Green Lantern comes out, DC parents ‘very proud’

Following a week of speculation, Green lantern, the American superhero, has come out as gay, and his “parents” – DC Comics – couldn’t be more proud.

Last week, DC executives revealed that one of its superheros would come out, leading to many to speculate who it would be – Batman, Superman, Speder-Man or Green Lantern. The story of Green Lantern’s coming out will be told in issue 2 of Earth 2, which is due to be published next week, and DC Comics describe him as “proud, mighty and [an] openly gay hero”. Green Lantern coming out as gay follows in the footsteps of comic-book characters from Archie Comics and Marvel. James Robinson – the writer of the new series – explains that his Green Lantern isn’t “the emerald galactic space cop who was, and is, part of the Justice League and has had a history rich in triumph and tragedy [but a] retooled version of the classic Lantern whose first appearance came in the pages of All-American Comics No. 16 in July 1940.” “This was my idea,” Robinson explained to AP. “[We’re] making him younger […] He doesn’t come out. He’s gay when we see him in issue two. He’s fearless and he’s honest to the point where he realized he was gay and he said ‘I’m gay.’” Earlier this year, Marvel announced that super speedster Northstar would marry his longtime boyfriend in the pages of Astonishing X-Men, while DC comics has other gay characters, too, including Kate Kane, the current Batwoman. In March 2012, Digital Journal reported on the same-sex wedding of Kevin Keller, an openly gay student at Riverdale High School in Archie Comics. In April, Paul Iacono, the star of MTV dramas The Hard Times of RJ Berger and Kenzie’s Scale came out as gay, and, late last month, news outlets reported that Jim Parsons – Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory – had come out.