DC Comics has revealed it will be Green Lantern who announces he's gay.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/06/01/dc-comics-green-lantern-is-now-gay
Suddenly the movie with Ryan Reynolds makes a lot more sense.
I always thought DC comics were gay anyway ;)
Ditto, ditto and ditto.
^Agreed on the whole DC/gay thing. Except for their premium label Sandman [and similar] titles. Oh and Batman.
Quote from: Gusington on June 01, 2012, 09:41:47 AM
^Agreed on the whole DC/gay thing. Except for their premium label Sandman [and similar] titles. Oh and Batman.
Sorry Gus, but Batman is as gay as the rest. :P
^What he does when not being a badass is none of my business. Maybe badass is the wrong choice of word here. Anyhoo...
My comment above on DC comics in general being 'gay' just means they suck in relation to comparable Marvel titles. It doesn't really reflect on the sexuality of the heroes.
Related: Louie CK does a great little schtick on the word 'faggot' and it's meaning outside of sexuality to fully understand what I mean here. If any of you have seen it you know what I mean. Totally hilarious, and true!
Quote from: Gusington on June 01, 2012, 09:51:44 AM
^What he does when not being a badass is none of my business. Maybe badass is the wrong choice of word here. Anyhoo...
My comment above on DC comics in general being 'gay' just means they suck in relation to comparable Marvel titles. It doesn't really reflect on the sexuality of the heroes.
Related: Louie CK does a great little schtick on the word 'faggot' and it's meaning outside of sexuality to fully understand what I mean here. If any of you have seen it you know what I mean. Totally hilarious, and true!
Batman is the only mainline DC hero who is "Marvel-worthy", IMHO. And Louie CK....God, I found myself watching youtube after youtube of that dude. Google "Bag of..." somethingorother as well as his clip on people of my particular skin color. Hilarious!
^So I am guessing you have seen his 'faggot' bit.
I like this quote:
QuoteAlan Scott - formerly a married father of two who first appeared in 1940 - tips readers off to his sexuality early on in the comic when he gives his boyfriend a welcome home kiss.
Tips readers off? I think kissing your boyfriend might be more than a "tip off."
The more I think about it, while Marvel has a better stable of heroes, DC seems to have more of the great comic book villians - Lex Luthor, the Joker, Catwoman, Two-Face, General Zod. Hell Batman alone probably has the greatest line up of comic book villians ever.
Quote from: Gusington on June 01, 2012, 10:02:59 AM
^So I am guessing you have seen his 'faggot' bit.
Absolutely! Frickin' hilarious!
Quote from: mirth on June 01, 2012, 10:20:13 AM
The more I think about it, while Marvel has a better stable of heroes, DC seems to have more of the great comic book villians - Lex Luthor, the Joker, Catwoman, Two-Face, General Zod. Hell Batman alone probably has the greatest line up of comic book villians ever.
I think the bad guys are where Marvel and DC pull even. Dr. Doom is one of my favorites, Green Goblin, Magneto, Doc Oc....pretty even stable. Heh, imagine Green Goblin and the Joker working together.
Quote from: mirth on June 01, 2012, 10:20:13 AM
The more I think about it, while Marvel has a better stable of heroes, DC seems to have more of the great comic book villians - Lex Luthor, the Joker, Catwoman, Two-Face, General Zod. Hell Batman alone probably has the greatest line up of comic book villians ever.
I think I agree with that. I really love Superman, but other than him... "meh." I've always disliked Batman. Although my one DC love is Swamp Thing, and he is rarely seen anymore.
But Marvel has Spider Man and the Hulk. Too bad Spider Man's villains are goofy as all heck. The Vulture? Really?
^What did happen to Swamp Thing? I always kinda liked him. He was like a weedy version of the Hulk.
Quote from: mirth on June 01, 2012, 10:27:58 AM
^What did happen to Swamp Thing? I always kinda liked him. He was like a weedy version of the Hulk.
After the very famous Alan Moore wrote for the comic in the mid-80s, they got a few new writers (notably Rick Veitch) that took things in a new direction. Veitch was pretty good, but he really upped the spiritual side of Swamp Thing (since Swamp Thing is an elemental, he could travel into the planet's soul, then into Heaven and Hell, it got a bit weird). Veitch tried to write a story where Swamp Thing met Jesus (not kidding), DC scrapped it, and Veitch left in a huff. After that, the comic lost momentum.
I think they brought him back recently with this new Earth 2 thing and he was integral in opposing the Black Lanterns trying to destroy the universe.
I never liked Superman, always liked Batman...just the opposite of SoM. And to me the Dark Knight and Arkham titles are head and shoulders the best stuff DC has.
I also think we should avoid the word 'stable' in this discussion.
I don't have a favorite villain, surprisingly. I probably should since I root for the bad guys more often.
*Alan Moore is a certifiable Evil Genius. Maybe he can be my favorite villain.
I'd like to see the bad guys from DC take on the bad guys from Marvel!
@SoM - Thanks for the mini-history on Swamp Thing!
@MIGMaster +1 on DC baddies vs Marvel baddies!
This so stupid. They should have just made a new character.
Aquaman has always been gay. They should have formalized it.
Aquaman is more gay than Green Lantern.
^Absolutely. Don't tell LB though.
Quote from: airboy on June 01, 2012, 01:07:44 PM
Aquaman has always been gay. They should have formalized it.
Aquaman is more gay than Green Lantern.
...and Robin is even more gay than Aquaman.
^It's a close contest.
LOL. Touche, Gus.
Don't forget that Marvel has Alpha Flight and that entire team is gay.
^Yeah but not Robin or Aquaman gay.
"Dude you are so Aquaman gay."
HAHAHA
Quote from: Gusington on June 01, 2012, 01:48:35 PM
"Dude you are so Aquaman gay."
Alpha Flight responds: "Dude you are so Sasquatch gay."
'Sasquatch gay' sounds far more unpleasant. If possible.
What can I say, I know my gay superheroes.
Quote from: Bison on June 01, 2012, 12:32:47 PM
This so stupid. They should have just made a new character.
Technically, they did. Apparently they rebooted the entire DC universe, made everyone young again, and restarted their story, retconning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retcon) everything along the way.
Which, to me, is dumber than magically changing sexual orientation. Oh... let's just restart the stories because we let them get too ridiculous over the past decade.
I don't fault them too much for rebooting everything. That's the way it goes these days in every medium.
How the heck do they think rebooting 50+ years of history is possible. Idiots. They just need to make a new character. What's so freaking hard about that? Hey we want a gay superhero! Well we know how to do spandex and floppy hair. We just need a costume design and a power. Perhaps the creativity is gone from the traditional comic sources Marvel and DC.
Google search and done.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fninapierce.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F05%2FRainbow_Man.jpg&hash=5d6d57191f74877da5b3430cbbe189bcca02e604)
Not so freaking hard DC. Although I am pissed also about the co-opting of the f'n rainbow, but that's another discussion.
I don't think they rebooted the entire franchise just so they could have a gay Green Lantern. They did it because no one was buying the books. It was an attempt to draw in new readers - "Here's your chance to own Batman #1".
I don't know if the creativity is gone or if it's just another medium that the times have past by.
A gay green latern is like the breast feeding mom on the Newsweek cover. A shot in the dark to get some media attention onto their product. They need to tie into another media venue that works. Teaming up with Sony to make a MMO didn't work, because Sony basically sucks at MMO support outside of EQ2 and that is even suspect.
Yeah, if they're gonna out a character at least make it one that people know and give a f*ck about. Green Lantern? Wasn't he already gay?
And Sony does suck at MMOs. They destroyed Star Wars Galaxies.
Quote from: Gusington on June 01, 2012, 01:48:35 PM
^Yeah but not Robin or Aquaman gay.
"Dude you are so Aquaman gay."
HAHAHA
You guys are mean.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1081.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj349%2Flongblade%2FGrogHeads%2Fleave-Aquaman-alone-guy.jpg&hash=e5e72b96beef9cc01762751a5f2d61aa2d24db1d)
And DC Online sucked.
Quote from: Gusington on June 01, 2012, 02:10:49 PM
'Sasquatch gay' sounds far more unpleasant. If possible.
"Breaking News! Bigfoot calls press conference to announce he's Coming Out of the Woods!"
Quote from: LongBlade on June 01, 2012, 02:53:49 PM
Quote from: Gusington on June 01, 2012, 01:48:35 PM
^Yeah but not Robin or Aquaman gay.
"Dude you are so Aquaman gay."
HAHAHA
You guys are mean.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1081.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj349%2Flongblade%2FGrogHeads%2Fleave-Aquaman-alone-guy.jpg&hash=e5e72b96beef9cc01762751a5f2d61aa2d24db1d)
ROFL!!! I won't jump on the "Aquaman is gay" bandwagon outta respect to the chief, but seriously.....Sub-Mariner would kick Aquaman's ass. Just sayin'.
Quote from: Steelgrave on June 01, 2012, 04:33:44 PM
ROFL!!! I won't jump on the "Aquaman is gay" bandwagon outta respect to the chief, but seriously.....Sub-Mariner would kick Aquaman's ass. Just sayin'.
Don't go easy on me just because I'm the boss.
I'd be more worried that a giant squid may reach up and grab you next time you sit on the can...remember - all sewers lead to the sea! (https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1081.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj349%2Flongblade%2FSmilies%2Ftoiletgrabber.gif&hash=da9964e6b69a06a3f0e6eae5cbf9477e580062f9)
Quote from: LongBlade on June 01, 2012, 04:53:36 PM
Quote from: Steelgrave on June 01, 2012, 04:33:44 PM
ROFL!!! I won't jump on the "Aquaman is gay" bandwagon outta respect to the chief, but seriously.....Sub-Mariner would kick Aquaman's ass. Just sayin'.
Don't go easy on me just because I'm the boss.
I'd be more worried that a giant squid may reach up and grab you next time you sit on the can...remember - all sewers lead to the sea! (https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1081.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj349%2Flongblade%2FSmilies%2Ftoiletgrabber.gif&hash=da9964e6b69a06a3f0e6eae5cbf9477e580062f9)
Squids....now that's just silly. Snakes, on the other hand....the possibility, no, the LIKELIHOOD of snakes slithering through my sewer pipes only to strike at my privates, that thought
seriously reduces my reading time on the throne.
Quote from: Bison on June 01, 2012, 02:31:49 PM
How the heck do they think rebooting 50+ years of history is possible. Idiots. They just need to make a new character. What's so freaking hard about that? Hey we want a gay superhero! Well we know how to do spandex and floppy hair. We just need a costume design and a power. Perhaps the creativity is gone from the traditional comic sources Marvel and DC.
Not to be pedantic... but they actually are only rebooting about 26 years of history. Why? Because DC already did a HUGE reboot of all their titles in 1986 with the Crisis on Infinite Earths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_infinite_earths). They had to do that because they had made too many "alternate reality" comics that it got out of control.
Come to think of it, they actually are only rebooting 16 years of history because they did ANOTHER reboot called Zero Hour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hour_%28comics%29) back in 1996.
Man... DC reboots it's universe more than a user of Windows 95 rebooted for the BSOD.
You do have a point SoM.
Quote from: Bison on June 01, 2012, 06:42:11 PM
You do have a point SoM.
It gets sort of crazy if you are a long term comic fan. I don't even think Lois Lane and Superman are together anymore!
I am impressed with your knowledge of DC history SoM. I am nowhere near the comic fan that you are.
Quote from: mirth on June 01, 2012, 08:56:59 PM
I am impressed with your knowledge of DC history SoM. I am nowhere near the comic fan that you are.
I got really into Superman during the "Death of Superman" stuff but the Zero Hour reboot left me a bit cold, so I quit.
Later I bought the Alan Moore era graphic novel collections of Swampthing and they have a significant section on the Crisis on Infinite Earths. So I had to read up on that to understand it. I used to love the Marvel epics like The Infinity Gauntlet or The Infinity Wars, but typically just read Spiderman (and they have an "alternate history" Spiderman reboot as well, called The Ultimate Spiderman).
Just remember, Spiderman grew up in Brooklyn, so when you read the comic book, you have to think in a thick Brooklyn accent. Which makes him sound a bit like Gus.
Now I pretty much only collect The Walking Dead graphic novels. They are pretty darn cool!
But I highly suggest the Marvel 1602 Graphic novel - so very awesome!
My cousin is a huge DC fan and I have always been a Marvel guy. I never cared for Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman. Most of the DC lineup sucked except for New Teen Titans (when George Perez took over and they started over at Number 1.) I did enjoy the Crisis On Infinite Earths re-set though. I had enough DC history to be able to follow most of it. And I hoped it would do them some good. Apparently not.
As an aside, I know I'm late to the thread, but Mirth, in the very first post, stole my thunder :-) Kudos, brother!
I'm starting to wonder if my two Green Lantern t-shirts and one pair of Green Lantern boxers is going to send the wrong message.
I was at a Wendy's a few years ago wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt, and I got a Nod-of-Approval from a black guy there (when Green Lantern was Black, not gay).
Anyway, just wondering what the trade-off will be going forward.
Thoughts?
It would've been better if they hadn't made a big deal of it IMHO. This smacks of being a too-obvious ploy to score brownie points with the LGBT community. "Look everyone! See how progressive we are?" Ugh.
I think it's fine with a comic book hero being gay. I don't think it's fine to toot your own horn about it, though. That smacks of ego, not social progress.
Quote from: Martok on June 02, 2012, 08:37:49 PM
That smacks of ego, not social progress.
Or crass marketing.
What is the social progress? Seriously. That there are gay people in the world? OH MY GOD~ it's a lame marketing ploy that most likely does more to ostracize the traditional subscriber base that bought comics with the Green Latern story then brings in new subscribers or fans.
Quote from: Bison on June 02, 2012, 10:03:16 PM
What is the social progress? Seriously. That there are gay people in the world? OH MY GOD~ it's a lame marketing ploy that most likely does more to ostracize the traditional subscriber base that bought comics with the Green Latern story then brings in new subscribers or fans.
I kind of agree. Social progress via comic books is sort of hackneyed most of the time anyway. Besides, claiming social progress by having Green Lantern be gay but then have Starfire be an uber-sexualized slut is what we call a zero-sum game (and female readers were none too pleased with the new Starfire).
The thing they were doing was trying to replace the Green Lantern's gay son by making the Green Lantern himself gay. Doesn't make a ton of sense. I'm more for that being background noise (as I said) than something we need press releases about.
Yeah, it screams of "Look at us! We're cool! We're relevant!", when in reality most of us, meaning geeky comic fans of all ages, could hardly care less.
Don't ask , don't tell will be the way to go for superheroes. i like them more as asexual as they have been.
Quote from: Steelgrave on June 03, 2012, 01:33:11 PM
Yeah, it screams of "Look at us! We're cool! We're relevant!", when in reality most of us, meaning geeky comic fans of all ages, could hardly care less.
And the weird part is that they've been here before. DC had gay superheroes in the late 80's, when it really was a pretty bold move. This just reeks of playing for attention.
It's the same line of reasoning that made them think Superman renouncing America was a good idea.
Quote from: LongBlade on June 02, 2012, 07:42:01 PM
I'm starting to wonder if my two Green Lantern t-shirts and one pair of Green Lantern boxers is going to send the wrong message.
I was at a Wendy's a few years ago wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt, and I got a Nod-of-Approval from a black guy there (when Green Lantern was Black, not gay).
Anyway, just wondering what the trade-off will be going forward.
Thoughts?
Well...I guess nowadays you would get lots of Nods-of-Approval from wearing your Green Lantern t-shirt while walking down the middle of the Castro District in San Francisco.
Quote from: Bison on June 03, 2012, 04:34:45 PM
It's the same line of reasoning that made them think Superman renouncing America was a good idea.
Of course, now that they rebooted, he hasn't done that... :)
You goys...except for buffalo boy are missing the point. This is a rewrite of cultural history. Bring a new hero into the comics just don't do revisionist stuff with cultural history.
Quote from: mirth on June 01, 2012, 01:47:16 PM
Don't forget that Marvel has Alpha Flight and that entire team is gay.
Sigh. I'd argue, but there really is no point. It is what it is.
Quote from: Centurion40 on June 05, 2012, 11:38:47 AM
Quote from: mirth on June 01, 2012, 01:47:16 PM
Don't forget that Marvel has Alpha Flight and that entire team is gay.
Sigh. I'd argue, but there really is no point. It is what it is.
I was going to write a formal apology for my comment about Alpha Flight, but instead I'm just going to use Jason Alexander's apology to GLAAD for calling cricket gay.
http://www.glaad.org/blog/actor-jason-alexander-apologizes-jokes-made-cbs-late-late-show
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fm.blog.hu%2Fca%2Fcartoonheroes%2Fimage%2FAnatole%2FAmbiguously-Gay-Duo.gif&hash=1ed2849df4de659583a021eb946469a10b03e6f7)
Sgt. Rock and the Haunted Tank were DC Comics, right ? They were the only DC comics that ever caught my attention. I always liked Sgt. Rock over Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. Probably the only sub-genre DC did better than Marvel.
I ran across this while checking out the CBS new show list:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbs.com%2Fassets%2Fimages%2F2012%2Fr1%2Fshow%2Fupfront_b2b%2Fright_rails%2FBBT.jpg&hash=f3b61de695232e8ada56451707cdc892be6ec797)
^Almost certainly intentional. Jim Parsons recently confirmed his sexual orientation.
(Which may very well be staggerwing's point!)
Quote from: Staggerwing on July 04, 2012, 07:26:27 PM
I ran across this while checking out the CBS new show list:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbs.com%2Fassets%2Fimages%2F2012%2Fr1%2Fshow%2Fupfront_b2b%2Fright_rails%2FBBT.jpg&hash=f3b61de695232e8ada56451707cdc892be6ec797)
That's too funny...and appropriate!
I think the move to "gay up" the Green Lantern will probably fail, or at least become a plot-line that sees little attention.
DC always lagged behind Marvel in humanizing their characters. Most Marvel characters have some kind of character weakness or frailty that they had to struggle with, whereas the DC guys just busted bad guys. Frank Miller's now famous "Dark Knight" series was so positively received by the comic-reading world specifically because it was really the first time we saw so much more of Bruce Wayne "the man" instead of "the secret identity". In fact, when it was first released, some comic-industry watchers commented that DC was finally "Marvelizing" their superheros. The Superman reboot occured around the same time, IIRC.
I personally don't mind re-inventing the characters or story...so long as the content stays compelling. Many mainstay characters have had reboots or revisions. In the "original" comic, Matt Murdock trained himself to be The Man Without Fear; later storylines (also penned by Miller) had him learn aspects of his trade from a mystical martial arts master (Stick). Thor started out as a god-turned-into-frail-human; later he becomes a God earth-bound by choice. Even the Haunted Tank makes a re-appearance in Gulf War I.
Having said all that, I think it is fairly clear that more and more media outlets are comfortable with "gay friendly" agendas. Times were that gay characters were typically portrayed as suspicious deviants or a effeminate wimps. Now they are often just portrayed as characters that happen to like characters of their own gender. Of course, some cases of homosexual attraction are completely understandable (Starz network Spartacus) but in other cases it is mostly or even oddly absent (Troy, Alexander, 300).
Statistically, the LGBT community ALLEGEDLY number 1 in 10. Although I am somewhat suspicious of the demographic accuracy of that statistic, is it to absurd to have 1 comic book hero (out of the dozens out there) to be openly gay? Perhaps not. Again, consider that MOST comic book readers are probably still socially awkward hetrosexuals, the story line will only survive if the content is compelling.
FWIW...here's what happened when Bruce Banner was accosted by two gay guys at the YMCA...
http://www.ep.tc/problems/hulkrape1-1.jpg
http://www.ep.tc/problems/hulkrape2.jpg
http://www.ep.tc/problems/hulkrape3.jpg
(PS...ep.tc also has a link the M-16 maintenance comic book)
Addendum: It occurs to me that DC always did a better with their so-called war comics than with their superheroes. It is within the pages of "Our Army At War" and "GI Combat" that DC's character development really shines. Jeb Stuart of the Haunted Tank questions his courage and looks to the spirit of his legendary ancestor J.E.B Stuart for guidance; battle-hardened Sgt. Rock reflects upon the futility and waste that is war while doing his utmost to protect the lives of the men in his platoon; Hans von Hammer is the consumate anti-hero who grimly recognizes that his deadly talents earn him accolades and medals he disdains; while the Unknown soldier must necessarily go wholly unrecognized for his sacrifices and acts. In particular I recall one episode of the Unknown soldier (3000 to 1 ?) where, disguised as an SS officer, he is forced to kill a female (Jewish?) informer so that he can remain in disguise (and therby effect the escape of many refugees). Perhaps the depth of the characters was the result of the kind of national / personal introspection that occurs when a nation goes to war (at the time, Vietnam). FWIW, I think nation-not-at-war / nation-at-war played a key difference in the making of Spielberg's / Hanks Band of Brothers / The Pacific, respectively.
Readers of OaaW probably need not be reminded of the seminal work of Sam Glanzman, whose autobiograpical based war stories of the USS Stevens were gripping, tragic, funny and informative.
Jack Nastyface