Alan Scott......GAY?

[MAVERICK]

I found Jor-L5150 like this, this morning:







The ever reliable lads over at Bleeding Cool have revealed that they've recently heard rumblings that the DC Comics character about to be revealed as a gay man is none other that Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern who is currently making his presence felt in James Robinson's Earth 2 series. The site didn't run a story, but have now heard from another "much stronger" source that he is indeed the superhero about to come out of the closet. We'll be sure to bring you official confirmation when and if it comes. How do you guys feel about this news? Sound off with your thoughts in the usual place.

[ShogunLogan]

DC being reactionary again since Marvel's Northstar is marrying a dude.

I've never heard of Alan Scott but I'm not a huge DC reader. I was guessing it was going to be Aquaman. Or Atom.

[Metallo]

Both companies have been jumping on that "controversial outing of a newly gay character" bandwagon for years. Its usually a lesser character though. And Northstar has been "out" for a loooong time hasn't he? Alan Scotts son Obsidian was gay for a long time. DC would have done something like this soon anyway.

They've done it before with supporting characters but its pretty rare for some an old and well known character like the original Green Lantern.

I don't have a problem with gay characters at all but when they try to jump on the bandwagon and get publicity with a stunt like this I find it silly. That goes for Marvel and any other company. Its pure shock value advertising. I guess this is an affect of the NU universe because there was never any hint of it in the old one.

Notice they didn't do it with any MAJOR character like Superman or Batman or Barry Allen. Thats what makes it really cheap to me. The fact that they are playing it safe by not messing with the bottom line of one of their big earners is what makes this decision seem so transparent and phony. Making Hal or Barry or Hawkman gay would be more ballsy to me.

If ANY DCer should be a homosexual it should be Wonder Woman. Lots of fish on an island full of women and no men. And really...who the heck would complain? ;D

But seriously if they are going to make a character gay fine but make it something thats believable and make it a character that makes sense. I'm just not going to believe Oliver Queen coming out to be gay at this point. But if Connor Hawke did I might actually believe it. He's still a pretty cool character and being gay doesn't affect that one bit IMO.

I find it hard to believe that in the last...Oh I dunno...70 years or so that Alan Scott just shockingly comes out and nobody in the DCU has never mentioned it before. Was Scott just pretending not to be gay when he fathered those two kids with The Thorn? Like I said it has to be one of those New 52 retcons.

[Paul (ral)]

DC really fucked this up. What could have been a positive thing has been...well....meh.

All in a bid for publicity to steal Marvel's thunder...petty.

Last week all the mainstream press was running the story that Batman or Superman were going to gay following Dan DiDio's "shock announcement".

They may run stories that Green Lantern is going to be gay now...but that's kind of unlikely, and would be a little inaccurate since the mainstream only knows of Hal Jordan from the movie.

So basically most of the general public will be left with "either Batman or Superman is gay".

I have had lots of people who know I like Batman say to me "I hear he's going to be gay now". I try and explain that won't be Batman but you know how folks are.

Way to go DC. Failing to follow Marvel's initiative without any of the class.

[Metallo]

Then again Alan Scotts weakness was always wood

[MAVERICK]

I don't see why they cant just introduce new characters & have them be gay from the start.
If it catches on, then the character will be cannon. If not, he/she will fade away like other failed characters. The people speak.

Retconing established heroes just to change their sexuality seems trendy & stupid.

[Valentine Smith]

Well, this is a completely new Alan Scott. The current Earth-2 bears no resemblance to the Earth-2 of JSA fame. Just look at their Jay Garrick. I don't see how this affects anything. Both of these companies have been scrambling for the last decade to have more and more of their characters not all be white anglo-saxon protestants. I don't see how this really affects anything.

It's also worth noting that Bleeding Cool is the comics world equivalent of the National Enquirer, and may have bad info on this. But even if it's true, I don't care. They're not retroactively making the Golden Age Green Lantern gay. This current Earth-2 has more in common with something like Marvel's Ultimate universe than anything else. It's not the same guy. And even if it was, I still wouldn't care.

As for Wonder Woman's sexuality, I think WW's bi-sexuality (at least) is such an open/unacknowledged secret that there's no need to ever be explicit about it. If anyone thinks Wonder Woman is straight, they're in serious denial.

[Metallo]

May 27, 2012 18:15:40 GMT -5 MAVERICK said:

I don't see why they cant just introduce new characters & have them be gay from the start.
If it catches on, then the character will be cannon. If not, he/she will fade away like other failed characters. The people speak.

Retconing established heroes just to change their sexuality seems trendy & stupid.

Ditto. Unless its Wonder Woman. But she smacks pussy all the time.

[Valentine Smith]

May 27, 2012 18:15:40 GMT -5 MAVERICK said:

I don't see why they cant just introduce new characters & have them be gay from the start.
If it catches on, then the character will be cannon. If not, he/she will fade away like other failed characters. The people speak.

Retconing established heroes just to change their sexuality seems trendy & stupid.

Well, they did that with Batwoman, who is quite popular now from what I understand. They introduced a new Batwoman who is a lesbian, and she's caught on pretty well. But the thing is, a gay male character is a much harder sell to a comic buying audience, especially a new one. A hot, leather-clad, lipstick lesbian like Kate Kane/Batwoman has a built-in fap-factor for all of the basement-dwelling virgins who obsess over this stuff. A gay male character, to an audience that is PREDOMINANTLY male and straight (inasmuch as any of them even have any sexual experience) is much tougher to put over.

So, yeah, they need to have some kind of "name" be the gay dude. They get the cheap "Green Lantern is GAY!" headlines, but at the same time, down the line, they get a powerful, recognizable, role-model of a character who happens to be gay. And even if this was the "real" Alan Scott becoming gay, or Barry Allen or whoever...I still wouldn't care. Adults come out of the closet all the time, often after they've had girlfriends, been married, or had children.

We have seen, in the last few years, a REAL tipping point in this country regarding general acceptance/tolerance of homosexuals. When I was in high school, there were exactly TWO "out" homosexuals in my school, and I had to defend one of them from beatings pretty regularly. I see kids now who are comfortable with their sexuality in their teens. Comics are pretty much the last entertainment industry (other than probably video games) to catch up. It's important for them to do this stuff. So, even though it's cheap and headline-grabby right now, in five years it won't be, and they'll have strong, recognizable gay characters in their stables, and gay kids reading this stuff will have someone to identify a little more strongly with.

[Metallo]

The original Hawk and Dove might as well come out. Don't pretend we all didn't considered it a possibility.

If Booster Gold wasn't such a womanizing horndog I think he'd be a good established character to come out as gay. He'd show an optimistic future for gay and lesbian rights and provide a good commentary on the way society feels about it now. Very "Star Trek." I'd rather see something like that--serious and creative storytelling--than a big shock value reveal.

Like I said before the thing I find silly about all this is they still played it safe like they always do with the sexual preference swap or the race swap.

I thought Marvel handled the race issue in a REALLY smart, realistic and thought provoking way with that TRUTH miniseries. Never read it and it might be crap but the concept was powerful and with precedence.

[Jor-L5150]

May 27, 2012 18:15:40 GMT -5 MAVERICK said:

I don't see why they cant just introduce new characters & have them be gay from the start.
If it catches on, then the character will be cannon. If not, he/she will fade away like other failed characters. The people speak.

Retconing established heroes just to change their sexuality seems trendy & stupid.

EXAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACTLY.

DC USED to do this right.
they USED to recognize a need for diversity, and introduce NEW characters as PEERS of existing characters.


but not anymore. now, it's "change the white/straight to gay/black".
and anyone who balks at it is called a racist/sexist/bigot/homophobe.

it's a difference with a distinction, and i am disgusted.
(aside: alan scott has always been MY fave GL)

[Metallo]

Its the same thinking behind Hollywood reboots. They want to introduce something "modern" but they want to go with a more proven name brand so they don't have to take as much of a risk.

The comic book industry has a pretty shoddy record over the last 20 years when it comes to creating totally brand new characters with new heroic personas from scratch. There have been a few successes but most of the most well known and popular characters were created between the 30's and the 80s.

[Jor-L5150]

here's a history lesson for jim lee and dan didio:
(assholes both)


- the first "superheroes" were all mostly white males as most writers/artists were white males. (as well as jewish new yorkers). so the genre reflected what was familiar to THEM.
- a psychologist pointed out that there weren't any/enough FEMALE characters and "national periodicals" introduced WONDER WOMAN.

NOTE: they did NOT take superMAN, and re-introduce him as superWOman.

it worked creatively and commercially, and let to a LOT of female protagonists in comics ( superGIRL, batGIRL, mary marvel, Lois Lane etc etc).

-in time, it became apparent that there should be more ethnic diversity and so marvel AND DC offered up characters who were black african-american.

so marvel had "the falcon" and "black panther{ probably an ill advised name given the radical 60's movement}" introduced as PEERS of the AVENGERS.
DC introduced john stewart (not the pinko talk show host) as a NEW Green Lantern.

NOTE: they did NOT take captain america, and re-introduce him as an ethnic minority. they did NOT take hal jordan and make him black.

it worked creatively and commercially and ethnic characters became a "norm" in comics.

now, DC, look carefully at YOUR OWN recent history. when john byrne revamped superman he IMMEDIATELY set the table for diversity- WITHOUT publicity stunts, provocation or treating people like human props.
the 80's/90's superman comics introduced:
- maggie sawyer, a lesbian police captain.
- ron troupe, a black daily planet reporter, PEER of clark kent.
- gangbuster, a latino superhero.
- sinbad, a middle-eastern immigrant superhero.
ALL of these characters were thoughtfully portrayed, authentically depicted and given- here's a good word- DIGNITY.
y'know, see people as PEOPLE, and whatever odd's'n'ends there are are seen second.

DC USED to do this right.
REAL "tolerance(which is itself an insulting term)" is when we DON"t magnify to peculiar aspects of a person in order to make ourselves look/feel better.
REAL acceptance of diversity is when cosmetic things like skin color or orientation are NOT paraded around so that others might flatter themselves.

but DC has positioned themselves in the media, in true liberal fashion, to pull a stupid, needless stunt and then not give a WIT about quality, authenticity or (gawd no!) narrative. they position the argument in order to do this the WRONG way and then if it fails they can say WE are the problem.

this is just the latest artifact in what has been wrong with DC for many years. do stupid shit, blame the readers. do more stupid shit to get a spike in sales, then peter out.

as a man completely at ease with all orientations, with a homosexual parent, and a long time fanboy of alan scott i say:



FUCK YOU DC. (and your shit pretension)
FUCK YOU DAN DIDIO. (and your shit imagining usefulness)
FUCK YOU JIM LEE. (and your shit designs)
FUCK YOU GEOFF JOHNS. (and phoning in shit)
FUCK YOU new 52.


b'bye.

[Deleted]

Mmmm, haaaay....

[ye5man]

May 28, 2012 15:39:10 GMT -5 Jor-L5150 said:

but not anymore. now, it's "change the white/straight to gay/black".
and anyone who balks at it is called a racist/sexist/bigot/homophobe.

Is the new Perry White black in MOS?

[Metallo]

Yes. Its Fishburne as Perry right?

The race/gender/sexual orientation swap always looks hollow because its rarely ever done with major characters. Thats one reason i really think its usually full of sh**. They talk of equality and diversity while making say...Jimmy another ethnicity but they'll never do it with Superman. Not long term anyway. Thats why it seems so fake. They want diversity but as soon as it screws with the bottom line all that deep thinking goes out the window.

I'd gladly take more diversity in comics because quite frankly they NEED it but create some new diverse characters that aren't stereotypes or exploitative. LOVED the new Mr Terrific but he's a different person from the original. If they want to do something like that I'm fine with it. Or better yet create an all new character. I loved John Stewart. They didn't do something lame like make Hal Jordan black all of a sudden.

The big two aren't creating a whole lot of wholly new characters that are hugely successful because they can't and they know they can't

And didn't Jim Lee stop being hip and cutting edge like 15 years ago? I remember his Heroes Reborn work looking...predictable. Somebody tell him the Justice League should not look like a Wildstorm Comic from 15 f*ckin years ago.





Even The Ultimate books have done a better job of coming up with modern redesigns.

[Jor-L5150]

Exactly metallo.

By all means men women gay straight ethnic should all be in the mix.

But the difference between inclusiveness and pandering is obvious. Like we both have pointed out - the big 2 used to know how to do this. Marvel still sorta does.

Bring in diversity as peers- but gods sake show some dignity and stop this human political prop bullshit.

[Keith]

15 years ago I really though Jim Lee was awesome. I loved how is art looked. How sleek everything looked.. this was back when I was still semi into comic buying. Now I look at it and I'm just like meh, I really don't like his art anymore...

DC doesn't know what the heck they are doing anymore.. I like what you wrote a couple posts back Jor, Fuck DC.

[charl]

guys....it's true & it's official now www.newsarama.com/comics/alan-scott-is-gay-plus-more-gender-race-changes.html

damn, Bleeding Cool's lead IS bleeding reliable

[Valentine Smith]

GREAT interview with Robinson there. There's no "agenda" here, and it sounds like he's changed nothing of Alan Scott's personality or character.

[Jor-L5150]

i'm not worried about "gay agenda", i'mnot bothered by gay characters.

i'm fed up with these STUNTS.
i'm fed up with the utter lack of creative originality, uber-hype, telegraphing dramatic events instead of actualyl making compelling stories...

DC USED to do this right. bring IN a gay character, and make him a peer.
heck, we usedto watch "will and grace" and i thought it was a funny sitcom ( as sitcoms go) - it worked because it had good writing, good acting and treated gay folks as peers with everyone else. the SAME producers DID NOT take characters from say, "FRIENDS" and arbitrarily say "...uuuhhhmm... chandler's gay now"..

difference with a distinction.


















i wonder what the next "event" will be.

i wonder what ethnic/gender/orientation/political identity/ substitution DC will foist on us next.