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The Weekly Geek: Getting gay at Comic-Con

Are you going to Comic-Con in San Diego this weekend? Well, I’m jealous. The show has grown from its humble roots to encompass something of a nerd Mecca, with serious bucks being thrown about by major entertainment companies.

But better yet, there’s plenty of queer programming! Prism Comics recently put together “The Gay Agenda” at Comic Con, a grand document that guides the LGBT-loving attendee through all things gay at the convention. There’s so much rainbow-powered love at this year’s con that it’s almost hard to choose the highlights, but I’m here to point out the lady-centric bits.

There’s an entire panel about the LGBT obsession with super-powered women that sounds amazing:

“Divas and Golden Lassoes: The LGBT Obsession with Super Heroines”: Why do LGBT comic book fans, especially gay men, worship female superheroes? Going beyond just collecting the comics of Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Donna Troy, Saturn Girl and many more, LGBT fans intensely identify with and take great inspiration from these iconic heroines. Moderator Charles “Zan” Christensen has assembled an esteemed panel featuring Marc Andreyko (Manhunter), Phil Jimenez (The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia), Andy Mangels (founder, Wonder Woman Day) and Michael Troy.

As well as a workshop expressly designed for writing gay characters: “Writing Queer: Creating and Writing LGBT Characters,” which will feature Jane’s World scribe Paige Braddock.

Lesbian icon Lucy Lawless (if you don’t know Xena, you’re reading the wrong column) will appear at the Spartacus: Blood and Sand panel, and possibly the most insightful-sounding session of all will take place on Saturday, at “Comics Arts Conference session #13: Queer Comics.”

Lien Fan Shen (University of Utah), the artist of I Will Be Your Paradise, traces the production process of her manga, reveals the author’s struggles with the publisher, and examines the negotiations of her “queer” identity and Taiwanese identity since publication.”

And, for the big finale, a sing-along screening of Buffy’s magical musical episode, “Once More With Feeling.”

And though it’s not exactly queer-focused, Friday will feature a panel solely for ass-kicking women:

“Comics Arts Conference Session #8: Where Are the Action Chicks?” Katrina Hill (ActionFlickChick.com), Jill Pantozzi (MTV Splash Page), Adrianne Curry (America’s Next Top Model), Cindy Morgan (Tron), Luci Romberg (Zombieland), Jen Stuller (Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors), Gina Misiroglu (Encyclopedia of Women in Popular Culture), Marjorie Liu (Black Widow), Cindy Morgan (Tron), and J. Michael Straczynski (Wonder Woman) discuss why comics, television, and movies do not depict more action heroines and look specifically at why movies starring traditional comic book superheroines are nearly nonexistent.

In honor of what will surely be a fantastic panel, Underwire put together a list of “Geek Culture’s 26 Most Awesome Female Ass-Kickers.”Who’s number one on the list? Starbuck. Other notables that you don’t see trotted out all the time include butch ex-con Jack from Mass Effect 2 and Seven of Nine from Star Trek Voyager (along with, of course, mainstays Buffy, Xena, Lt. Ripley and Sarah Connor).

So, readers, is anybody hitting up Comic-Con this year?

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