Towards the end of May, DC announced that "one of the major iconic DC characters will reveal that he is gay in a storyline in June." The character has since been revealed as the original Green Lantern Alan Scott.
While he may not be as iconic as DC's Batman or Superman, he was none the less an important figure in the DC's comic history. Created by artist Martin Nodell and writer Bill Finger, Alan Scott made his debut as the first Green Lantern in 1940. Like later lanterns Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner, Alan Scott's source of power was a magic ring, though he wasn't a member of the space policing Green Lantern Corps. He was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. Ironically, this version of Alan Scott would go on to have an openly homosexual son, Todd James Rice, the hero Obsidian.
The decision to re-invent Alan Scott as a gay character is part of an effort by DC to reboot the entire universe in what they call, "The New 52." On making the decision, writer James Robinson said in an interview with comicbookresources.com, "Obviously, I'm a huge fan of DC. But one of the things I felt was that if you're going to reinvent a universe, you should really go for it. You should go for it the way Grant Morrison has done with Superman or how Geoff Johns has come up with a new origin for the Justice League. With that in mind, the only thing I was sad about in terms of a younger Justice League was that there wasn't going to be Jade and Obsidian - Obsidian of course being Alan Scott's gay son. And just as one idea can foster the next, from there I went, 'Why don't I just make Alan Scott gay?' And to Dan DiDio's credit, there wasn't a moments hesitation on that. He just said, 'That's a great idea,' and we went with it."
While Alan Scott may be the newest gay character in comics, the concept is nothing new at all. DC introduced a gay character called Extrano in 1987's New Guardians, John Constantine is bisexual, detective Renee Montoya of the GCPD (and now the identity of The Question) is lesbian, as is Batwoman, and Marvel recently celebrated their first same sex marriage between characters Northstar and partner Kyle. And of course, there's always been those rumors...
Scott's sexual orientation will first play into his story in "Earth 2" #2 by James Robinson and Nicola Scott, on shelves June 6th.
