Rantings of a Bastard

So, not horribly long ago, Marvel Comics announced that one of their gay characters, a b-lister named Northstar (part of the Canadian super-hero group Alpha Flight), would be getting married to his boyfriend in the pages of one of the comics. (The marriage comic comes out in late June.)

Not to be outdone (because if there's one thing major comic companies do, it's closely follow what the other major comic companies do), DC announced that they were going to reveal that one of their characters was gay. A major character, you know, unlike Northstar.

Let's ignore the fact that Northstar came out as gay in 1992, so DC is a little behind the times here. Of course, when you reboot your entire comic universe every few years, some things slip off of the schedule.

But who is the gay character going to be? They said "a major character" after all. Superman? Nah.... not going to happen. Batman? Well, it would validate all those old jokes. (One's named Bruce, one's named Dick. They put on tights and slide down poles.) And then there's the fact that they (and the Joker) talked about boners a lot....



But nah... with the Christian Bale movies making a metric ton of cash (and now the possibility of a fourth movie), that's not going to happen.

Aquaman? Hey, South Park would have a field day with that, you know... and I'm sure there's some other jokes in there as well, but.... nah. That would actually give attention to Aquaman, and we can't have that.

Hey, what about Wonder Woman? I mean, she's from an all-woman island... could she...?

Oh wait, here we go... it's *drum roll*

Alan Scott?

Yup. According to various leak sites... the gay character will be Alan Scott, aka the original Green Lantern.

....

Okay, many of you probably don't know who that is.


THIS GUY

Now, if DC hadn't just rebooted their entire universe (again) within the last year, this could have been interesting, story-wise, to say the least, considering that the pre-reboot version had two kids (Jade and Obsidian - both had superpowers), and had been married twice.

Now? He's a hip, young media mogul. And on Earth 2.

*sigh*

Look, I'm not against gay characters in comics, provided that they're not over-the-top stereotypes... but when you say "major character" and then follow that up with "guy who was got second billing to a talking dog"... well....

Of course, his kids in the pre-reboot universe haven't appeared yet in the New 52, and it's probable that they won't, given that the new Alan Scott is supposed to be a lot younger... but one of them (Obsidian) was gay, so... I'm guessing DC's editors have about the same level of memory as they've always had? (Which is to say, about six to nine months worth.)

Look, I like Alan Scott. I loved the "Made of Wood" arc that appeared in the Batman comics some years ago, and he was a mainstay of the JSA. If DC is making the latest version of him gay, I'm fine with that.

But he's not a major character. DC is dropping the ball on this in a big way.

DC Comics is saying that their big reset stupidity will also get rid of the Superman/Lois Lane marriage.

And yes, it is stupidity. They had a chance to 'reset' everything a few years back with Final Crisis. They could have changed things up more with Blackest Night or Brightest Day. Hell, Brightest Day is barely over, and the aftermath involving the Swamp Thing isn't supposed to end until August, which is a month before the reset. So really, what the hell?

Not to mention that DC just has a stellar reputation of getting the vast continuity changing stuff down right. (We're looking at you, Hawkman.)

But only for a few minutes.

Consider New York City. Not the safest city in the world. Muggings, drugs, murder, terrorism.

Now add super-heroes. And of course, super-villains.

Why in the name of fuck do people still live in NYC in the Marvel Comics Universe? I mean, there has been tons of property damage: Dr. Doom has, at a couple of points, had entire skyscrapers hurled into orbit (okay, okay, one of those Dooms was really Kristoff, but the point stands), the Masters of Evil have trashed the Avengers Mansion at least once, and a year can't go by without the top of the Fantastic Four's HQ being the site of a floor-detonating explosion/gateway to another universe/whatever.

Throw in alien invasions by the Skrulls, demonic invasions in Inferno, super-villain murder sprees by Carnage (and other none-too-stable villains), world-threatening doom from the likes of Galactus, never-fully-explained-to-the-citizenry doom from Onslaught, the Hulk destroying a good chunk of the city in World War Hulk, various random super-villainry....

I mean, it's amazing that there's anyone left in the city to be taken hostage or be victim of a mugging.