DC Comics announced Alan Scott the Green Lantern is Gay

Instead, said James Robinson, who writes the new series, Alan Scott is the retooled version of the classic Lantern whose first appearance came in the pages of “All-American Comics” No. 16 in July 1940.

And his being gay is not part of some wider story line meant to be exploited or undone down the road, either.

“This was my idea,” Robinson explained this week, noting that before DC relaunched all its titles last summer, Alan Scott had a son who was gay.

But given “Earth 2″ features retooled and rebooted characters, Scott is not old enough to have a grown son.

“By making him younger, that son was not going to exist anymore,” Robinson said.

“He doesn’t come out. He’s gay when we see him in issue two,” which is due out Wednesday. “He’s fearless and he’s honest to the point where he realized he was gay and he said ‘I’m gay.’”

“It was just meant to be — Alan Scott being a gay member of the team, the Justice Society, that I’ll be forming in the pages of ‘Earth 2,’” he said. “He’s just meant to be part of this big tapestry of characters.”

It’s also another example of gay and lesbian characters taking more prominent roles in the medium.

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