Green Lantern is to be reintroduced as a gay man
One of the oldest and most established characters from DC Comics, Green Lantern, will be revealed as gay in the forthcoming title, it has been confirmed.
The announcement follows a report from earlier this week, that Alan Scott, the earliest incarnation of Green Lantern, would be reintroduced as gay in a forthcoming issue. Furthermore, a few weeks ago at the Kapow! comics convention in London, DC Comics co-publisher, Dan DiDio, revealed that one major character was soon to be revealed as gay.
Alan Scott was introduced as a character in 1940, but, after the Second World War, when his popularity declined, the new Green Lantern went by the alter-ego of Hal Jordan, the role of which was taken by Ryan Reynolds in the eponymous film. Other personas for the Green Lantern have included John Stewart, Sinestro and Kyle Rayner.
The original incarnation of Alan Scott was straight, as he was twice married, and had children. He has also appeared in other comics, notably, the Justice Society of America, and Earth 2 of the Parallel-Earth series.
Writer James Robinson said that Green Lantern was ‘still the same dynamic, heroic guy’ he always was, adding: “He’s still the head of a media empire like he was in his prior version, but of course with the form of media changing and evolving with the times.”
“Alan’s sexuality is just one facet of him,” Mr Robinson continued, “along with his innate goodness, valour, charisma and skill at leadership.”
Noting that the anti-gay group, One Million Moms, has already issued threats against Archie Comics and Marvel Comics for their equal marriage plots, Mr Robinson told USA Today that “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.”
Green Lantern has taken up gay rights twice before. For example, Issue 137 in 2001 contained a storyline in which an assistant of Kyle Rayner came out as gay, which in turn got its writer, Judd Winick, a GLAAD Media Award. A few months later, a story titled ‘Hate Crime’ featured the assistant, Terry, being the subject of a vicious homophobic attack.
The other major DC character to be revealed as gay was Batwoman, who came out in 2006.
