The Green Lantern is DC Comic’s Latest Hero to Bust Down the Closet Door
The wait is finally over. Last month, comic book headz and certain members of the LGBTQ community, no doubt, were highly anticipating the unveiling of an “A List” superhero. Folks suspected it would be one of the classics, like Superman, Batman, Robin, or Wonder Woman. Well today, we now know that DC Comics has chosen to out none other but the Green Lantern.
Alan Scott, the Lantern’s alter ego, isn’t the first comic book character revealed to be non-straight. Gay characters are sprinkled throughout a growing number of graphic novels such as the Archie series and even Marvel comics. As a matter of fact it was Marvel’s Northstar who married his lover at Central Park in the latest issue of the “Astonishing X-Men.”
Back to the Green Lantern, Matt Moore from AP News reported that the lean, green super hero’s sexual identity will be revealed in the second issue of “Earth 2” which hits the stands on Wednesday. As part of a new series, or “retooling” as they call it, Alan Scott’s storyline will reflect the original version of the Green Lantern, which debuted in 1940 – but with a twist.
“He doesn’t come out. He’s gay when we see him in issue two,” says DC Comics writer James Robinson “He’s fearless and he’s honest to the point where he realized he was gay and he said `I’m gay.’”
“It was just meant to be 7/8- Alan Scott being a gay member of the team, the Justice Society, that I’ll be forming in the pages of `Earth 2,’” he said. “He’s just meant to be part of this big tapestry of characters.”
DC Comic's Batwoman came out back in 2009
Anticipating standard knee-jerk homophobia, Rolling Stones reveals DC’s curious decision to break down barriers without actually addressing the very real resistance experienced by gay-identified folks:
Though Marvel Comics’ gay hero Northstar is set to face some intolerance from his peers following his marriage to his long term boyfriend in the pages of Astonishing X-Men, Robinson and Scott are planning on portraying an idealized world in which Alan Scott is judged only by the quality of his character. “He doesn’t come out in issue two; he is already a gay man,” Robinson says. “Alan Scott is super-heroic, he’s super gallant, he’ll die for the earth, he’ll die for its people, he’s everything you want in a hero. I imagine he’s such a Type A character that when he realized he was gay, he was like, ‘Okay, I’m gay, now I’m just gonna go on with my life.’ He’s so accepting of it himself and he’s such a compelling person that the world knows Alan Scott’s gay. He’s such a leader, he’s such a good man, that the Justice League don’t care. And that’s a healthy depiction of a team and how it should be.”
[Artist Nicola Scott] says her instructions from Robinson were to make this version of the Green Lantern as heroic as possible. “With Alan, the brief was very clear,” she says. “He needed to be a big, strapping, handsome man that everyone would instinctively follow and love. Alan strikes me as an incredibly open, honest and warm man, a natural leader and absolutely the right choice to be Guardian of the Earth. His sexuality is incidental.”
In recent years the Pepsi & Coke of the comic world have caught on to what other graphic novel creators were already hip to. When Spandex came out in ‘09, the comic chronicles of the world’s first team of gay super heroes may have seemed a comical notion indeed. The truth is, however, there’s an audience out there (straight and gay alike) who are ready for their graphic novels reflect the complexity of modern life and prove that LGBT folks are not only here, and queer but can stomp some serious ass in the process.
Comics books sales for the Green Latern will plummet now. No average teenage fan boy wants to see their super hero idol be gay. Not saying its right, but it is reality.
You’d be surprised….
This is their way of breaking down barriers making it acceptable….plus most comic heads are boys who hang with each other most of the time soo….lol
@YB
Really though, reading is fundamental. It clearly says in the article that Alan Scott is going to be in the new “Earth Two” title, not “Green Lantern.” So, your fake concern (cough, cough homophobia) about Green Lantern book sales plummeting over Alan Scott is misguided.
And anyway, that whole line about teenage fan boys not wanting to see their idol be gay is pretty laughable on many levels because #1 there are multiple lanterns, #2 Stormwatch is selling just fine with Apollo and Midnighter, and #3 Alan Scott is the old @ss golden age, JSA Lantern from the 1940’s who isn’t even in any of the current “new 52” Lantern books that teen boys would now be reading. So, Scott wouldn’t be their idol anyway because the current Lanterns that teenage boys grew up with in cartoons and books are Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rainer, and Guy Gardner.
@isolde
Accusing some one of homophobia when cannot argue a point=argument lost. I stand by what I previously wrote. Stay pressed while waiting for me to care about your second paragraph. :D
Have a great day.
@YB
Oh yeah? You stand by what you wrote about Alan Scott making Green Lantern comic book sales plummet, even though he’s not even going to be in Green Lantern, or are you standing by what you wrote about teen fan-boys not checking for their “super hero idol” being gay, even though todays teen fan boys were never checking for Alan Scott in the first place?
This gay stuff is becoming annoying. Not sorry.
Agreed. Like seriously why is a gay superhero even anything on someone’s mind? What are we going to have next, gay Teletubbies? Are they going to come out and say Spongebob and Ben10 are gay too?
There’s nothing to be annoyed about. Straight people are an overwhelming majority and homosexuals are facing a great deal of prejudice and abuse. You’re getting annoyed because people are saying that its ok to be gay?
If you don’t like it, then look away. There are plenty of things based on heterosexuals.
agree with AP
No, I am annoyed because it is unnecessary to announce your sexuality in everything you do. DO YOU. If you have to announce to everyone that you are this or that…it shows GREAT insecurity.
i hope you guys do something on Michonne, the pivotal black woman character that will be on the walking dead series this fall… this also is based on a comic.
i don’t recall anything being written about her here. and that’s a pity, if that hasn’t been done.
I second this!
Michonne?! THE SAMURAI SWORD WIELDING BAD ASS SISTA?! THE ONE HOW MAKES ZOMBIE KILLING LOOK GOOD?!!! lol jk
I was hoping they were gonna make him black again. He was black once right? Maybe I dreamed that up. Anyway, congrats to coming out I guess.
@ isolde
You sound like a Geek