Check out this picture of our banner on the City Pages blog about MarsCon 2012!

http://www.citypages.com/slideshow/marscon-rockin-the-apocalypse-36345838/#15

Check out this picture of our banner on the City Pages blog about MarsCon 2012!

http://www.citypages.com/slideshow/marscon-rockin-the-apocalypse-36345838/#15

Somebody's getting married!  Marvel seems to have realized how many GLBT readers they have and are now aiming storylines at us.  Last year, Striker came out as gay to former Power Pack-member, Lightspeed in Avengers Academy.  Lightspeed let him know that she was bisexual herself.  And now, in the last issue of Young Avengers: Children's Crusade, Teddy (Hulkling) proposed to Billy (Wiccan)!  Billy accepted, and they shared a full page kiss.  I think this is the first time that these characters, introduced as boyfriends seven years ago, have been shown kissing.  I'm sure they were just saving themselves for marriage.

USA Today recently printed a top ten list for comic book podcasts, and the Comic Book Queers made the list!  I've enjoyed listening to them for four or five years now, and have even gotten the occasion to be on the show with them once or twice.  There's a lot of talk of the X-Men and their associated books, naturally, but there's love for DC and the independents as well.  I'm hoping we can get a live podcast recording at Gaylaxicon this year!

There have been a number of articles posted lately about the difference between male and female superhero costumes and how the characters are drawn in comics.  While I don't think things will change much or very soon, as the big superhero companies never seem to get much of a clue, I will admit that I kind of like seeing Supes and Bats in costumes that are more befitting a go go boy than a superhero.  And there are certainly examples of male superheroes who wore costumes that were....well....you'll see. I have yet to see any guy try to do that costume at a comic convention, but if I do, I'm absolutely getting my picture taken with him.

A new sitcom started on ABC a few weeks ago, which you probably haven't seen.  In this case, it's because ABC stands for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  A sitcom about a GLBT science fiction fan club, Outland is the brainchild of John Richards and Adam Richard (who also appears on the show as Fab).  It was originally written as a short film which played at various film festivals around the world, and is now a six episode series running on Wednesday nights in Australia.  Clips are available on the Outland website, and it looks absolutely hilarious.  I hope this series airs in the US soon, but I'm not sure where it would play.  BBC America?  The DVD of the first series comes out in the Australian region in April, but until then...Beta Standby...BETA GO!!

This weekend, three of your humble hosts got the opportunity to meet actor Leslie Jordan at Quatrefoil Library in Saint Paul.  We had seen his one-man show the night before, which was the height of hilarity.  Have you ever laughed so hard it felt like you'd been working out?  Leslie Jordan's most famous role is Beverly Leslie, a recurring character on Will & Grace, but during his book signing at Quatrefoil, he told us of another character he played, the Ferengi Kol in Star Trek: Voyager.  In the episode False Profits, he played a Ferengi lost in the Delta Quadrant, who of course is trying to turn this state of affairs to his economic advantage.  Leslie talked about having to come in at 3am for the make-up call and having to sit in the Ferengi make-up for 21 hours, and the trouble he had masking his accent for delivering his lines.  They even brought in a speech coach for him, who would reprimand him, "Leslie, the word feather does NOT have four syllables!"  For both of these reasons, his one episode of Star Trek: Voyager was his last, a decision he sometimes regrets when he thinks about the money he could be making at Star Trek conventions.  Personally, I think playing a Ferengi in one episode, as well as Resplendent Man in Lois & Clark, gives him plenty of sci-fi cred.  Future Gaylaxicons, take note!

Lyda Morehouse, Gaylaxicon 2012 Guest of Honour, has just released an e-book version of Resurrection Code, her prequel to the AngeLINK series.  Published by Mad Norwegian Press, the book delves into the history of how Christian became Mouse.  The Kindle version is available on Amazon.  Resurrection Code was a North Country Gaylaxians book club selection for 2011.

I'm Jason, head of PR, Outreach and Publications for Gaylaxicon 2012, and will be making regular updates on what your convention committee have been doing to make this year the best Gaylaxicon ever!  We keep pretty busy, planning and organizing, but every once in awhile, we are able to attend another convention, and this weekend, I was in Los Angeles for Gallifrey 23.  One of three annual Doctor Who conventions in the US, Gallifrey is by far the largest, and this year increased attendance by almost a thousand people, many of whom you'll be able to meet when they come to Gaylaxicon this October.  Gary Russell, one of our Guests of Honour, was there, and let me know how excited he is to be coming back later this year.  He's looking forward to the smaller, more intimate atmosphere of Gaylaxicon, where he'll be able to meet and talk to more people.  Gallifrey attracts an inordinately high number of GLBT fans, and I was sure to get Gaylaxicon fliers into their hands at every opportunity.  I also got a chance to register a number of them on the spot, using Square, a credit card reader and smartphone app.  It's so easy!  Plug the reader into the earphone jack of my iphone, open the app, swipe the credit card and a receipt gets sent via e-mail or text to the customer!  I've fallen in love with it a bit, and you can see it in action at future events where we'll gladly use it to register you for Gaylaxicon right then and there.  I get a feeling it'll get quite a lot of use in the coming months, and we'll probably need to buy more of the Square readers.

I go to Gallifrey every year, and this year was one of the best ever!  If you're a Doctor Who fan, starting planning on being there for Gallifrey 24 in 2013.  It'll be the fiftieth anniversary of the show, and the organizers are pulling out all the stops.  Meanwhile, we'll see you at Gaylaxicon in October!