Andrew Wheeler

Queer representation in comics has been making small but appreciable advances in recent years, but there are some queer identities that comics and all media seem to struggle to get to grips with. Asexuals --- people who do not experience sexual attraction --- and aromantics --- people who do not experience romantic attraction --- are still incredibly rarely represented in fiction, with Archie Comics' Jughead one of the few notable examples. ComicsAlliance spoke to four comics fans and creators who are asexual, aromantic, or on the asexual spectrum, to get their thoughts on representation in comics, Jughead, Riverdale, and the best comics out there for young ace/aro readers.

Last month Warner Bros announced plans for a Nightwing movie from Lego Batman Movie director Chris McKay, set within the evolving DC Cinematic Universe. The announcement is a logical next step for the studio, as it places a spotlight on one of the most popular characters in the Batman family. It's also news that makes a lot of fans of the character nervous, as Nightwing is one of the few positive mainstream representations of Rromani identity in popular culture. Many fans fear that this element of the character won't make it to the big screen, in the latest example of live action comics adaptations ignoring opportunities for diversity and minority representation.

Marvel recently announced that actor Anson Mount has been cast in the largely mute role of Black Bolt in the Inhumans TV show, debuting later this year on ABC. As king of the secretive superhuman race, and as the wielder of a voice that can level cities, Black Bolt is one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, able to hold his own against tough guys like Hulk, Thor, and even Thanos. He also boasts the slickest superhero costume Jack Kirby ever designed. But none of that is the best thing about Black Bolt. The best thing about Black Bolt is that his real name is Blackagar Boltagon. We're such fans of the name that we thought we'd apply its basic principles to some other great comics characters to see how it sits on them.

The first ever comic convention on a cruise took place last weekend on Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas sailing from Tampa, Florida, to Cozumel, Mexico. Despite the unusual venue, Fan2Sea featured everything you'd expect from a landlocked con, including panels, signings, parties, screenings and, of course, cosplay. Being out at sea didn't stop these dedicated cosplayers from pulling out their best looks, often with a strong nautical theme, whether it was a seafaring Deadpool or two, or a watery Disney villain like Ursula or Tamatoa. ComicsAlliance was on the scene, courtesy of Fan2Sea, to capture some of our favorite cosplay on the cruise. This is the best cosplay ever... on a ship!

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance Of The Seas is a ship so big you could call it "Stucky", and in late January it will play host to comics creators, media stars, and hundreds of comics fans for Fan2Sea, the first ever comic convention on a cruise. Departing from Tampa, Florida, on January 29 2017, and cruising down to Cozumel in Mexico, the cruise will give comics fans a chance to mingle with Marvel and DC pros, and actors from Guardians of the Galaxy, Walking Dead, and Stranger Things, in an all-inclusive four-day cruise. It's never been done before. ComicsAlliance spoke to Fan2Sea creative director Stefan Lawrence to discover what the cruise has to offer, how it might differ from other conventions, and why the organizers decided to hold a comic-con at sea.

Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? That question, posed by Jack Nicholson's Joker in the 1989 Batman movie, comes across as an esoteric threat in that context; a destabilizing glimpse into the mind of a madman. Yet the exact same question asked by the X-Men character Nightcrawler would seem like an invitation to possibly the most romantic night of your life, and you'd probably be swept off your feet. If Nightcrawler is a devil, he makes it look good --- perhaps just as much as the Joker makes clowns look bad.

We live in a time when hate speech directed at marginalized people has become too commonplace in public and political rhetoric; a time when the demonization of Muslims, immigrants, transgender people and others masquerades as a defense of security or virtue; when nostalgia for "the good old days" sanctifies a past in which marginalized people were deprived of respect, voice, or power. The fear-mongering of politicians seeps down into everyday conversation, feeding commonplace prejudices. Even so, it's still shocking to hear that sort of rhetoric presented on the stage at a comic convention by one of the industry's most high profile authors, especially at a panel discussing LGBTQ themes in Marvel's X-Men comics. Yet at last week's New York Comic Con, writer Peter David indulged in exactly that sort of hate speech, in this instance directed at one of the world's most easily and persistently scapegoated communities: the Rromani people.

Even by the admittedly kooky standards of Doctor Who, the adventures of the Third Doctor are remarkable for their idiosyncrasy. As portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee in the early 1970s, the Third Doctor spent much of his tenure stranded in Britain in a single time period, working alongside the military, rather than travelling across all of time and space. That's the era revisited in the new Doctor Who: New Adventures With The Third Doctor series launching this week from writer Paul Cornell, artist Christopher Jones, and colorist Hi-Fi, with the Doctor trading in his bright blue Tardis for his bright yellow roadster, Bessie. Jones spoke to ComicsAlliance about working with Cornell, and his research as an artist, and shared an exclusive look at the art process from inks to colors.

DC superhero Vixen has been receviving a long overdue push in the last couple of years, led by CW Seed's animated Vixen series, a guest appearance on Arrow, and an upcoming role for a version of the character in Legends of Tomorrow. Yet for all her TV appearances, DC's best known black female hero hasn't had the same sort of support in comics. That may finally change with the news that Vixen will feature in the next arc of the digital first series DC Comics Bombshells.

Is it Watchmen's fault that Captain America is a Nazi? That's the strange question I found myself asking after the last month's developments in superhero comics. Thirty years after Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen made its debut, the characters are being integrated into the DC Universe as part of the current DC Rebirth publishing initiative, seemingly as totems of the sort of superhero grimnness that Rebirth hopes to move away from. Meanwhile, at Marvel, the publisher's most principled hero has been retconned as a secret agent of a far-right hate group, at a time when a vocal segment of the audience wants to see a lot more love than hate in the character's life. Both developments are indicative of a tension at the heart of superhero comics. Thirty years after Watchmen, is it time to stop pointing out that heroes can have flaws, and time instead to acknowledge that heroes can have value?