17/02/2013 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

The organisers of Pride 2013 have announced the theme for this years LGBT Pride community parade planned for Saturday August 3, which marks 21 years of Brighton Pride and culminates with the Pride celebrations on Preston Park.

The chosen theme is ‘GAY ICONS’ which organisers hope will put the spotlight on the vast array of Iconic LGBT figureheads, including campaigners and popular celebrities that have shaped and advanced LGBT culture and the cause of equality throughout history.

News of the theme will set sewing machines whirring and sequins flying all over the city as an expected deluge of Gagas, Monroes, Madonnas, Boy Georges and Freddie Mercurys plan their costumes for the event of the year, along with the more serious ICONS and modernisers like Peter Tatchell, Harvey Milk, Alan Turing, Quentin Crisp, Oscar Wilde and the Reverend Giles Frazer.

Pride director Paul Kemp, said:

“There are so many important and influential people for us to celebrate as a community.

“They range from the most spectacular and celebrated stars of stage, screen and music to those who have changed the lives of the LGBT community and furthered equality through politics and sheer bravery. It is important that we highlight LGBT people who have been instrumental in all aspects of life”

To tell Pride who your favourite gay incon is click here:

Brighton Pride is administered by a CIC Company formed to manage the 2013 event. It’s Directors are Paul Kemp of Aeon Events Ltd. David Hill of E3 and Dulcie Weaver. £1 per head for each ticket sold is ring fenced for the Rainbow Fund to distribute to their grants program administered by the Sussex Community Foundation to LGBT organisations along with any profits after bills and expenses have been settled after the event.

This book chronicles the first decades of the DC comic book publisher, which has brought the world Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. This excellent comprehensive compendium of the DC comic early years should be on your gift list for any LGBT comic fan geek you might know.

TASCHEN’s ongoing series covering the DC Comic world follows the development of the creators of these well-loved superheroes year by year. This book is an updated and slightly smaller version of the huge extra large 75 Years of DC, it might be smaller in size but it’s packed with thousands of illustrations, covers, film still, photographs, tie in’s and collectables, some you’ll know and love, some you’ll covert.

Levitz is the best kind of author, as he not only loves this stuff but also has worked in the DC world for decades and his warm expertise shines through in a series of accompanying essays. There is also an interview with artist Joe Kubert of Sgt Rock and Hawkman fame.

There was a collective ‘ohhh’ in the office when I opened this book and it’s one of those coffee table books which will never gather dust, being as much fun to open at random as it is to sit down for a cosy afternoon and slowly work your way thought it’s evocative and deeply informative pages. There’s a huge LGBT interest in comic books, and they speak to us in deep metaphorical ways of being ‘other’ and having a secret, apart from the high camp of it all too, this book is a pleasure to read and I enjoyed every page of it.

Superman’s story, and those of Batman, Wonder Woman, and hundreds of other DC Comics characters are all told in The Golden Age of DC Comics. This volume traces the company’s first decades, from its pulp origins up to the comic book burnings of the McCarthy ‘50s. There’s a huge amount of extra cool stuff too from comic covers to related films, some I’d never seen before.

Taschens commitment to high quality publishing and well researched content allows this book to become one of the definitive works on this era of comic development. This hardcover book with more than 400 full colour pages of informative delightful presented historical artwork is one of the best books I’ve come across about the DC years.

Taschen will be releasing four follow-up volumes covering the Silver Age, Bronze Age, Dark Age and Modern Age later in 2013.

The editor – Paul Levitz – is a comic book fan who has worked as editor/publisher of The Comic Reader, editor of the Batman titles and others, writer of more than 300 stories—including an acclaimed run on Legion of Super-Heroes—and a DC Comics executive, finishing his 38-year stint with the company as President and Publisher. You can’t get a better pedigree than that.