“Tell me how Grandpa proposed again, Grandma.”

“Is that sort of relationship model why all my brothers have a different daddy and Mommy drinks?”

“Yeah, probably. Now pour your Grandma another scotch.”

Proof that illiterates don’t get laid.

Cold Fusion, 1996, Lance Parkin
A mostly clever book, slightly undone by its use of some of the more aggravating “New Adventures” era tropes. The idea of the Fifth Doctor trying to do what he thinks is right, only to end up being opposed by his own future incarnation, is probably my favorite concept for a multi-Doctor story yet. References to a parallel world Gallifrey where Time Lords use magic and “the Other” are less appealing.
This was apparently a hard book to come by, as well, as it’s the only book from the Virgin Publishing period I had to buy a used copy of.

And just to add insult to injury…

“SWF seeks pulse and penis.”

I’m getting in on the ground floor of the reel-to-reel nostalgia craze with the hipsters…

Return of the Living Dad, 1996, Kate Orman
Benny returns to get the Doctor to help her discover the truth about her father’s disappearance, leading to Earth in the early 80s and an answer to the question of what happens to the stragglers of all those alien invasions that the Doctor ends up thwarting. A typically light Orman adventure.

DC gets out to a strong start, despite their curious silence about Batwoman disappearing from Detective Comics.

First up, is a long over-due reprint of Howard Cruse’s graphic novel about coming out in the South during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Stuck Rubber Baby. It’s one of those books that you really should be ashamed of yourself if you don’t own it.

And then Vertigo continues to dip into their back catalog with gay author Robert Rodi’s comic spy series Codename: Knockout, featuring gay side-kick Go-go Fiasco.

It was a fun series, but I don’t recall it being either greatly critically lauded or a big seller, so it’s a surprise to see it back in print. A pleasant surprise, but a surprise all the same.

DC is also soliciting a new line of Dragon Age action figures, but bisexual nun-thief Liliana, bisexual assassin Zevran and clearly gay despite the game creator’s apparently not realizing it warrior Alistair are not included in the first series.

If I were still a retailer, I’d probably be pretty annoyed that Marvel has six titles solicited this month for which there is no creator information available. As a reader, I’m annoyed because one of the titles is Young Avengers, home to Marvel’s only gay male super-hero couple. If the book is being written by a gay-friendly creator, that’s fine. If not, it would be good to know that before the damn thing shows up in shops.
I also can’t help but feel that if Marvel really was trying to do right by retailers, it’s these blind-solicited books that they’d offer variants in exchange for stripped covers.
But, you know, that’s how people acting like real businesspeople would treat their primary customers, and this is comics we’re talking about.

Torchwood is the latest sci-fi show to get a scholarly book of essays devoted to it with Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality in the BBC Series. It looks a bit drier than these things usually go. As if the authors are actually series about doing a critical analysis of the show. I’ll probably end up picking it up, I’ve already got more books on sexuality in pop culture films and tv shows than anyone not teaching an American Studies course should.

I see Graphitti has finally noticed that nerd-friendly tv show Big Bang Theory regularly features t-shirts only nerds are not embarrassed to be seen in public in, and are advertising this fact in their advertorial section. Sadly, this information is already covered, and more usefully, elsewhere.

I’m going to go ahead and declare this Dr. Horrible animated-style statue the Gayest Thing in Previews for this month, if only because I’m racking my brains and this is the first time I can think of a situation where nerds and toy collectors are going to be putting a little statuette of a gay man in their homes.