The Geeks OUT Podcast: Singled, Out & Queer

Geeks OUT Podcast: Singled, Out & Queer

In this week’s episode of the Geeks OUT Podcast, Kevin (@Gilligan_McJew) is joined by Geeks OUT President Nic Gitau (@cocodevaux), as they discuss the trailer for the new reboot of The Baby-Sitters Club, the first look at AppleTV+’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, and celebrate Quibi renewing Singled Out hosted

In this week’s episode of the Geeks OUT Podcast, Kevin is joined by Geeks OUT President, Nic Gitau, as they discuss the trailer for the new reboot of The Baby-Sitters Club, the first look at AppleTV+’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, and celebrate Quibi renewing Singled Out hosted by the queertastic Keke Palmer & Joel Kim Booster in This Week in Queer. 

.

BIG OPENING

KEVIN: Multiple comic professionals face harassment accusations

NIC: Disney re-themes Splash Mountain after The Princess and the Frog

.

DOWN AND NERDY

KEVIN: Harley Quinn, The Floor is Lava, You Brought Me the Ocean
NIC: Drag Race, Hannibal, This One Summer

.

STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER

New trailer for The Baby-Sitter’s Club reboot

.

THIS WEEK IN QUEER

Quibi renews the queertastic Singled Out for a second season

.

CLIP OF THE WEEK

New trailer for Foundation

.

THE WEEK IN GEEK

MOVIES

• Michael Keaton in talks to play Batman in new Flash movie
• Queer filmmaker and icon Joel Schumacher passes away
• New trailer for animated movie Superman: Man of Tomorrow
• Tenet & Mulan pushed back again, to August
• Elizabeth Banks to star in live action Magic School Bus movie
• New trailer for Over the Moon 
• New trailer for The King’s Man
• SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run moving to onDemand & CBS All Access 

.

TV

• New trailer for Brave New World
Central Park, Big Mouth, Family Guy, & The Simpsons recasting non-white roles being played white actors
• New trailer for Muppets Now
• New trailer for docuseries Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2
• New trailer for Unsolved Mysteries revival
• Netflix picks up Cobra Kai
• Syfy cancels Vagrant Queen  
• New trailer for Crunchyroll’s animated latinx series Onyx Equinox 

.

COMIC BOOKS

• Eisner Awards redoing voting process after anomalies occur
• Skybound announces virtual Skybound Expo

GEEKS OUT CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: Luciano Vecchio

For this Pride addition of the Geeks OUT creator spotlight, I had the pleasure of speaking with the extremely talented Luciano Vecchio, a queer comic book artist from Argentina.  Luciano has most recently worked on the New Warriors re-launch for Marvel.  Prior to that, he did a run on Marvel’s Iron Heart with writer Eve L Ewing and fellow artist G. Geoffo.

Luciano began his American comic book career working for DC for the online initiative “Zuda,” as well as digital first TV-based and custom comics.  He soon jumped over to Marvel doing the same type of content.  He then began work on his creator owned queer-lead superhero team “Sereno” and “Unseen Tribe.”

It wasn’t long until he caught the eye of editor Alanna Smith, then working on the short lived yet critically acclaimed “Iron Heart” series starring young African-American tech genius, Riri Williams.

Chris Allo: When did your interest in comics begin? What was your first comic book? What was the thing that got you into comics?

Luciano Vecchio: When I was very little in the 80s in Argentina, the Superfriends cartoon was on TV, my older brother used to collect the Spanish edition of DC Comics, and there was a lot of trading cards, toys and merch illustrated with the DC Style Guide by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. I was immersed in that and it was a big part of my imagination. 

I have a vague memory of the first comic book my parents bought for me specifically, one of Batman and Robin, a storyline with Nocturna and the vampires (Looking it up now, it was the Mexican edition of Batman 349 by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan.) I must have been 5 or 6 years old, and I remember having that feeling of “I will do this when I grow up”.


Chris: Who are the artists–any kind of artist, doesn’t have to be comic artists–whose work inspires you?

Luciano: I started with the American school of artists. Like George Perez, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez were my first inspirations. Then I started mixing it with other influences, like Yoshiyuki Sadamoto from the Evangelion manga, and Bruce Timm’s tv shows. I liked very diverse things I was consuming at the time and tried to mix it all when I drew. Grant Morrison’s writing shaped a lot of my thinking at creating. Gail Simone’s work reeducated my purpose. More recently Rebecca Sugar’s work made me reevaluate my aspirations on what we can achieve through epic fiction and how.

Chris: When it comes to comics, you’ve primarily done work for hire. You’ve done DC and Marvel in America, plus other places. You’ve also done creator-owned as well, right?

Luciano: Yes.

Chris: What are the positives for working for other companies, as opposed to working for yourself? What do you like about working for those different (companies)?

Luciano: What I like about working with mainstream properties like the characters of Marvel and DC, is that I think of it as a modern mythology and world-affecting metafiction. A collaborative, generation-spanning collective work. These characters and their stories and universes are bigger than any of us, hyper-charged with a myth-power that can amplify a story or message in a way that is unique to this medium and industry. That is what I value the most of being able to tap into these story-streams.  

When I work for myself, I write my own scripts and I value working from the guts with full liberty, and though my reach is far more limited without a big publisher behind, the connection with readers through my work is raw and personal, a much more intimate experience.

Chris: Do you feel with your current comics, like, say, Ironheart, that (has) been collaborative? You are part of the creative process?

Luciano: In different ways depending on the project, but my latest big projects for Marvel are team efforts between writing, art and editorial.

With Ironheart it just flowed because Eve Ewing’s script touched most of my emotional nerves and narrative interests, and we connected and were able to chat about the book and what Riri’s story means to us in ways that were much more personally invested than just drawing a script. In New Warriors, which I’m currently working on with writer Daniel Kibblesmith, I got the chance to be involved from very early stages, and though my input is more visual I was able to insist on including Silhouette in the main roster, who is a favorite of mine and we had recently reintroduced in Ironheart so it gives a sense of continuity.

And in shared continuity there is also this sense of collaboration with past generations of authors who worked on the characters, dipping into previous volumes of the series to make sure I’m invoking the same spirit through my voice, I think it’s a very important part of the job.

Also, I like doing it all myself sometimes, and I’m so honored that I got the chance to write, draw and color my own mini story from my queer and South American POV for the Marvel Voices special.

I started my creator owned comic Sereno as a weekly webcomic while I was working on the Ultimate Spider-Man Infinite Comics series (a digital comic based on the TV show). I was adding more work to a very busy schedule so it had to be meaningful for me. Sereno is an exploration of the superhero genre through a poetic, personal, even spiritual perspective. A sort of essay on what we can do and achieve through epic narratives. And it has the queer lead superhero that I needed to read when I was young and didn’t exist.

Chris: And how long have you been working on that?

Luciano: I started in 2014 and put it on pause in 2018 when I prioritize my monthly series for Marvel. I did other personal work in the middle and after, but shorter stuff.

Chris: Have you collected it? Have you printed it, or are you going to?

Luciano: I have a first volume collected in Spanish. Now in lockdown times, I took the chance to correct the translation for English readers, and it will soon be available through ComiXology.

Chris: In terms of projects like work-for-hire, what kind of projects, or content, that you really like drawing? And what are some of the projects you’ve worked on that really satisfied you as an artist?

Luciano: Superheroes are my main interests, and more specifically underrepresented demographics taking the lead in a medium that is catching up after leaving us behind for decades.

Chris: I assume you’ve worked with several writers. Have there been any writers that really stand out, that you feel like you really gelled with to create a connection, like you guys are feeding off of each other?

Luciano: I would say Eve (Ewing, writer of Marvel’s Ironheart). I feel so lucky I got assigned her first comic work, because her voice and writing, coming from a background in poetry, sociology and education was so fresh and rich I feel it renewed the way I approached making comics. It was a process to get to know each other through the work, because we never met in person so far.

Chris: (laughs) Yeah, that’s how it usually works in comics. So one of your most recent projects was Ironheart, which just wrapped. How did that happen for you? How did it come about, and then what was challenging about it? What did you love about it?

Chris: Well, it was my first shot at the mainstream Marvel Universe, because I was mostly assigned to the digital, animation-based licenses before that, which I had had enough of. I was ready for something more significant. Through my creator-owned work I realized I had my own voice and style, I had my own interests besides just drawing, I wanted to level-up. So the challenging part was making the jump, deciding what I didn’t want to do anymore, go back to producing samples and talk to editors about I what I do want to do and feel I can provide. Then I was given this chance and everything clicked and it’s been quite a ride so far.

Chris: So how does it feel? I’ve been in comics for a long time, and for me, this journey will always have samples. Now it feels, with this younger generation of artists, they don’t want to do samples for free. They feel they should be paid. How do you feel about that?

Luciano: It feels like it’s part of the business.

Chris: It’s just kind of accepted?

Luciano: As long as it’s not unfair. At many points of my career I saw portfolio work as an investment. I won’t work for free, but I will invest in myself if it’s going to pay off reasonably.

Chris: It’s not unlike when you’re an actor and you’re doing auditions, right? You’re not getting paid for them. You’re trying out for the job.

Luciano: Yeah, it’s not the same as a publisher asking you to work for free, or being paid in “exposure”.

Chris: Alright, cool. So you’ve done some work in Argentina. How does that compare to your American comics work? Is it very different?

Luciano: Argentina has a very rich, creative and political comic scene, in a smaller market with small and self publishers, it is a scene fueled by passion and it shows. I consider my creator owned work very successful in this context, but I do it for love and not for profit. My American work is what makes my income besides being enrichening in the ways we talked about.

Chris: Are there any artists lately that inspire you? Contemporaries that are working now?

Luciano: More than specific authors my attention is in this paradigm shift we’re attending and being part of, of LGBT+, female and POC voices progressively taking space in the making of culture. In and out of comics, in independent and mainstream, in fiction and other expressions.

Chris: How has being LGBTQ informed your work? What is it about being gay or bi or whatever that you put into your work?

Luciano: I think as public first we have an unique reading of how fiction and culture shapes the world around us and even how we look at ourselves as a result of that, so then as creators we bring that awareness if we can, which is not as easy as I would hope, it’s more of a constant work of learning through trial and error and observation, or projecting oneself into characters and story from that perspective. My subjectivity as queer and South American -Marika y Sudaca- will affect and shape the work I’m producing, and I think when it works out the best is when I draw (or write) for myself, for the kid I was, and that can resonate stronger and more honestly.

Chris: Obviously, when you’re working for a big company, you only have so much control of what you could do. That’s why you could have your own creator owned, so you could do things like that. So outside of the Big 2, what do you think we could do?

Luciano: I think visibility is super important for creators and any person with a following (if your safety and survival needs allow it, of course). When I was a teenager and Phil Jimenez came out it was inspiring and empowering, and now as a professional knowing about so many LGBT+ colleagues in the industry provides a sense of community that can extend to readers too if we’re visible and vocal. And with our work, we can pick our fights, propose contents that we need and won’t get done if we don’t start ourselves. Hold the door open for the next generation of queer creators so that they will have better opportunities.

Chris: Here’s a lighter question. Who is your favorite existing queer character and why?

Luciano: Wiccan and Hulkling are like the most likable of the whole Marvel universe, they’re cute and wholesome in a way that didn’t abound when they were first introduced, I think they incarnate the self-accepting and loving queer archetype and that’s why they have a very invested following across the globe even beyond comic readers.

Chris: What are the projects you are most proud of right now?

Luciano: Ironheart and my creator-owned comic Sereno. And I’m especially proud of my story in Marvel Voices anthology which I got to write myself, which is a rarity being a non-native English speaker, in which I had all the LGBT+ characters of the Marvel Universe gathering BECAUSE of their queer identity, for Pride. It is something I always wanted to see happen, I took the chance and pitched the idea even though I was invited as just an artist into this special, and it worked out. It’s just one page, but I did it all, even coloring and it is a career highlight for me.

Chris: What lesson or advice would you give to aspiring artists today? What do you wish you knew then that you know now when it comes to being a working artist in today’s industry?

Luciano: It’s weird, because the world keeps changing so fast. My personal experience really doesn’t apply to newer artists.

Chris: Well the mechanics of it are still kind of the same, yeah? I always tell my artists “whatever you do, make sure you keep a schedule. Make sure you think on those terms.” I think having some of those basics will always stay the same, but knowing what you know now, what would you tell somebody? “Make sure you focus on this, this is really important…”

Luciano: I think I took a while to develop the more human, social aspect of the business. That’s what I struggled with the most when I was younger. I find it is fundamental. In whichever way you can make it happen.

Chris: This last question is, is there anything new on the horizon? What’s your next project that you could talk about? Or not talk about. Do you have something coming up?

Luciano: The New Warriors miniseries which has been rescheduled as a result of the distribution stop, so I don’t know when it will come out now. Same with my variant cover for Emperor Hulkling, which is only a cover but it was so cool to get to draw my boy Teddy like this. And I have a short story as writer/artist in an Argentinian anthology coming up, in a much more personal and raw style.

Chris: Well if you could pick your own project, what would you want to work on? Like a mainstream thing.

Luciano: If I can just dream, a Young Avengers or just Wiccan & Hulkling book. I’m starting to fantasize about writing or co-writing something with them.

Chris: So if you could put together your own superhero team from any queer characters who are out there, who would be on your team?

Luciano: Also, I think Wiccan and Hulkling and Nico Minoru and Karolina Dean have so much in common as couples that would make a great team dynamic. But more of a team I would love a book about community, where any queer character can appear and connect and know each other because of their shared identity, as we do in real life.

Chris: I think every character has the potential to be great, it’s just a matter of… to me, comic books are “character, writer, artist.” If you find the right team, they could make anybody an amazing character. I don’t think any character is shit like that. Any character can be great. Oh, one more question. How was your Flame Con experience? How important do you think it is to have our own conventions?

Luciano: It is super significant for me. My first time I attended just as a visitor in 2018, which I hadn’t done in years at any show, and it was so special. For the first time I felt fully safe and with my own community in a comics related event, I went to workshops and panels, met people, learned from LGBT+ peers in the industry. I was at the professional crossroad before making the jump to Ironheart and those two days were defining in my intentions. I said to myself this is where I want to be, and I want to return as a guest. And bam! Next year, 2019 I was part of the guest list, tabling and participating on the Designing X-Women panel, and it was my favorite con experience ever. I looked forward to returning in 2020, I guess given the circumstances it will have to be 2021?

Chris: How does it compare with artist alley in New York Comic Con? (Laughs)

Luciano: Well it’s shorter! (Laughs)

Chris: Yeah, it’s exhausting.

Luciano: Well, it’s a pleasure. I don’t know. Being within our community, it’s more chill, it’s more enjoyable in general. New York Comic Con is also super enjoyable, but it’s so much more intense, and you’re surrounded by people you admire, and… I don’t know. There’s opportunity in every direction. It’s exhausting.

Chris: Was there anybody you met at each of the conventions that you never expected to meet? That you were a fanboy for?

Luciano: Lots of people over the years, I used to be super awkward or just freeze when I met my childhood idols like George Perez, JL Garcia Lopez or Grant Morrison, but contexts like Flame Con or sharing the “New York Times’ LGBT in Comics” panel at NYCC that I did twice allowed me to make the transition from fan to peer with creators I admire and who have positively influenced me with their work but also with their insight, support and encouragement, like Phil Jimenez, Amy Reeder, Steve Orlando, Vita Ayala, and more.

R.I.P. Joel Schumacher

This week we lost gay filmmaker Joel Schumacher at age 80.  Although openly gay from the beginning of his career—he started out as a costume designer before making the leap to film directing with 1981’s quirky The Incredible Shrinking Woman—he wasn’t known as a “gay filmmaker” but rather a successful A-list, mainstream director with an impressively wide range.  He directed everything from drama (the 1985 “Brat Pack” hit St. Elmo’s Fire) to horror (cult classic vampire flick The Lost Boys) to a big budget musical (The Phantom of the Opera).  But for me, and many movie fans, he’ll forever be known as the guy who directed Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), two of the most polarizing superhero movies in cinema history. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Mr. Freeze) and Schumacher on the set of Batman & Robin

I did a piece on Batman Forever five years back, reflecting on how it’s underrated and was likely a victim of homophobia; it was, however, a huge box office hit, scoring 184 million in the US.  In recent years, fans of both this movie and Batman & Robin have become increasingly vocal and have sought to change the narrative surrounding them while frequently shouting out their subversive queer sensibility.  I myself came around from ranking on B & R to enjoying its loopy charms.

Michael Gough (Alfred), Chris O’Donnell and Val Kilmer in Batman Forever

In hindsight, it seems remarkable that Schumacher was able to make mainstream, high profile movies as blatantly campy and queer as these two Batman films.  Ostensibly sequels to Tim Burton’s visionary Batman and Batman Returns, Schumacher’s installments amount to a reboot before that term became trendy.  He jettisoned the relentlessly grim tone that had marked the previous films and leaned more in the direction of the campy 60s Batman.  He finally added Robin (Chris O’Donnell, the hunk who launched a thousand gay awakenings) and played his villains as larger than life nuts, rather than the tortured souls who faced off with the Dark Knight in the Burton films.  The films featured homoerotic tension between Riddler (an amazingly fey Jim Carrey) and Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) and Batman and Robin—much is made of the latter characters becoming “partners.”  When it comes to female characters like Debi Mazar’s moll Spice and, especially, Uma Thurman’s brilliantly over-the-top Poison Ivy, a drag queen aesthetic reigns—heck, Riddler even appears in a tiara and earrings at one point.  Nicole Kidman’s hormonal Dr. Chase Meridian is so unabashedly sexual that she comes off as practically a surrogate gay man. (Earlier this year a meme circulated likening photos of Kidman in a question mark chair to gays’ infamous inability to sit correctly.)  The films can’t resist bawdy dialogue like “hang out much in biker bars, Bruce?” or Chase openly lusting after “black rubber.”  (Of course, the rubber suits featured in Schumacher’s movies notoriously added nipples.) 

Thurman as Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin

All of this speaks not just to a queer sensibility, but to an overall sense of fun.  In Batman Forever: The Official Movie Book by Michael Singer, Schumacher says “This is what we do for a living.  If we can’t approach it with joy and fun, what’s the use of doing it?” In behind the scenes footage, Schumacher puts his arms around Batman co-creator Bob Kane—whose character first appeared in 1939, the year Schumacher was born—and appreciatively gushes “I wouldn’t have a job without him!”  Kane pats his head good naturedly and says “Atta boy.”

That sense of joy and fun extended to all of Schumacher’s films, which notably featured gay and lesbian performers like Lily Tomlin and Mark Blankfield (The Incredible Shrinking Woman) and John Glover (Incredible, Batman & Robin).  His screenplay for Car Wash (1976) featured a sassy Black queen named Lindy, who at one point tells someone “Honey, I’m more man than you’ll ever be and more woman than you’ll ever get!”  Shrinking Woman is a kooky, candy-colored variation on Richard Matheson’s sci-fi novel in which household chemicals cause Tomlin to shrink; The Lost Boys (1987) is a teen vampire thriller in which Kiefer Sutherland tries to seduce cute Jason Patric into a life of bloodsucking, all set to a killer 80s soundtrack.  Schumacher injected personality and life into larger than life moviemaking, and his talent and energy will be missed.

The Geeks OUT Podcast: Snyder Cut or Uncut?

The Geeks OUT Podcast

Opinions, reviews, incisive discussions of queer geek ideas in pop culture, and the particularly cutting brand of shade that you can only get from a couple of queer geeks all in highly digestible weekly doses.

In this week’s super sized episode of the Geeks OUT Podcast, Kevin is joined by comedian Jay Jurden, as they discuss the first look at the Snyder Cut of Justice League, get a taste of the new Candyman, and celebrate the Daria spinoff, Jodie coming to Comedy Central as our Strong Female Character of the Week.

.

BIG OPENING

KEVIN: 13 Reasons Why ends with horribly inaccurate AIDS death
JAY: New animated teaser for Candyman reboot

.

DOWN AND NERDY

KEVIN: Superman: Red Son, Roswell, NM, One Day at a Time, Kipo, Wynd
JAY: The Last Airbender, One Piece, X-titles

.

STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER

Daria spinoff, Jodie, coming to Comedy Central

.

THIS WEEK IN QUEER

Noah’s Arc: The ‘Rona Chronicles coming to YouTube July 5th

.

CLIP OF THE WEEK

First look at the Snyder Cut of Justice League

.

THE WEEK IN GEEK

MOVIES

• Oscars 2021 delayed until late April
• New trailer for Palm Springs
• Jurassic World and Avatar sequels among the first to go back into production
• New trailer for Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons
• AMC Theatres & Regal will reopen in July now requiring masks
• Scholastic is developing an adaptation of Animorphs 

.

TV

• Warner Bros announces DC Fandome virtual event
The CW announces they’re finally blocking hateful comments on social media
• New trailer for season 2 of Doom Patrol features the SeX-Men
Doctor Who audio series introduces the first trans companion ever
• New trailer for Warrior Nun
• New trailer for Cursed
• Shudder greenlights a season 3 of Creepshow  
• Nickelodeon orders reboot of The Smurfs
• New trailer for Close Enough 

.

COMIC BOOKS

• Marvel Unlimited releases free books from black artists/writers
• DC Comics producing podcasts exclusively for Spotify
• Milestone Comics may make a return
• Free Comic Book Day turning into Free Comic Book Summer

.

SHILF

• KEVIN: Wiccan
• JAY: King Teddy (Hulkling)

Review: Disclosure

“Stories hurt, stories heal.”  Those words conveyed the message of last summer’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and they popped into my head when I was thinking about Sam Feder’s documentary Disclosure, which premieres on Netflix on Friday, June 19.  What does this have to do with a documentary about the history of trans representation in film and television?  The stories these media have told about trans people have indeed both hurt and healed the interview subjects, all of whom are transgender (including insightful Orange Is the New Black actress Laverne Cox, also an executive producer on the film.)  Their testimonies demonstrate that representation truly matters. 

Laverne Cox

In one powerful example, writer/actress/producer Jen Richards (Mrs. Fletcher, the 2019 Tales of the City) recalls that when she told a friend she was transgender, she was asked, “Like Buffalo Bill??” because her only frame of reference for trans people was the demented, skin-wearing serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs (1991).  Needless to say, the reference was painful for Richards.

I myself learned that it’s impolite to ask trans people about their genitals by reading a piece on Cox years ago, so I can testify to the importance of trans representation in educating the larger world about their issues.  I also didn’t question the validity of the L Word storylines, in which Max transforms into a rageaholic because of testosterone, until I read how inaccurate and misleading those episodes really were.  These early eye openers set me on the path to educating myself more fully about the community and the many issues they face.

Lilly Wachowski

With its broad scope covering the very beginnings of cinema—which we learn featured cross-dressing and genderqueer characters in its earliest days—Disclosure seemingly aims to be a trans version of the acclaimed 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, itself based on the expansive 1981 book by Vito Russo.  Disclosure touches on everything from an old episode of The Jeffersons featuring a trans female character, to the Oscar winning Boys Don’t Cry (1999), to the problematic Max (Daniela Sea) character on The L Word, to the recent triumphs of Sense8 and Pose.  Its subjects testify, again and again, to the significance of these depictions on their lives:  Sense8 co-creator Lilly Wachowski was inspired by Bugs Bunny’s fabulous gender bending; actor/activist Marquise Vilson recalls Reno, a Jerry Springer guest who was the first Black trans masculine person he ever saw in media; and writer and Survivor alum Zeke Smith recalls the pain of revisiting his favorite childhood movie, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), and realizing that it’s graphically transphobic.  A number of the subjects testify to the devastating and frightening effect watching Boys Don’t Cry had on them, and challenge the “it’s a true story” defense by asking why this is the kind of story Hollywood has told so many times.  Richards was brought to tears by Jed, a father on the docuseries I Am Cait, affirming his transgender child.  “When I saw that father go so much further than I thought was even possible, it hurt, I couldn’t bear it,” she recalls.  “Because then all of a sudden, all those people, who couldn’t accept me, when I knew it was possible to go beyond acceptance—why couldn’t my mom have been like him?  Why couldn’t my friends have been like him?  And seen the value in my experience?”

The documentary also includes a variety of talk show interviews with trans subjects from the 1980s and 90s (i.e. Joan Rivers, Arsenio Hall) to the present (Oprah and Katie Couric—the latter took the time to learn from her mistakes after being called out by Cox on offensive questioning).  The difference between the older and contemporary interviews is telling, as many of the older Q&A’s are preoccupied with the gender the subjects “used to” be and specifically their genitals—although Winfrey and Couric have both been guilty of this line of questioning.  Rivers, however, deserves credit for affirming the identities and dignity of trans folks on her program decades ahead of the curve.

Brian Michael Smith

There are compelling stories about the challenges and frustrations of working in the industry, like Candis Cayne’s irritation at the tone deaf dialogue when she played a murder victim on CSI: New York and Sandra Caldwell’s triumphant coming out in the New York Times after working for decades in the closet. This is a comprehensive and involving look at the subject matter, although I wish it were a little longer (I’m usually all for shorter films, but I’d happily watch a 2 hour or longer cut of this).  There are a couple productions I’d like to have seen just a little more about: Transparent and the ensuing sex scandal with cis lead actor Jeffrey Tambor is touched on just briefly, and although actress/model Jamie Clayton (Sense8), actor Brian Michael Smith, and writer/speaker/artist Leo Cheng all appeared on the L Word reboot Generation Q, which did a considerably better job handling its trans characters than the original, this isn’t actually mentioned.  There are also a number of clips that aren’t identified, particularly at the end of the film.  But these are minor quibbles. Feder and producer Amy Scholder‘s conscious decision to use only transgender voices to discuss the media that’s portrayed their own lives is a strong and important one, and the personal impact adds immeasurably to the film’s weight.  Disclosure is well made, well thought out, and a significant historical record. In light of the ongoing murders of trans women and this past week’s Trump administration rule removing protections for transgender people in health care, its call to recognize transgender humanity is as relevant as ever.

Disclosure premieres on Netflix on Friday, June 19.

Jamie Clayton

The Geeks OUT Podcast: CW Coming Out Party

The Geeks OUT Podcast

Opinions, reviews, incisive discussions of queer geek ideas in pop culture, and the particularly cutting brand of shade that you can only get from a couple of queer geeks all in highly digestible weekly doses.

In this week’s super sized episode of the Geeks OUT Podcast, Kevin is joined by Calvin Cato, as they discuss J.K. Rowling’s latest TERF musings and the new Chuck Tingle book inspired by it, and celebrate CW stars Chyler Leigh & Lili Reinhart coming out as our Strong Female Characters of the Week.

.

BIG OPENING

KEVIN: JK Rowling makes more TERF statements, HP stars and Nicole Maines speak out, WB less so, which inspired a new book from Chuck Tingle 
CALVIN: Actor who played Elongated Man on Flash fired for racist tweets

.

DOWN AND NERDY

KEVIN: Artemis Fowl, Stargirl, The Great, Snowpiercer, The Hollow, Ring Fit
CALVIN: She-Ra, Our Worlds at War, Steel, Shantae & the Seven Sirens, Streets of Rage

.

STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER

Chyler Leigh from Supergirl and Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart come out

.

THIS WEEK IN QUEER

Nickelodeon celebrates Pride by highlighting LGBTQIA+ characters & actors

.

CLIP OF THE WEEK

New trailer for Lovecraft Country

.

THE WEEK IN GEEK

MOVIES

• Disney developing a Lionel Ritchie inspired movie musical
• New trailer for Bill & Ted Face the Music
• Wonder Woman 1984, Tenet, and Matrix 4 all have been pushed back
• The Oscars look to become more inclusive
• New trailer for You Should Have Left
• New trailer for Archive 

.

TV

• Promised Neverland is being developed by Amazon
• Watchmen & Stranger Things win Peabody Awards
• New trailer for Crossing Swords
• New trailer for season 2 of Doom Patrol 
Batwoman will not use the “Bury Your Gays” trope
• Riverdale EP apologizes after being called out by Vanessa Morgan
• Premiere of Love, Victor moved out of respect for Juneteenth 
• MTV Movie & TV Awards postponed
• Revival of Looney Tunes decides no guns for Elmer Fudd 

.

COMIC BOOKS

• New details of SDCC’s Comic-Con@Home
• Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day coming in July
• DC Comics officially breaks ties with Diamond

.

SHILF

• KEVIN: Wrong Hordak
• CALVIN: Hordak

The Geeks OUT Podcast: Hedy Lamarr is a Wonder Woman

Geeks OUT Podcast: Hedy Lamarr is a Wonder Woman

In this week’s episode of the Geeks OUT Podcast, Kevin (@Gilligan_McJew) is joined by 2x Hugo Award nominee, Tana Ford, as they discuss Syfy & USA Network teaming up with GLAAD for Pride month, the new trailer for Hulu’s Love, Victor, and celebrate AppleTV+ ordering the Gal Gadot starring series

In this week’s episode of the Geeks OUT Podcast, Kevin is joined by by 2x Hugo Award nominee, Tana Ford, as they discuss Syfy & USA Network teaming up with GLAAD for Pride month, the new trailer for Hulu’s Love, Victor, and celebrate AppleTV+ ordering the Gal Gadot starring series about Hedy Lamarr as our Strong Female Character of the Week.  

.

BIG OPENING

KEVIN: Christian Cooper, former Marvel editor, thrust into spotlight by a Karen
TANA: New trailer for Perry Mason

.

DOWN AND NERDY

KEVIN: Greta, Devs, Upload, Legendary
TANA: Killing Eve, Rick and Morty, Bob’s Burgers

.

STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER

AppleTV+ orders Hedy Lamarr series starring Gal Gadot 

.

THIS WEEK IN QUEER

Syfy & USA Network team up with GLAAD for Pride month

.

CLIP OF THE WEEK

New trailer for Love, Victor

.

THE WEEK IN GEEK

MOVIES

New trailer for Secret Society of Second-Born Royals
New trailer for Into the Dark: Good Boy
New update to Hulu adds a Watch Party feature
Henry Cavill in talks to return as Superman but only in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett joins Borderlands movie
Miami Dolphins’ stadium being converted into a drive-in theatre 

.

TV

• HBO Max launches, but not for all
Fraggle Rock has been revived for a full series on AppleTV+
• Amazon developing series based on the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books
• New trailer for season 2 of NOS4A2 

.

COMIC BOOKS

Marvel makes more comics digital-first, while marking the return to comic shops
• DC turns to Instagram with an exclusive Joker & Punchline story

.

SHILF

• KEVIN: Henry Cavill
• TANA: Renfri the Princess