With today’s announcement that Alan Scott of Earth-2 is the new gay characters, James Robinson said other gay characters will appear in DC Comics.
“There is another character down the line, but that character won’t be appearing for some time, so it’s probably a bit too early to talk about that, but this book will definitely have a diverse cast. Alan Scott won’t be the only gay character in Earth 2, I promise you that.”
Who will it be? Does it matter?
Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment. You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...
16 Comments
Bleah…. I have no interest in PDOA from either lesbians or gays in comics, much less overt heterosexual couplings such as Red She Hulk banging The Hulk in a fire pit in the middle of the street while a minor league baddie watches. There were plenty of characters that could have been used for this storyline without going to the “rebooted” Golden Age characters.
And of course he won’t be the only gay character on Earth-2. Obviously the guy he’s kissing is so there’s at least two…
Here’s hoping for Doc Fate.
Oddly enough I care less for Earth 2 because of this obvious stunt, I don’t care about people sexuality, even less when it’s fictional characters but when a company tries to make a big deal about it? I care, and not in the good way.
too much of a publicity stunt and it is actually making me not consider reading DC comics in the future should they have a gay character in every storyline.
I don’t think it’s a publicity stunt. As Robinson has pointed out, having lots of gay people around is just daily reality for people in big cities. Maybe Robinson just likes writing a diverse cast of characters.
I don’t mind the changes, especially for Earth-2, write what you think is interesting, just don’t publicity stunt it.
/agree with brainypirate.
I’m gay, but I don’t need gay characters to make me happy. I want good stories. If it feels organic to the character’s story, I’m all for it. If it feels pushed or unnatural, like making a character gay just for the sake of having gay characters, it makes me weep.
I’m gonna hold of judgement until I see the story, then I’ll decide if I like it or not.
I am just a little sad with Alan Scott being the guy DC went with. I was really hoping they were going to go all out with this. I know Alan Scott is a big deal for people that have read comics for a long time, but to new readers, or younger readers, people could care less b/c they have no idea who he is. My wife was interested in this b/c of all the hype this was getting. When it was announced my wife went “There is another Green Lantern besides Ryan Rynolds? This was just a little flat for me. I feel they went too safe with this. Got a guy who was a big deal 20-30 years ago so that it would not rock the boat so much.
My biggest thing with all of this, is that if it had been either Vibe or Ryan Choi, then it would have felt a little less cheap to me… Since Alan Scott has such a long/rich history as a character who had various female romantic interests… And even fathered 2 children at one point, it feels like they just put a bunch of names on a dart board and it happened to land on Alan Scott… With Vibe/Choi, the characters essentially have approximately 5 years of real time comic continuity (yes, Vibe has been around since the ’80’s, but he wasn’t around really alive for all that long), so changing what essentially is a fresher/less used character would have been more acceptable to me. I almost feel that robbing Vibe/Choi of being gay lessens the characters as they are both just pointless… Vibe because he’s… Well… Vibe.. And Ryan Choi because he was essentially just created so DC could say, “Yay!! Asian character!!” during their revamp of old characters and make all but Aquaman be different ethnicities than before… Honestly, to me, it feels like adding that extra layer of making those 2 characters gay would actually add something to them other than making them just 2 characters with small fan bases… Plus, DC could always have used the whole “double whammy” of making 2 ethnically diverse characters possibly be a gay couple… Alan Scott = gay is something that will be hard to get used to with the 60+ years of continuity he’s been involved in……….
Well, thirty years ago (1982) Hal Jordan was still the primary GL, and Alan an occasionaly guest star and All-Star Squadron member. Alan’s salad days are closer to 60 years ago, now…
What Vibe said.
Regarding all the news about Northstar from Marvel and Alan Scott from DC, it seems these two companies jumping on their soapbox and then crowing and thumping their chest about their company’s ‘diversity cred’.
If DC really want to address diversity in their existing comics:
How about adding Wildstorm characters to the Justice League and Justice League Dark. (Icon and Hardware come to mind)
Add Montoyo (2nd Question) to a Bat-book.
Add Bumblebee and Static Shock to Teen Titans.
What if Scandal Savage moved to a higher profile team?
What if the Blood Syndicate cross paths with Red Hood.
I think the Cartoon Network’s Young Justice did it right by adding Wildstorm’s Icon to the Justice League and adding Rocket (Wildstorm), Bumblebee and Blue Beetle to the younger team.
All this was done without a bunch of chest-thumping and posturing.
Bottom line, not a bad move for Marvel and DC, but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth when the publicity is geared to be “look what we as a company are doing” rather than “look at these great books we are putting out”
In it’s first issue, Earth-2 killed of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. Not a word seemed to be said nor a tear shed. Make a character, who’s been a round nearly as long, gay and it starts hitting the fan.
As it’s been said before, who knows ‘Alan Scott, Green Lantern?’ I’m 45 and he has only played a small part in my DCU history. DC has shone a light on this hero and that makes me happy.
I’m not gay and I have gay and lesbian friends so this isn’t a big deal for me. I embrace a strong and diverse DCU.
Is there an issue that this hero is male, gay, American and white?
I really can’t wait until the day when something like with what happened on Grey’s Anatomy would happen in comics.
For those that don’t know, bartender Joe, sexuality not known at the time, goes to Meredith’s house for Thanksgiving and Christina opens the door and Joe introduces his boyfriend, which, you’d think would be a big moment, Christina goes, “Whatever…..please say you brought some liquor”. Basically treating it as it wasn’t a big deal.
It would be more interesting if it were dead GL Charlie Vicker (since this is the NEW DCU then he may not have died a Darkstar this time around)… Think about it… Neil Patrick Harris, Zachary Quinto, and Jim Parsons were all on tv shows for a while before revealing that they were gay… Charlie was GL on a tv series before becoming a GL in real life… So why not have him reflect real life and come out of the closet, bring a “new” Earth GL into the fold, and there you have a gay GL that previously existed that I think would be more interesting than just replacing the son’s being gay for the father (who still exists).
For those unaware of Charlie Vicker (and yes, he’s real) here’s more info on the character: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Charles_Vicker_%28New_Earth%29
I hear Transgender is the next “gimmick”, I mean trend…