The series in question is an adaptation of Perry Moore's award-winning 2007 young adult novel Hero, which tells the story of the world's first gay superhero dealing with his ex-superhero father, his sexuality, and a superhero serial killer. Moore, whose dayjob is being a movie producer, will work on the new series as a writer and executive producer, alongside Lee, whose production company Pow! Entertainment, is behind the show.

Moore and Lee announced their partnership at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, but at the time, many believed that Hero was aimed at the big screen. Showtime's involvement guarantees two things - Less censorship than any big budget superhero movie would've allowed for, and also the potential for a David Duchovny guest-shot when rating start to drop. We can't wait.

Showtime enlists gay superhero [Variety]

Moore, who's become an unexpected spokesman for the gay superhero fanbase following the release of his novel Hero - which centers around a

I remember when Northstar was killed, a friend of mine who writes for TV but used to write for comics, Alan Heinberg – I begged him to make two of those Young Avengers gay. Begged him. Begged him... [and t]hey did! They did. But originally, one of them wasn’t going to be a guy – the Hulkling. He wound up doing the couple and did a great job with it, but now he’s writing Gray’s Anatomy and other things. He’s a great writer and I’d like to see him do more comics, but he’s making more money doing writing in Hollywood.

NRAMA: I remember seeing the first pictures of the Young Avengers and thinking Hulkling was just a really butch female...

PM: He was, originally!

After-the-fact gender reassignment may not be entirely unheard of in superhero comics, but even though would've meant that Marvel would've been robbed of their two flagship gay characters - instead of Northstar, their previous solo gay character who had almost singlehandedly created the idea that the company was homophobic through many years of mistreatment, including a somewhat embarrassing "He isn't gay! He's actually a fairy! No, with wings and everything!" backtracking and being murdered twice - I personally wish that we'd seen the character stay with his original gender. Not because superhero comics need a non-femme superheroine, but because then we would've been spared a character having to be named "Teddy."

Perry Moore II: Looking At The Gay Landscape [Newsarama]