Justice League of America #57, a flag-ship super-hero comic, has two gay men on the cover.
I know, it feels like that’s not something that should be noteworthy, right?

DC is also releasing a new edition of Howard Cruse’s Stuck Rubber Baby, which is one of those seminal graphic novels that pretty much everyone should have read by now. So if you somehow haven’t, get to it.

There is also a massive amount of Green Lantern merchandise coming out, enough to test the patience of even the most devoted Ryan Reynolds fan.

Have I mentioned before that I rather like it when Joe Jusko paints mostly-naked men?
Actually, the first issue of Wolverine/Hulk was surprisingly good, if a bit heavy on references to comparatively minor continuity points.

That’s an…interesting…artistic interpretation of the face of Ryan Reynolds in the obligatory Bluewater bio-comic. Still, it seems like the artist understood that the most important features needed to be highlighted.

I think we’ve discovered the point where “that t-shirt is too gay to wear in public” and “that t-shirt is too nerdy to wear in public” meet…

A plush Ryan Reynolds doll…

Oh dear…

Dark Horse is bringing the Dark Horse Presents anthology back in non-MySpace format, and one of the features is a prequel to 300 titled Xerxes

Which means we all get to argue about whether or not Frank Miller is a homophobe all over again. Joy…

Since Obsidian appears to have disappeared from JSA…again…if you haven’t seen them already, his earliest appearances are collected in an Infinity, Inc. hardcover:

$40 seems, frankly, a bit much for six issues and an annual. And while these are actually some fun comics, I think Infinity, Inc. created more continuity headaches for later writers than even Teen Titans.

Joe Jusko cover for “almost certainly won’t feed slash-fic writers ideas” Wolverine/Hercules

And the cover for the revamped again Hercules series, this time titled Herc:

I think even I’m starting to hit the Hercules saturation point…

I suppose this was inevitable…

I sometimes feel like I’m the only gay man in the world who doesn’t find Kathy Griffin even remotely entertaining.

The DC Comics Superhero Collection magazine, makers of those little lead superhero statues, are offering a Batwoman figurine:

I’ve got several of these, and they are fairly nice.

I can certainly see some appeal in wearing a cartoony Chris Hemsworth on my chest.

I can think of plenty of gay men who quite like the idea of their own personal Gil Gerard.

No comment.

Now that Phil Jimenez is drawing this “Legion Academy” arc in Adventure Comics, the costumes for the male characters are looking pleasingly Grell-esque.

Even though the heavily-redacted excerpt of this in Previews suggests that this is not “for me” I’m strangely drawn to it. For some reason.

I’d feel remiss if I didn’t point out that Clive Barker is actually writing this latest Hellraiser comic. I still generally like Barker, but man, do I not think that this particular franchise needs revisiting.
I suppose I should be grateful that it’s actually Barker behind this. And not some horribly missing the point Saw-esque treatment of the material.

My inner six year old is slightly giddy about the thought of a Zorro/Lone Ranger team-up.
The actual adult is curious to see how many naughty drawings on that theme already exist on DeviantArt.

One of the many reasons why 2011 is shaping up to be a very good year for comics*, Howard Cruse’s seminal gay comic Wendel gets collected in a complete edition. Utterly brilliant stuff by an amazing cartoonist.

^{* see also: Barks reprints, Pogo reprints, Flex Mentallo…}

It’s not, strictly speaking, gay, but the second volume of Kim Hyung-min’s and Yang Kyung-Il’s horror manga March Story is due in April. I picked up the first volume because an adult horror comic set in 18th century Europe sounded appealing, and enjoyed it and found a story that also contained SPOILERS some interesting uses of cross-dressing tropes.

No you too can have a tiny little John Barrowman to sit on your shelves.

I’m not certain about this ad…

I see a big logo for “100% Man” and I’m thinking something from Brush Creek Media, not Dark Horse.

I was a little surprised when I saw the first issue of Wolverine: The Best There Is that it mostly seemed to consist of Wolverine running around in the nude stabbing people.
Not enough to buy it, mind you, because the last thing Marvel needs is encouragement in their “flood the stands” policies.
I do rather like this Rafa Garres cover for Wolverine #1000.

I’m still enjoying Dynamite’s Warlord of Mars series. The art has been fantastic, and just prurient enough to feel “true” to Burroughs.

Everyone is still wearing far too many clothes, though.

A Joan Collins Barbie doll:

In case you were under any illusions as to who, outside of little girls, still collects Barbies.

Speaking of John Carter, one of those slightly too expensive military action figure companies is putting out a John Carter series.

Removable clothes, of course, so you can make it as authentic as you like.

The adorableness of a super-deformed Hercules may be too much to resist.

Let’s start off with an item from the October Previews, the graphic novel collection of Justin Hall’s Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny comics. Well worth checking out, as Hall is a fantastic cartoonist.

Now, for this month:
If you ever wanted a statue of the “Rough Trade Superboy”, DC has you covered.

And for only $195!

Or, if your tastes in tiny plastic beefcake lean towards the more mature, DC also has a sweaty caveman Batman figure for sale.

At about $20 it’s a better bargain, though probably slightly harder to explain to visitors.

This Li’l Abner t-shirt gives me pause. Pink text, double entendre, and men’s sizing…

Who precisely are they marketing this too?

Yes, I realize that these “Triad Omega” dolls are intended for action figure customizers, but still, Diamond is now selling toys of men in their underwear, and that pleases me.

And for the bear fans, an Obelix bust:

Oh, come on, surely I can’t be the only one to notice the homosocial subtext in the relationship between Asterix and Obelix?

DC launches a new Batwoman ongoing with a 0 issue and a typically gorgeous cover by co-writer and co-artist J.H. Williams.

And the “rough trade” version of Superboy gets a new ongoing as well.

Seriously, it’s probably time to put him in an actual costume.

Scott Thompson has a graphic novel coming out from IDW based on his Danny Husk character.

Hey, if it does well, maybe we’ll get to see a Buddy Cole comic.

Gay author Rob Rodi launches a new Thor mini-series at Marvel, Astonishing Thor:

I’ve heard good things about Rodi’s previous Thor books, and while I’ve enjoyed his comics and novels in the past, I can just never seem to bring myself to be interested enough in a Thor comic to read it.

Marvel also has a new Oz series by Eric Shanower, a new issue of Avengers: The Childen’s Crusade by Allan Heinberg, new issues of a Loki mini and The Stand by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and another Thor mini by Rodi. That’s six comics by four openly gay writers in one month from Marvel (presuming that ship dates don’t slip on any of those). Which is pleasantly surprising.
EDIT: I am reminded in the comments that Hawkeye & Mockingbird author Jim McCann is also openly gay. So make that seven comics by five writers.

Diamond is now offering the Henry & Glenn Forever mini-comic anthology from Microcosm Publishing. This is the book of one-panel gag strips based on the premise that Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig are a gay couple.

I bought a copy some time back, and it’s the usual mixed bag you get with this type of work. About 1/3 of it is really funny and well drawn, and about 1/3 of it is pretty regrettable. Most of the creators avoid the easy “lol fags” jokes you might expect. It’s a fun book for the most part, though, and let’s face it, there are lots of gay men out there who have Henry Rollins fantasies.
You can also order the book directly if you don’t want to wait.

There’s no immediate suggestion of gay content, but Yen Press has a new Fumi Yoshinaga series coming out titled Not Love But Delicious Foods.

Fumi Yoshinaga has done quite a bit of work with gay characters and situations in the past, notably Antique Bakery and Ooku, but this seems to be more of a food-manga than a romantic one.

Not quite as beef-cakey as I would like, but this is still a nice Hercules statue from Bowen Designs.

Oh, go ahead and get the obvious jokes out of your system for this one…

I didn’t notice this before since I don’t read the solicitations materials online, but here’s the cover of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #15 that Marvel put online:

And here’s what they put in the actual Previews magazine:

I always thought those color-coded bars on the side of every. single. page in Marvel Previews were excessive. I doubt this was anything other than lazy page layout, but that is an unfortunate bit of accidental censorship.

Hercules is finally back in Chaos War, and hey, it’s a Marvel series that isn’t launching as part of a cross-over!

Dynamite is bringing John Carter back in a new Warlord of Mars series. This being Dynamite there are four variant covers, three of which have nice beefcake designs. (The fourth is an oddly over-dressed Dejah Thoris.) The best of the bunch, though, is this Joe Jusko cover:

And hey, the interior art for the series is by the criminally under-rated Stephen Sadowski, no stranger to beefcake art himself.
And the first issue is only a dollar.

Torchwood fans still missing Ianto Jones may take comfort in the fact that the third issue of the Torchwood comic reprints the Ianto story written by Gareth David-Lloyd.
Those of you who aren’t still sending cans of coffee to Russell T. Davies because he’s a big meanie who hates gay characters, that is.

Every month I look at the listings for the little lead figurines of DC and Marvel characters, hoping that a character I really like will be listed this month, and almost every month I’m disappointed.
This month, the most beautiful thing in the world is listed for the DC line:

A Detective Chimp little metal statue. I teared up a little, guys.

Gayest Thing in Previews This Month
At first I was tempted to go with this tiny metal Son of Satan figurine, because it is the most basket-tastic toy I’ve seen since the Billy doll.

Then I saw this bust of the same character:

Apparently hell-fire is good for torturing the damned and manscaping.

If you’ve ever wanted to spend a hundred bucks on a poster of an evil drag queen, Dark Horse has you covered this month:

Image is releasing a series in September titled Next Gen Warz which is a parody of video game “console war” fanboys.
This is an image from the preview:

Just in case you were under any illusions about exactly who they’re targeting with this series.

I usually avoid mentioning yaoi titles from companies like Digital Manga because frankly the portrayal of gay men and gay relationships in most manga is…problematic. Kazuma Kodaka’s Kizuna is better than most examples of the genre.

Missed Opportunities
The DC Comics Superhero Collection Magazine figure of Cosmic Boy:

The Mike Grell Cosmic Boy costume design:

The Halloween costumes in Previews are usually just several pages of woman in mini-skirts showing off their cleavage, but somehow a guy without his shirt on snuck into this month’s offerings.

So basically all you need to dress like Mickey Rourke this Halloween is a $45 “accessory”, pajama pants and two pieces of string. And a six-pack.

NECA, makers of many a movie-toy, are the third? company to take a crack at the Rocky Horror Picture Show license.

Look, I own Shock Treatment on DVD…I used to be in a RHPS cast…even I don’t want any more Rocky Horror crap.
Still, bisexual transvestite action figure from a company mostly associated with horror franchises. Kind of cool.

We start off the month in a fairly promising manner, as the first new release listed for sale is Dark Horse with the latest attempt to revive the old Magnus, Robot Fighter property. This would be the book about a man in a skirt who kicks robots to death.

I have a real hard time believing that Magnus didn’t raise at least a few eyebrows back in the 60s.

Dark Horse is also offering this iPhone skin featuring a nearly naked Tarzan:

I feel like there’s a Grindr joke in there somewhere…

I realize some of you are probably sick of hearing this by now, but this is the cover to Green Lantern‘s August issue:

Why is the male embodiment of love and lust covered head to toe? It’s not hard to find actual men’s clothing that makes the Star Sapphire outfit look tame, but I’m not sure if I should chalk up this outfit to Crotch Panic or just cluelessness.

Also, and this is straying from the topic slightly, IDW has a Dungeons & Dragons comic coming out that I wasn’t interested in until I noticed that it’s being written by John Rogers, of Blue Beetle and Leverage, so that gets a look. Though it still doesn’t make up for putting Orson Scott “the government must be overthrown if gay people get to marry” Card on their Dragon Age comic.

Here’s the variant cover for the latest attempt at a Namor series:

Even with what I’m sure will be very pretty art by Ariel Olivetti, I’m just not sure a bitchy queen running around in speedos has a large enough fanbase to support an ongoing for very long. Especially when this latest attempt is tied into the X-Men books and is part of yet another cross-over.

Okay, here’s the big one, Veronica #202, the introduction of Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics (because what Dilton and Moose get up to behind closed doors is still a secret, and although Midge’s hair-cut isn’t fooling anyone, she’s still not out):

I’ve got strongly mixed feelings about this, and I’ve mostly avoided discussing the issue because I wanted to read it before I made a statement about it, and because I still feel pretty miffed at Archie sending Dan DeCarlo down the memory hole. On the one hand, I can honestly say that I never expected Archie to publish a comic with a gay character, not with the current management in place anyway. On the other, the hints of the plot that have trickled out make me nervous that Kevin is going to be less of a character in his own right and more of a plot device. The whole “girl tricked into hitting on gay guy” plot is pretty regressive, and problematic for a variety of reasons.
I guess we’ll find out in September how this ends up playing out.

Bluewater is publishing a bio-comic about Taylor Lautner, featuring his greatest assest: his abs.

Dynamite bring us The Last Phantom, featuring the title character nearly naked, bald and covered in some sort of sticky liquid.

The line between mainstream comics and fetish art is very thin sometimes.

Going off topic again, but NBM is bringing Peyo’s Smurfs comics back into print in English editions. A few volumes were available from Random House back in the 80s, and they really are fantastic…if filled with the sort of racial and sexual politics that make 60s Francophone comics a little uncomfortable today. There’s nothing particularly gay about them…except for Vanity Smurf…and Hefty Smurf…and Smurfette basically just being a Smurf in drag in her first appearance…and a village filled with 99 little men…
Okay, so Smurfs are pretty gay. Here’s hoping that all 27 volumes make it into English this time (and I wouldn’t mind seeing all their Johann and Peewit appearances showing up either…speaking of gay subtext…)

Titan Comics, publishers of the not-at-all-gay wrestling comics, is launching a Torchwood comic as well. From the solicitation, it sounds like it will be reprinting the comics from Torchwood Magazine, but I’d be willing to wager that more comic shops will pick this up than the magazine.

It’s been awhile since I saw something that really made me despair for the taste of straight men…how did I fail to guess that it would be a piece of Neon Genesis Evangelion merchandise?

As if the popularity of “bandaged Rei” figurines wasn’t creepy enough to start with, putting the character in an ass-flashing outfit takes it to a whole new level of needing to go and scrub my eyes with bleach.
Straight Men, what the hell is wrong with you?

Gayest Thing in Previews This Month
A Legend of Zelda statue depicting Goron leader Darunia.

Basically, an entire race of bears who spend their days wrestling each other.
Uh…huh.