Since the moment DC announced one of their characters would be coming out of the closet, speculation has ran rampant as to who it be. Making it even more frustrating is that as more guesses were made, DC trickled out clues (it’s not this character or that character, it’s someone we haven’t seen yet in the New 52, it’s still not those same characters, it’s not a woman) as if they were playing hotter/colder with us. Well fans, you can finally stop trying to figure it out for yourself and give up whatever campaigns you might have had hoping for one character or another*, because DC has made the big announcement. And it’s the weakest, safest choice they could have possibly made.
It’s Alan Scott, previously the Golden Age Green Lantern, currently residing on Earth 2.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, James Robinson spoke about the decision.
The original version of Alan Scott was an older man, and he had a superpowered son, Obsidian, who was gay. The fact that Scott was young now [thanks to a universe-wide reboot] meant Obsidian no longer existed. I thought it was a shame that DC was losing such a positive gay character. I said, “Why not make Alan Scott gay?” To Dan DiDio’s credit, when I suggested it to him, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation.
So, instead of gaining a gay character, we’re getting one because we were losing one. Zero percent homosexual population growth. Awesome.
But the real problem here, the first one I thought of (before I even knew we’d be losing Obsidian), is how cowardly a choice Alan Scott was. He’s a Green Lantern, so they can say they’ve got an iconic gay character. But he’s not the Green Lantern, so he’ll never be on a lunchbox, or be in a movie, or carry a cartoon or TV show. He’s on Earth 2, so he’ll never have his own book either – just the Earth 2 comic and maybe some guest shots and back-ups. DC gets the LGBT cred without having to actually add another gay character to the mainline DCU.
No wonder DiDio didn’t hesitate.
Also, DC really picked the guy whose weakness, traditionally, has been wood? Ugh. Do they realize they’re practically writing the homophobes’ jokes for them now?
Anyway, here’s the cover and a couple pages of Earth 2 #2 (courtesy of EW).
* – I was really hoping it would be Beast Boy, personally.