Saturday, January 17, 2009

Coming Soon: A Gay Superhero

I heard some news awhile back that I've been meaning to write about for a long time now. Showtime is turning Perry Moore's novel, Hero, into a series. This reason this is big news is that the novel happens to be about a gay teen superhero named Thom Creed.

I've long hoped that Heroes would add a gay hero to their roster of characters, though the debacle with the character of Zach (Claire's friend from season one, intended to be gay but made into a straight character after the fact) dimmed any serious expectations I may have had there.

This, though, is far better. Not only will the series have a gay hero, he'll actually be the lead. Perry Moore is writing the script for the show, which legendary comic book writer Stan Lee is developing. In fact, the media has started trumpeting the fact that the creator of Spider Man is bringing us a gay superhero.

I read the book last fall after hearing a lot of very good things about it. It was an engaging story and I think it will work really well onscreen, especially from the cable network that brought us Queer as Folk and clearly isn't afraid to showcase gay characters.

Not to give too much away, but if the series does stay true to the book, there will eventually be two gay superhero characters on the show, and that would be even more amazing.

I just wish it was starting soon and not still just in the development phase!

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