comics were due.) And today, after a grueling week of writing everything ever while trying to be a producer, I got to start shooting. A musical.

This much I will say: It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. And I'm having the time of my life.

"DOCTOR HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG"

Neil Patrick Harris.....as Dr. Horrible

Nathan Fillion..........as Captain Hammer

Felicia Day.............as Penny

And a cast of Dozens!

Coming soon.

I know plenty of gay Buffy fans whose favorite episode was "Once More With Feeling", the legendary all-singing, all-dancing ep. Likewise, NPH is going strong these days, and who isn't itching to see Nathan Fillion sing and dance, possibly even in tights? 

Tom Lenk as Andrew in Buffy

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Yet another expose on Scientology that is unable to name any names when claiming that the organization straightens gay celebrities. (Other than John Travolta, and do we need to issue a press release stating once and for all that we really didn't want him in the first place?)

• Our Top 10 Gay and Bisexual Wookies, Tribbles and Thundercats article from earlier in the week sparked some interesting discussion over at a Joss Whedon fansite, including a link to Joss himself weighing in on the whole "is he or isn't he" debate regarding Andrew from Buffy.

• I'd be more optimistic about the results of a recent study showing that gay couples are just as committed as straight ones if it weren't for the subtle implication that gays are doing just fine without the right to marry, see? Or maybe that's just me.

• Hey fans of The Wire's Omar (that includes you, Senator Obama!): Actor Michael K. Williams recently appeared on NPR's Fresh Air and spoke at length about the character ... you can hear the whole interview here. His candor and apparent deep respect for his character and his character's sexuality are very impressive, as is the fact that he improvised Omar's first kiss, which wasn't in the script.

• The L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center and the City of West Hollywood have teamed up to create a web soap to raise HIV awareness called In the Moment.

Fox's new entertainment president made his first major programming move with the announcement that Joss Whedon has a new series in the works with the network. Even better, this isn't news of a pilot being developed to possibly make it to our TVs: Fox has already committed to seven episodes.

The new project, titled Dollhouse, reunites Whedon with Eliza Dushku, who's best remembered as renegade vampire slayer Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Dushku will play Echo, an agent who can be programed to have a personality -- including any necessary physical or intellectual abilities -- tailored to any task assigned to her. In between assignments, Echo and her fellow agents have their memories erased to leave a clean slate for their next one. However, Echo begins to develop some self-awareness, disrupting the status quo for the illegal facility known as The Dollhouse.

Whedon also discussed the show with TV Week. He expressed optimism for Dollhouse's chances at Fox, despite the disappointment fans felt over his last Fox series, Firefly, saying that, "It’s a brand new day over there. It’s a completely new bunch of people and they seem really intelligent and supportive."

Whedon also noted that the series' debut will depend on when the impending writers' strike ends:

I can write for spring. There’s a hiccup in that process because of the [potential] writers strike. I will be good to go the moment we are in agreement with the studios. But I won’t pick up a pencil while we’re not.

So far, there's no gay characters in the show but Whedon is responsible for giving us the first gay lead character on an American sci-fi TV series and is one of the few sci-fi writers out there who regularly seeks to include gay characters and stories. Considering that there's a definite shortage of gay representation in sci-fi, a new series by Whedon is a very welcome development.