BEWARE: SPOILERS FOR STORMWATCH #1!

Last week saw the release of Stormwatch #1 from DC, written by Paul Cornell and with art by Miguel Sepulveda. More importantly, it features the return, or perhaps more accurately the introduction, of Apollo and Midnighter; two of comics most renowned homosexual characters.

As you may recall from earlier editions of Tales, I wondered how we might find these characters represented, what this would mean for LGBTQ representation in comics as a whole, and also how this marries up with DC’s claims of a broader, more diverse and inclusive universe.

With the issue finally out, I felt I should say something about it. However, I admit this is proving the hardest entry to write…because there’s not an awful lot to say. Maybe that in itself is worth exploring.

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I’ll start with a little bit of personal history for you: when I was in university, all those many years ago, I spent a lot of my time working with the university LGBT group, called AberPRIDE, as this all occurred in the far off sunny/windy/wet/drunken shores of Aberystwyth.

As such, LGBT rights and gay culture have always been on my mind and a major part of my life. Also as such, it means I often hear the question: “Do we really need gay pride events? What’s the point? They’re just big parties these days”.

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Superman is the greatest and most powerful superhero in the DC Universe. You all know the drill, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And yet, his greatest enemy, the one man he can never truly defeat, is a megalomaniacal bald bloke with a penchant for nice suits.

Lex Luthor is the archetypal supervillain, the polar opposite of his nemesis. Where Superman is physically powerful, Luthor’s greatest asset is his mind. Superman is decent, upstanding and completely selfless, Luthor is shallow, nasty and thinks of nobody but himself. But what sets Luthor apart from other supervillains are his goals. While he’s never going to stop seeking more money and power, his ultimate goal is simple. He wants to kill Superman. Luthor can’t stand that there’s someone in Metropolis who is more powerful, and more loved, than he is. That’s it. Pure, simple, jealousy. Everything Luthor does is ultimately about destroying the Man of Steel, and he takes everything Superman does personally. There’s a short speech from Luthor in JLA #11, written by Grant Morrison, which sums up his relationship with Superman perfectly:-

“There have been ‘Justice Leagues’ before, of course. I’ve indulged their existence. Let them conduct their colourful public brawls, like drunken sailors with a Hollywood budget. Let them play their games. I could have destroyed any of those organizations at any time. I chose not to. Until now. Until Superman. I would have overlooked this latest media-friendly pantomime by creatures whose very existence makes a mockery of human achievement. I would even have been prepared to indulge the astonishing arrogance of their lunar clubhouse. But for Superman. I take his leadership of this preposterous team of alpha males as a direct challenge, a throwing down of the gauntlet, a clear escalation of hostilities between us. I intend to utterly destroy Superman’s private army, and to do so I have assembled the perfect weapons…”

Superman takes up leadership of the League, never even giving Luthor a second thought, and Luthor genuinely believes that it’s all about him. This is why he’s such a good adversary for the Last Son of Krypton. He doesn’t know how to be anything else.

Luthor on screen has been tackled by a lot of different actors, many of whom have gotten it shockingly wrong. There seems to be a propensity to portray Luthor as a cackling, pantomime villain, ignoring any of the quieter moments which make the character so menacing and launching into full on over the top histrionics *cough* Kevin Spacey *cough*. But, there have also been a few actors who just get Luthor.

I was quite surprised at the results of your votes for the best Luthor of all time, which was won by Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum. I was genuinely expecting Gene Hackman to clinch the top spot. But who features on my list of great Luthors? Let’s find out...

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So you know all those DC relaunch titles? All the number one issues are going to be collected into one hardback volume acting like a bible for the New 52 and the DC Universe in general.

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First among Superheroes, Superman paved the way for the rest of our favourites, both in comics and on screen. Superman has been played by possibly more actors than any other superhero out there, which made this particular column incredibly difficult to write. Not only have a lot of people played Superman, a lot of them (well, more than five) played him well. Narrowing it down to my favourite five was a real challenge, and I didn’t want to cheat like I did on the Batman one. Apologies to Kirk Alyn and Beau Weaver, who were both able animated Supermen, and if I ever meet the ghost of George Reeves, I owe him big time for cutting him at the last second.

So, who did make it? Well, when I put it to guys and gals on the internet, the winner by an overwhelming majority was Christopher Reeve, with more than three times the number of votes as his nearest rival (Tom Welling). I’ll be honest with you, the top spot on this list will come as no surprise to anyone. But what about the rest?

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Link: http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/02/the-new-justice/

We saw the full cover to Geoff Johns and Jim Lee's JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 yesterday but today DC have dropped a whole lot more on us with another look at all the latest relaunch covers and yes it seems this is now being called a relaunch and not a reboot. So far I'd say these are looking very 90's, all extra pipping in the suits, new belts, funky boots, bigger claws and trousers for the ladies. We'll still have to wait and see how they turn out but at the moment I'm looking forward to getting me some Savage Hawkman action, hell yeah!

WONDER WOMAN #1 - Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang.

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“And when hell is full the dead shall walk the earth” Yup, you guessed it, this week is Zombie week, with two reviews of zombie-orientated books, both by the same writer. Also, in a cunning twist, one of the books is not a graphic novel but an actual novel, no pictures or nothing, just words.

First up is “The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded attacks” written by Max Brooks (World War Z, Justice League voice artist), he’s also the son of Mel Brooks, which in itself is very cool. The book is illustrated by Ibraim Roberson (cover artist for much of X-Men: Second Coming and Necrosha)

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Link: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44392

Ok so today's big news is that Angela Bassett has been cast as Amanda Waller in the Green Lantern movie alongside Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and Mark Strong as Sinestro. Alot of noise will probably be made about this as us Geeks just can't help ourselves, Amanda Waller looks like the picture above but Angela Bassett looks like the picture below:

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Link: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17403

Here at Sidekick comics we like to think we offer an unbiased view of the comic book community and it's in that spirit that we present this trailer, courtesy of CBR , for Warner Brother's latest Batman animated series; The Brave and the Bold. Last week we posted two trailers for Marvel's latest animated offerings so here we take a look at what Dc has on the animation table. Unlike the Marvel's Direct-to-DVD feature approach, The Brave and the Bold is a full animated series being broadcast on the Cartoon Network.

This new series will focus each week on Batman and another hero from the DC Universe teaming up to foil some dastardly plot in Gotham City and beyond. As can be seen from the trailer, Warner Brothers have chosen a 50's style to the design of the new series,darkness of previous incarnations giving way to a more fun and child-friendly (possibly) approach.

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