I've been meaning to do a follow-up post on Marvel's Quasar book, which I first wrote about here, as well as the Annihilation: Conquest series to which it belongs.

I was intrigued by the characters in the tie-in books Wriath and Nova, so I've been following most of the Annihilation: Conquest titles since the series debut. But it's Phyla-Vell/Quasar and Heather/Moondragon, the lesbian lovers and heroes of the Quasar comic, who drew me into the series, and they're the reason why I'll stay.

So far, I've had one disappointment with the series, which I intend to detail here. In Quasar #3, Moondragon morphs from human form into dragon form. She gains some bitchen powers, but the downside is that Moondragon's transformation is permanent.

Quasar and Moondragon process this new development--and I do mean process it--in the middle of a battle. While striking Phalanx with her sword, Quasar says moodily to her lover, "You should have told me, Heather." Now in the form of an enormous black dragon with red glowing eyes, Heather tries to retreat from the relationship, "Phy, I'm not human anymore. I can't ask you to--"

But Quasar will have none of it. "I chose you," she assures Heather, "and you haven't changed. Not in any way that matters."

Now, if Phyla-Vell and Heather were just good friends, I wouldn't have a problem with Heather's transformation or the vow to stick together. Actually, it would be pretty awesome to have a best friend who was a black dragon.

But let's shift to the lover's perspective for a moment. I sense there's some coded plea for tolerance or understanding in this little transformation story. Like, if your partner turned out to be someone else than what you thought, wouldn't he or she or s/he have the same soul and wouldn't you still love that individual just as much?

In theory, yes. In the abstract, as concept, in metaphor, in some weird-ass outer space drama where species equals race or sex or nationality or what have you, by all means, yes.

But in the here and now, in the one frickin' Marvel comic with a lesbian superhero couple in it, Moondragon has changed in a way that matters. She has a dragon vagina. And, if you take a look at the illustration I've included, some nasty spikey scales in the exact spot where Quasar rides her. Ouch.

I'm holding out hope that, in the future, Moondragon will somehow find a way to morph back into a human being, even if for a limited time. In the meantime, my concern over the couple's inability to have sex led me to give the subject of dragon genitalia my attention.

I turned first to my bookshelf, and my copy of Dragons, by Dr. Karl Shakur. Because, if you want authoritative information about dragons, it is best to get it from a doctor, am I right? But sadly, despite being a dracontologist (according to the book flap), Dr. Shakur had little to say on the subject.

I then moved to the internet, thinking that some quick "safe-search off" googling would turn up something good. A wiki on dragon anatomy, perhaps. Some YouTube videos of choppy CGI dragon sex. A small purveyor of dragon dildos made out of crystal. Such were my expectations.

Now, I don't want to alarm you, but the truth is there is a sad deficit of information about, and apparently interest in, the sex organs of dragons. The best source I found was a site with sections on the anatomy and physiognomy of dragons, with separate sections for the eastern and western varieties.

This is what I was able to glean from the site: western dragons mate while in the air, and have no visible or external genitalia. Both eastern and western dragons reproduce by laying eggs.

Armed with this information, I began to think along the lines of bird or reptile sex as a possible model for dragons. Then I stumbled on the sex life of the Komodo dragon. Believe it or not, Komodo dragons have been known to reproduce through parthenogenesis.

That is interesting; that is cool. If Moondragon self-replicates and Quasar is named the second mom, I think I could hang with that. Or, as I suggested above, just change Moondragon back into a human sometimes so Quasar can at least get a piece every now and then.