And the "prominent DC character" to come out of the closet is...

[sherkahn]

BleedingCool.com has the update, as the iconic character's name has been revealed at the Phoenix Comicon.

*take it with a grain of salt, as the author of the article says that he could be wrong*

Mods, I am keeping the characters name out of the tags so as not to spoil anything.

*not my scan



It's Alan Scott, the *other* Green Lantern.

"A few days ago, I ran semi-sourced stories indicating that the character who DC Comics announced as being reintroduced to the New 52 DC Universe as a gay man, was Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, who appeared in Earth 2 #1 briefly,

Well, at Phoenix Comic Con, I had a much stronger source confirm to me that, yes, it is indeed Alan Scott. On that basis I feel confident in calling it. Keep your Earth 2 #1 in good nick, and start queuing up for Earth 2 #2… right about now.

Of course the original Alan Scott, created by Marty Nodell in 1940, got his Green Lantern powers mystically from a green flame. But the first person to make a “flaming” joke is out of here, okay?

UPDATE: Yeah, yeah, and his character’s weakness to “wood”. Seriously, people.

Anyway, as ever, I could be wrong…"

thanks to superfangirl for the scan to the original post where we first meet Alan Scott.

Comments

[yvonmukluk.livejournal.com]

Well.

I didn't see that one coming.

[yvonmukluk.livejournal.com]

Note: this is not sarcasm, I'm genuinely surprised.

[salinea]

as they say around my rpg table from way back in the early '00s : the result was immediate: the dinosaurs didn't give a shit.

[auggie18]

...so, this is a fun way of keeping the count of gay characters consistent. Get Alan Scott, lose Todd Rice. (I know, I know. He could've had Todd before he realized his sexuality or adopted him or surrogate or whatever. But I'm thinking that Todd and Jade will just not exist.)

It's a character with a name-brand name, but not the most famous one. Or the second most famous. Maybe not even the third. Gee, didn't see that coming.


This whole thing is just massively whatever.

[deleonjh]

It's like the black guy dying first in horror movies: they feel like they should have a minority for purposes of diversity but they're too chickenshit to make that minority person a major character.

[salamangkiero]

As long as it isn't from some of the bigger character franchises, so to speak, I won't be impressed.

[coldfiredragon]

Ditto! I had a feeling it would be an Earth 2 character that they wouldn't have to use but once of twice a month if they decided it wasn't working. I'm honestly very disappointed.

[milleniumrex]

Pretty cool. He is likely to be the leader of the JSA.

[his_spiffynesss]

If they were going to out a Green Lantern, Guy Gardner would have been much more fun.

[liara_shadowsong]

...That definitely would have been fun.

[lucky_gamble]

Well if the rumors about his identity are true...I feel incredibly meh about it. He fits a a typical depiction of a gay man: Caucasian, wealthy, Blonde, single, handsome, etc.

He feels like a safe bet. The reason I enjoy reading on Midnighter and Apollo is due to their personality tics. The reason I enjoyed reading on JosiahPower was due to how unmainstream the character was. The same with Colossus.

While yes, we add another gay character to the comic gay community (and obviously lose Rice) , he ain't a news maker.

[kenn_el]

I fail to see how you can stereotype us as "Caucasian, wealthy, Blonde, single, handsome". There are some gay men who are not wealthy.
Seriously, though, you can tell by one page that Alan's single? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) I'd rather he be fleshed out and become more interesting over time than, for example, Marvel's Northstar, who began as an interesting character and devolved into a bland symbol.

[flidgetjerome]

Nrrrr! Damn it.

This could have actually been awesome if the JSA were still the old guard that fought the Nazis because the dynamics of having been a gay man in the 1940s are so very different from the dynamics of a younger queer character. We could have even had an interesting late-in-life coming-out story, which is something that almost never gets covered in pop-culture.

[liara_shadowsong]

We could have even had an interesting late-in-life coming-out story, which is something that almost never gets covered in pop-culture.

Okay, that does sound kind of awesome, as long as it's done well. Plus, if he comes out late enough in life, the writers have no good excuse for not including his daughter.

[bwhahahabeck]

So, DC's solution to including more queer characters in their comics is to take one out completely (Obsidian) in exchange for another?

Wow, DC is just...not endearing itself to me. At all.

[whitesycamore]

Who's that then.

[whitesycamore]

And is he as bland as he looks?

[mistygeek]

You know if they hadn't push this so hard, I think people would be pleased.

[his_spiffynesss]

Quite so, Alan really is only a "prominent character" inside the fandom and not in the general media. I'm wondering when this comes to pass will there be people in the media making the mistake that Hal Jordan is gay?

[tauruschick12]

Welp, looks like Tumblr was right on this one.

I was only half-right, though. A green lantern, but not Kyle. Pfffffffft.

[shadowpsykie]

An I the only one who is actually pleased about this? I would be happier if it was Wildcat, but the fact that the gay character will be the man who is usually the leader of the justice society should count for something.

I just feel... Like a lot of people think if it's not one of the big three, or thier ilk it doesn't count and that... I don't know, it feels kinda... Not limiting but... Its like marginalizing gay people... I don't know.... I'm happy..

[bwhahahabeck]

I'd be more pleased if it didn't mean they would also be erasing his already gay son Obsidian (trading one gay in for another amirite). And the fact he's in another universe which makes him a 'safer' choice to out. Oh, and the whole media frenzy, throwing around buzz words like iconic and such.

Yeah, it's another gay character, but the circumstances surrounding it--especially the erasure of Obsidian--still make me incredibly angry (as someone who is queer as well and wants more representation in comics).

[blueprintstyles]

Interesting choice, but I still thought Ted Kord would have been a better choice.

[liara_shadowsong]

Agreed.

[kenn_el]

Alan's actually a pretty cool choice! I can't wait for his Harlequin to show up!
http://kennowen.blogspot.com/2012/05/gay-lantern.html

[grazzt]

You know, I can't really think of any gay examples of "Dating Catwoman". It would be nice to have one around.

[liara_shadowsong]

This could be interesting, possibly. But I was really hoping for Ted Kord (or maybe Jimmy Olsen). And I don't know how "prominent" Alan Scott is to the general public.

[md84]

It's not impossible for Jade and Obsidian to be introduced later. Plenty of homosexual people in real life have biological kids, whether because they did it to maintain the closet, honestly weren't aware of their sexuality until after conceiving their kids, did it with someone they aren't really attracted to just to have kids (not really a good idea but it happens), etc.

[liara_shadowsong]

I'm kind of hoping for that. Of the not aware until after conceiving their kids variety, preferably.

[silverzeo]

Alan Scott... shouldn't he be older than dirt...

[icon_uk]

DCnU Earth 2 is not pre-Crisis Earth 2, it's not set 40 years prior to the mainstream universe, it may be about 10 years older tops, but even then most of the heroes we associate with it have yet to debut. We've met a young Jay Garrick, a youngish Al Pratt and a younger Alan Scott.

[arise]

...there's a whole Green Lantern I didn't know about? Huh.

[lascoden]

With as many as there are, you're bound to miss one.

[kirke_novak]

I'm not entirely pleased that it's Alan for several reasons: he's young and hip now, I liked him older, I loved his dynamic with Obsidian tho I wish we could have seen more of his "old fashioned dude trying to deal" thing. I loved Obsidian and I loved Obsidian/Damon, and now the chances of it happening are 0, unless they'll make Damon Alan's boyfriend, then cue "that's not how you son did it" jokes. The fact that it feels like trading one gay person for the other cos even if they would introduce young/baby Todd, he wouldn't be gay due to Unfortunate Implications.

I'd buy Jade and Todd being maybe Alan's younger teenage siblings he's got the custody of?

On the other hand I'm giving it a go, Earth2 looks fun.

Meanwhile, I'll be sobbing into my issues of Manhunter. Remember how Alan cockblocked Obsidian and Damon? Good times, man, good times.

[kirke_novak]

Forgot to add - I'm glad it's an adult and not a teenager.

[superboyprime]

I think people saying that Alan Scott isn't a prominent character are missing the forest for the trees. If you asked someone outside fandom who Hal Jordan is, they'd go "Who?" It's the Green Lantern identity itself that the general public's aware of. Alan Scott, Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan... it's all the same to them. It's just Green Lantern, and that's what's "iconic." (At *best*, they'd be aware on some level that the character's been both black and white, thanks to the Justice League cartoons.)

[icon_uk]

Hal IS the one who was in the big (if unseccessful) movie, so probably has a higher profile than any other from being Ryan Reynolds if nothing else.

[thormonger]

I was expecting DC, with their New 52 penchant for wiping out married / parental superheroes, to choose Wally West, and have him hook up with the Hartley (Pied Piper) Rathaway. After all, the fanboys are already unhappy with how Wally got put on a bus once Barry Allen came back, and made moreso by Wally's absence in the DCnU. Really, DC could have had a ball with a gay Wally West and its resulting backlash.

I don't have a problem with gay characters (as long as they're doing the superheroing thing we know and love), but I do have a problem with DC insisting on erasing decades of legacy (Alan was married for a long time, and as mentioned earlier, had kids) in an attempt to be relevant.

Not that it'll stop me from reading Earth 2. Alternate Earths fascinate me, especially given how they fridged the Trinity already in this one.

[arbre_rieur]

"I don't have a problem with gay characters (as long as they're doing the superheroing thing we know and love), but I do have a problem with DC insisting on erasing decades of legacy (Alan was married for a long time, and as mentioned earlier, had kids) in an attempt to be relevant."

Do you think they erased his marriage and children because he's gay? Given how all the Earth-2 characters are younger, to the point where the still-straight Jay Garrick is a recent college graduate, I'd say that's the much likelier cause for Jade and Obsidian's erasure, if that is indeed what will come to pass

[aulayan]

This would be a far more interesting choice if it was the original Alan Scott. It would be a retcon of massive proportions, but the storytelling dynamic of a gay man from the '40s who hid it to the point of having children. And one of his children is openly gay.

That's good storytelling conflict there.

[flidgetjerome]

Yes, this, especially if the retrocon was instead that Damon and Jennie were raised by their father and not kidnapped because then you've got that really interesting aspect of "Well, son, actually I was staying in the closet so as to not break-up the family" because Alan's from an era where if you wanted a normal career and children that was the price.

[long_silence]

But Alan Scott is suppose to have Jade and Obsidian after he gets his ring, so that he can pass powers onto them.

Doesn't Earth Two take place early on in the JSA's career?

[mrstatham]

No, the JSA as we knew them don't exist at all anymore, just like the old Justice League don't.

[turtlefu]

Ech.
Yeah, "iconic" is no way. And if I'm not wrong, isn't this Alan Scott a movie star? I like that he's the leader of the team.

Also, Earth 2 versions are so distant from their original counterparts I don't think its even fair to give them the same name.

I do not mind losing Obsidian. He can still come back, and Andrekyo's "Out and Proud" Todd always struck me as wrong.