No Joke, No Lie
For the past month or so, rumors have persisted that a well-known character would reveal that he was gay. My first thought was that I took note of the word ‘he’ and was immediately disappointed that we wouldn’t see any Wonder Woman on Starfire action. Then the comic book shop opened an unofficial pool as to which guy was gay. My money was on Nightwing (Dick Grayson, a.k.a. the first Robin), but I was later glad that there was no real cash involved.
The headline broke across the internet recently as “Green Lantern is gay!” Once again I was thrown into confusing thoughts. My first reaction was, “How can Hal Jordan be gay? He is the George Clooney of comic book characters.” Hal Jordan is the man that most people associate with the name “Green Lantern”, so my reaction was understandable. For those who only casually understand comic book characters, Hal Jordan is the panty dropper from the movie last year. Fan girls will be happy to know he is still straight. It is the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, who is being reintroduced as gay. 
DC Comics is starting their next wave of rebooted number one comics, and are reimagining a number of characters. In the second issue of “Earth 2”, Alan Scott is born again as a younger gayer Green Lantern.
I have a couple issues with this, but not for the reasons you might think. First was how most of the internet announced this news. Saying “Green Lantern is gay” is misleading for reasons I’ve already stated. It feels like a bait and switch by internet sites to get people to pay attention. My other issue is that they are completely changing the Alan Scott character until he isn’t the Alan Scott character anymore. The pre-reboot Alan Scott was an elderly man who got married and had a couple of kids. In fact, making Alan Scott young upsets me more than making him gay. Is that weird? Still, this guy isn’t Alan Scott. This character is a new guy with the name Alan Scott so it can attract some attention.
I’m really only writing this feature because it’s news worthy. Personally I couldn’t care less if Alan Scott was gay. I only know the character in passing, and, even if I was a fan, it wouldn’t bother me. The only thing that might offend me is people who make a big deal out of it, both for and against the issue. My brain just keep giving me reasons why to be indifferent about the subject. One, Alan Scott is a fictional character. Scott isn’t really gay or straight because he isn’t real. Two, coming out of the closest might have been a big deal in the late nineties, but sensible people stop caring if other people they really didn’t know were gay about a decade ago. The news is noteworthy, but honestly doesn’t bring about a reaction larger than a tweet.
Avengers vs. X-men #4 (of 12)
In three weeks?!
That was my reaction when I reached the end of this issue of the mega-event “Avengers vs. X-men”. The AvX issues have been running on a bi-weekly schedule like clockwork, but the powers-that-be are making us wait another three weeks before we see what happens next. My first reaction was to think they are falling behind on their production, but then I realized the next issue would come out the week of Memorial Day. Shipments get pushed back and it screws up the whole week for comic nerds everywhere. I understand the logic for the delay, but it still sucks we have to wait three weeks before we find out how many butts the Phoenix force is going to plough through.
The actual content of the comic was another nice addition to this storyline. Most of the story remains in a holding pattern as everyone looks for Hope. The dialogue remains clever so it isn’t a bore, but don’t expect any real surprises here. Everything is just setting the stage for the next stage of cataclysmic events and the various tie-ins that are spread across the Marvel universe. While I’ve been entertained with the main line, the tie-ins have been a let down by feeling more like interruptions rather than important pieces of the story. We’re not even half way through this event and every superhero has already punched somebody they once considered an ally. I’m just waiting until someone important dies. But I hope they don’t bring him back in the next issue.
I’m looking at you Thor.
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