Gay Green Lantern may be seen in a different light
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, is being reintroduced into DC Comics in a big way: as the main superhero of the parallel-world Earth 2, and as a gay man.
The second issue of DC’s Earth 2 series (in comic shops and online Wednesday) begins the new origin of the character, who first appeared in a 1940 issue of All-American Comics. The longtime Justice Society of America member is now a young media mogul and important figure in the creation of a group of heroes to replace the seemingly deceased Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman of his world.
“He’s going to be the leader of the team, this dynamic hero, he’ll do anything to save people, the bravest man on the planet. Why not just make him gay as well?” says Earth 2 writer James Robinson.
The thought had occurred to Robinson after DC’s relaunch of its entire superhero line last fall removed Alan Scott’s gay son Obsidian from the picture. Robinson made the suggestion about Alan Scott to DC co-publisher Dan DiDio, and “there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation,” the writer says.
Batwoman is an openly lesbian superhero in the DC Universe, and twice in the last three years the company has won the “Outstanding Comic” award from GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) for stories featuring the character. But having a gay Green Lantern, one of DC’s most visible heroes, is a big step.
“What I really want to do with this character is make the fact that he’s gay to be a part of who he is and not to be the one identifying aspect of him,” Robinson says. “And have his humor and his bravery be as much or more a part of him as his sexuality.”
The Green Lantern most readers know is Hal Jordan, the man with the green power ring in DC’s main Green Lantern series and the hero Ryan Reynolds played in the Green Lantern movie. He and Alan Scott will meet one day, Robinson says, but in the meantime the writer’s making sure they’re completely different characters, both in personality and powers.
“When they’re firing their rings at the same time, you’ll be able to tell which energy is which,” he says. “That’s a very important thing so that it sets them apart.”
Artist Nicola Scott’s orders were clear, too: Make Alan Scott a big, strapping, handsome man that everyone would instinctively follow and love. “No short order but right up my alley,” she says.
“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. Every time I draw him I love him even more.”
By the time readers get to know Alan Scott more, he will have already come out as a gay man, but it isn’t a huge deal for him. Keeping the world safe is higher on his priority list.
“He’s someone you would want to watch over your children,” Robinson says. “Presenting that kind of a heroic role model hopefully will be a good thing and help to show gays in a positive light for people who might be a little more small-minded.”
The character’s sexuality isn’t a major issue for Robinson either. He wrote what he believes was comics’ first gay kiss, to in an issue of Starman. The writer understands, though, that in some circles a mainstream gay superhero is not all that welcome.
DiDio had made an offhand comment a couple of weeks ago at a London comic-book convention that a DC character would be gay, and last week Marvel Comics announced an upcoming X-Men gay wedding. In response, the group One Million Moms prompted readers on its website to send both companies “an email urging them to change and cancel all plans of homosexual superhero characters immediately” and to “ask them to do the right thing.”
Robinson argues that one’s sexuality, even a superhero’s, isn’t something that should be feared or castigated.
“Most people’s prejudice stems from their ignorance and isolation, be it racial or someone’s sexuality. It’s usually due to them not going out into the world and experiencing it,” he says.
“I hope that showing a positive character like Green Lantern Alan Scott helps in some small, small way to bring down the walls and barriers.”
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