Great Hera!

So a little while back DC Comics said that in the wake of their company-wide reboot last September, they were going to announce that an established character was actually gay. "Major" and "Iconic" were the words they used for the character. It was a good progressive move to sure. And good publicity too, as everybody started guessing games as to who the character could be. Some were even guessing that Batman or Superman could be it. Well today the lucky character was announced. The winner?

The original Green Lantern, Alan Scott.

Now I'm sure a few of you are going, "Who?" or "That's not Green Lantern". Let me explain. See back in the Golden Age of comics (the '30s & '40s) the guys who would become DC came up with a bunch of superheroes to follow the success of Superman. One of them was Alan Scott, a railway engineer who found a magic rock he carved into a lantern and ring. Using the ring's magic, Scott put on a silly costume and fought crime. Cause that's just how things worked in the Golden Age. Anyway, Scott kind of fell of the radar after the '40s but DC still owned the name. So in the late '50s during the superhero revival, DC created a new Green Lantern. Same name and powers, new costume and identity. This is the Green Lantern most of you are familiar with.

Yeah him. But back to Alan Scott. Now while this is still a good move on DC's part, it's still kind of a copout. Alan Scott is neither a "Major" nor "Iconic" character, or even that well known. He's not even in the regular DC universe right now. Yeah, it's complicated. The good folks over at Comics Alliance have a nice write-up of the whole situation, so give that a read if you want to know more.

Man, I'm kind of bummed by this. Major superheroes are overwhelmingly straight white guys, so showing some diversity is always welcome. But I was hoping this would shake things up among DC's Big 7. You know, the Justice League. Because one of them really needs come out of the closet already.

Yes, Wonder Woman. Come out already Diana, you're not fooling anyone.

Wonder Woman is a bisexual, if not an outright lesbian. I mean think about it. Diana here is from an island of only women, some of whom are canonically lesbians. Plus, it's an island with a culture based on Ancient Greece, birthplace of the term Lesbian. Even one of Wonder Woman's original artists Robert Kanigher has said her creator William Marston put lesbian subtext into the comics. And check what former writer Gail Simone had to say on the subject. Okay, not great evidence but still. It's not a completely illogical conclusion to come to.

Plus, I think this would help WW out a lot. Wonder Woman has always been a challenging character for many writers. She's hard to get a fix on. She's a kick-ass warrior princess but she's also kind and gentle. She's always been a pro-feminist character, but how explicitly feminist do you make her? Is she more mythological or superheroic? Point is, Wonder Woman can be a bit of a mess.

But solidifying her sexual preference (is that the right word?) would give writers something to latch on and find some kind of direction for her. It also brings in a new audience who might not have read Wonder Woman before. Which would be good because WW never sells as well as the others in the DC Trinity (Batman & Superman). Her numbers haven't great since the '40s, when her adventures mixed gender politics with standard superhero stuff. Maybe a move like this could bring some of that fire back.

I lean toward WW being bi myself, but that's just me. Point is Comics need some more diversity. Wonder Woman is a major feminist icon, maybe she could be a LGBTQ icon as well.