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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Maybe no one remembers this, as it was a few years ago now, and some comics geeks can have very short memories, and require references and pictures and concrete statements from creators. But for a while, there was discussion in the X-Men comics about Beast’s sexuality.

As it turned out, he wasn’t really gay. It was a malicious lie he told the human girlfriend who dumped him by telephone because he now looked like a big cat; one that got away from him and returned to bite him on the ass. This all happened, of course, in Grant Morrison’s epic and unbeaten New X-Men run.

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You may've noticed our last episode of Sidekickcast Presents... was ably hosted by a young Welshman by the name of Joe Glass, he kindly went to MCM Expo for us and reported back on all the fun with some great interviews. What you may not have known is that Joe is also a comic book writer in his own right, his book, The Pride was on the flip side of Stiffs which we reviewed just after Cardiff Comic Expo (incidentally, Joe also writes for Stiffs). We thought we'd take the opportunity to grab a 6 page preview of The Pride (scattered in order through the post) and run a few questions by Joe, especially regarding the more unique elements of the project.

Sidekickcast: Let's start at the beginning, what exactly is The Pride about?

Joe Glass: The Pride is a six issue comic miniseries. It’s a superhero story about the formation of a team, who then get drawn into a global threat, and they may be the only heroes capable of saving the day. Oh, and they’re all LGBTQ heroes…lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, trans, post-gay, queer, but all heroes.

The main thrust of the story, besides the obvious action, explosions and kicks in the face, is about representation. They’re not getting the best representation as heroes in their world, so they seek to change that by showing how great they are.

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