Step 1 Art: My Tribute to the Original Orignal Green Lantern and his Children

This is the first of many just-for-fun sketches I've done in my spare time to do something creative during Step 1 studying.  There's quite a bit into why I decided to draw the characters I did.  A couple days ago, DC Comics announced that in his new incarnation, Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, would be gay.  As a big fan of Alan Scott and the JSA in general, this has been one of the most bothersome of the changes at DC Comics. 

It's not that I have anything against gay people.  In fact, I have many gay friends and I am a fan of many gay fictional characters.  As a matter of fact, Todd Rice aka Obsidian, Alan Scott's son (the blue guy on the left) is an openly gay character from the old DC.   

What bothers me is DC's discarding of Alan Scott's rich, albeit more obscure, 70-year-history as a DC character and the work of the writers and artists that helped make that happen all for what is nothing more than a publicity stunt.  In the preceding weeks before the announcement, DC teased that they were making an "iconic" character gay and there was much speculation on who this might be with names like Tim Drake (one of Batman's Robins) and Wonder Woman thrown around.  But when it was annouced that Alan Scott was the character that was coming out many including myself have felt it is the king of all cop outs.  Sure he is a Green Lantern but he's only really known in comic circles these days so most people are probably just as confused when it was announced that Miles Morales, a Afro-Hispanic-American, would be the new Ultimate Spider-Man. 

While I do appreciate DC trying to be progressive, it feels that the LGBT movement has been undermined to generate more publicity for itself (a common theme lately).  I doubt sales this week will be that much more increased or gay readers will be more drawn to DC titles.  So the victims of this little marketing ploy?  Just the original Alan Scott and, until some comic book universe tweaking occurs, his kids Obsidian and Jade.  If you knew the old Alan Scott, you probably enjoyed that everything about him was old.  I mean, his costume for most of his history has been a red shirt tucked into green pants with a cape!  However, the other DC characters respected him as a veteran.  He represented that Golden Age morality that is impossibly forthright and good and survived for 70 years despite the changing of the times.  And maybe it's appropriate that such a character is retired now but I really would rather he was still around.