I wondered if someone would notice that I specified Japanese. I’m going by his eyes, which look Japanese to me. He just doesn’t look Chinese – thou in profile I can see a bit of Korean.

Yeah – I’m totally basing it on “what he looks like”. But I suppose that’s ok in a comic book.

The DC universe just went through a restructuring. As I understand it, it’s a bit of a do-over, in which their heroes’ story lines go back to the beginning but set in today’s time instead of the 40s. (apologies to comic geeks if I got that wrong).

Part of going back in the Green Lantern story makes Alan Scott too young to have a superhero son, so Obsidian had to be cut. And as Obsidian was gay, that left them without a gay superhero at a time in which they are trying to be more diverse.

Someone at some tradeshow panel suggested making Alan Scott/Green Lantern gay instead, and the idea stuck.

We want inclusion. When we get it, it could be seen as a sop or a token. I prefer to see it as inclusion.

Of course Japanese comics have been including LGBT characters even longer than that and there’s even entire genres of Japanese comics devoted exclusively to gay and lesbian romance stories. Having said that, I think this would only count as a sop if DC merely made this announcement and then did nothing with the character’s sexuality in a storyline at all, a la JK Rowling. If in a few months DC does absolutely nothing with the Green Lantern’s sexuality in a comic book, we’ll know then that it was just a marketing plot. Having said that, I’m glad it’s the Green Lantern they revealed to be gay and not someone the mainstream public wouldn’t know a thing about, like Plastic Man.

“Gotham Central” has a great four-parter called ‘Half a Life’ in which Montoya is outed and has to deal with her friends and family afterwards. It won multiple awards.

(And it occurs to me that if the perennially clueless OMM ever get wind of that genre, their knickers will get so twisted that they won’t have any circulation below the waist.)

And, given that popular culture reflects attitudes, I’d say it’s DC finally recognizing that we’re everywhere. If they want to cash in — well, publishing is a business, whether you’re publishing romance novels or comics. Whether you consider Green Lantern a “biggie” or not, it’s an attempt worth encouraging. I’m going to have to add Earth 2 to X-Factor, Young Avengers, and Astonishing X-Men on my “keep up with this” list.

Ben – I’ve already told my hubby that yes, I would leave him for Ryan Reynolds. He responded that, in fact, I’d better bring him along.

Brian – I think you may have a point in that I may be reacting to the comic book houses expecting some kind of credit when they do this. It feels like a throw-away stunt.