DC Comics officially revealed that the very first Green Lantern, Alan Scott, will be reboot as a gay character. Considering that when I checked Twitter this morning (and it may still be the same as you read this) both Alan Scott and Green Lantern were trending topics in the US, I have to say there is more people upset with it than welcoming it. The news wasn’t that astonishing to me, he was mentioned a few times when news that DC was turning a perviously straight hero gay was leaked (Martian Manhunter was another, there’s something about the color green). But I will admit I was bit upset, but I didn’t know why.
First, I thought that it might deal with the fact that this will make it impossible for Jade, Alan Scott’s daughter, most likely won’t exist, or be the same person at the very least. She was a great female hero and was the only female Green Lantern I ever really knew about as a kid. But then I remember that Jade was originally put up for adoption, so Alan being gay could easily just switch it that she is adopts by Alan and somehow gets his powers from a blood transfusion ala She-Hulk (I really hope they don’t do the She-Hulk thing, but considering the cheesier thing the New 52 has done, I wouldn’t be surprised).
Then I it came to me, this has nothing to do with Alan Scott. Maybe for the intolerant assholes it is, but for me and I think average comic readers, it is isn’t. It’s that the Earth-2 universe is getting the reboot that promised with the New 52. For the last 9 months, we haven gotten comics that really are not that different from what was coming out of DC before. Backstory is different, a bit, but all in all, there was no real reboot. There is no clean slate and starting over. A state where you say someone on the Justice League, DC’s flagship title, was gay. Why isn’t someone in the main DC universe getting the sexual reboot, why is all the crap we were hoping to see going into Earth-2?
Think about how the dynamic would change if Hal Jordan or Barry Allan or Cyborg were gay. I bet Wonder Woman wouldn’t mind a guy that isn’t leering at her ass during battles.
Very interesting! I would say that DC has been introducing gay characters over that last several years. It doesn’t bother me. I just don’t know why they think it was important to make a big deal out of a 2nd tier character from a parallel dimension.
I don’t know either. It seemed comics was really in tune to lgbt community for years, more so than other venues of mainstream entertainment. So, why is turning Alan Scott, while memorable, a low tier hero, worth it? The only answer I can come up with is just that gay marriage is in the news and they can’t marry off Batwoman because her arcs were somewhat preplanned already, but they needed someone to still some thunder (and sales) from the Northstar marriage. And it’s silly, because while Northstar may be getting married in the middle of the gay marriage debate, he’s been gay for a while. Getting married is just a progression of he character, which I think is more noteworthy story.
you know there are already multiple gay characters in the regular DCU though right?
I do. But I think it’s kinda cheap to do these character reboots, changing any aspect of a character, in a parallel universe that is a third tier comic series with mid to low tier character, when these are the kinds of things that have prompted main universe reboots, Like the New 52 was supposed to be, in the past.