Bumping those questions...
Posted on 08/13/2002 4:47:15 PM PDT by USA21
Green Lantern Fights Gay-Bashing
NEW YORK (AP) - The comic book company that created Superman and Batman has a cutting-edge new story line: a gay teenager is the victim of a hate crime.
DC Comics' "Green Lantern" No. 154 hits newsstands in September — with main character Terry Berg beaten almost to death on a street.
Terry actually emerged as a gay character in 2001 in issue No. 137, which was cited by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( news - web sites) as the year's best comic book. Terry is a sidekick to Kyle Rayner — aka Green Lantern — whose emerald ring gives him supernatural powers that keep New Yorkers safe.
"Terry came out because he had a crush on Kyle. Who wouldn't? He's tall, with all those muscles," says cartoonist Judd Winick, who created the gay character at the suggestion of DC comics editor Bob Schreck, also responsible for the "Batman" series.
Schreck "knew I'd be pretty sensitive to gay issues," says Winick, 32, who is married and lives in San Francisco.
He was a cast member of MTV's "Real World," a documentary-style show that detailed the lives of a group of people living in the same house.
Winick's "Real World" roommate was Pedro Zamora, a nationally known AIDS ( news - web sites) activist who died in 1994. Their friendship inspired Winick's comic-book story "Pedro and Me."
If there's a lesson in dropping gay issues into "Green Lantern," one of DC's flagship titles, "it might be that it would be great for young people to see that the Green Lantern doesn't care that Terry is gay. He's a person," says the cartoonist.
"Terry represents acceptance. And now, in this hate crime, we're discussing the worst side of the gay issue."
In issue No. 154, the teenager and his boyfriend are walking down the street when three men start yelling out a derogatory anti-gay word and chasing them. They catch up with Terry, who's brutally beaten.
Though he's a main character whose gay lifestyle is a running thread in the comic series, it's not the first time the comic book industry touches on gay issues.
The 1993 coming-out of Marvel Comics' Northstar, of the Canadian X-Men group Alpha Flight, was a sensation. X-Men characters Mystique and Destiny had an implied lesbian relationship, and the Green Lantern features lesbian supporting characters Lee and Li.
When they say that Terry is a sidekick to the Green Lantern, what exactly do they mean? I never saw the Green Lantern show much interest in a girl, so maybe....
Bumping those questions...
250 million men?
It's been a *loooong* time since I followed any DC comic storylines, but "the" Green Lantern (Kyle) is actually just one of a large team of guardians who have all been bestowed a "ring of power" and the responsibilities that come with it. If there's now a black character with the same powers and uniform, it's probably just another member of the same group.
IIRC, every planet with life was granted a "Green Lantern" protector -- I seem to recall an alien "Green Lantern" coming to pay a visit in one of the old comics.
Last week he and Hawkgirl were bamboozled by a square-headed blue alien during their quest to rescue Superman from War World, an intergalactic take off of "Running Man".
Hey, I only watch to see what my kids are watching! :)
They're young enough where I could get by explaining the titled-comic teaches that name-calling is bad and nobody likes a bully, but if they were older and asked what those names meant, I'd have to explain that nobody's perfect and even the Green Lantern makes mistakes once in a while.
Larry Niven beat you to the idea behind that joke three decades ago, in this science-fiction classic: Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex
The premise was that the old Green Lantern retired and his young "ward" (wink, wink) replaced him. And we know who else has a "ward".
How straight can a guy be who goes around in leotards and an opera cape? Is flying though the air without wings a subtle hint of being "light in the loafers"? It seems to me all these so-called "superheroes" are a bit lavender.
Lois loves Superman. He saves her from the bad guys, but he never even asked her for a date. Why do you suppose that is?
Not the reason you think. Actually, the physical act of "making love" would probably result in Lois's rather quick demise. Remember that at the moment of climax, Superman would temporarily lose control of himself. Superhuman "thrusting behaviour" would be more than a mortal female could survive. This is why Superman is a virgin. parsy who actually thinks about stuff like this.
Uh, first of all, Superman is MARRIED to Lois Lane these days. Has been since, I think, 1992.
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