The team are out, but how does the world feel about that? The Bear’s secrets are revealed! Basher goes on a daring and dangerous mission somehow connected to The Pride.
As if that wasn’t trouble enough, the World’s Premier Super Team, the Justice Division, come knocking. It never does go that smoothly when superhero teams meet up, does it?

Thanks to their saving the gay club from a supervillain in the previous issue, The Pride are now public figures. About the first half of the main story is showing them dealing with the media coverage, not all of which is favorable. During a team training session, the members of the mainstream superhero team The Justice Division show up, questioning the Pride’s motives and preparedness, which leads to verbal arguments which soon turn physical.

I must give credit to writer Joe Glass, he’s able to use both media reports and the dialog from the various Justice Division members to bring up and refute all the standard comic-book arguments against diversity. We see people questioning whether the Pride are “promoting” homosexuality, or advancing the “gay agenda,” and why do they need to have a team of all GLBT members, as if that makes the exclusionary, yadda yadda yadda. But it all feels like natural dialog without being forced or preachy. These are the kinds of issues that get discussed in society, and it’s natural that these superheroes would talk about it. So it’s all very well-done.

I’m trying to avoid too many major spoilers for those reading this who, like me, may be newcomers to this title.So I’ll just say that in this issue we also learn that one of the team members is HIV Positive, and once again this effectively use to highlight the myths and facts about the virus in a way that feels like a natural part of the story. And then there’s a dramatic cliffhanger, as we also learn that one team member has a child whom The Basher, a possibly super-powered henchmen who works for the mysterious Reverend, has just kidnapped…TO BE CONTINUED

Another good issue, with the stakes being raised. Dan Harris takes over as artist for the main story and supplies some nice artwork. The two single-page spotlight stories give us the origin of The Bear, written by Glass and drawn by Ryan Cody and the origin of Fabman, by Glass with art by Jack Lawrence. It’s good stuff. If you haven’t picked this up yet, now’s the time. Get in on the ground floor.

Chacebook rating: FOUR STARS

available on comixology