steve orlando

The week's over! You did it, and did it in exemplary style. But while you've been off working and living and doing all those things that humans do, what have you missed in the world of comics? With Weekender, ComicsAlliance is here to give you a heads-up on some of the stories that you might have overlooked, and to showcase some great writing on comics for you to enjoy over spiced macaroons this weekend.

Virgil is a project long in the making. The creative team of Steve Orlando, J.D. Faith, Chris Beckett, and Tom Mauer first launched the story in August 2013 as a "queersploitation" graphic novel publicly funded by Kickstarter. At Image Expo in July, Image announced that the book would join its upcoming line-up and receive a wider distribution, which was great news for the team’s fans. The graphic novel is set in Kingston, Jamaica --- a country where anti-gay violence is unfortunately prevalent --- and follows the story of Virgil, a police officer on a mission of violent revenge after his boyfriend is kidnapped. ComicsAlliance sat down with writer Steve Orlando to talk about queersploitation, inspiration, and representation.

Image Comics held its now traditional pre-San Diego one-day show on Thursday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and unveiled an impressive roster of new titles for the coming year that includes new work by familiar names such as Warren Ellis, Jason Aaron and Gail Simone; plus an encouraging number of relative newcomers and unknowns. Check out our rundown of all the news and announcements.

When Midnighter made his debut in the Wildstorm comic Stormwatch by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, he was a black ops Batman pastiche that played directly on the idea of the Caped Crusader as a humorless and violent bondage fetishist. Midnighter's romantic relationship with Superman analog Apollo was both the next step in the joke, and a step towards making the character more three-dimensional. Today, he's very much his own man, sharing less and less in common with Batman beyond an affection for the color black and an enduring interest in the activities of Dick Grayson. Oh, and the violence. With today's launch of a new ongoing Midnighter series from writer Steve Orlando and artist ACO, the leather-clad action man will hope to further distinguish himself. In the process he'll hope to prove that a gay superhero can find a place in the changing mainstream comics market. We spoke to Orlando about his plans for the series, the romantic future of the newly single Midnighter, and what Midnighter represents as a gay man.