Alan Scott: The Green Lantern by Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey (New Golden Age)

[postfutureshock]

Yeah no matter the justification, I don't think I can see a man with impeccable moral compass like Alan trapping two different women into a life of lies for the sake of keeping himself in the closet. That's not what Alan Scott would do. If the series reveals that he did in fact tell them and they chose to accept him for who he is, that could be a different story, but since Alan isn't supposed to be bisexual as mentioned above, I'm interested in seeing how they could pull this off without making him look bad.

I think trapping is not a good descriptor. Many men in his position do love the women they married and hope that the marriage will turn them straight. His scenario is/was a reality for many.

[Johnny]

I think trapping is not a good descriptor. Many men in his position do love the women they married and hope that the marriage will turn them straight. His scenario is/was a reality for many.

Regardless of the phrasing, I don't really see Alan doing something like that, least of all for the sake of his own comfort. That said, I don't mind them potentially exploring that element. Could be interesting.

[MajorHoy]

I don’t get why they didn’t make him bisexual. They could have told a very similar story without making him look bad for leading women on and getting one pregnant. If it was a case of him figuring out his sexuality later on in life, I’d be fine with it. But he apparently was in love with a guy before he met the mother of his children.

That might have been the more logical way to handle it and wouldn't involve trying to re-write his past as much as what they're now doing.
But between that and Geoff Johns suddenly creating a new arch-nemesis from the past (and even re-using a name he created over fifteen years ago when he came up with the Care Bear Corps and the emotional spectrum!), it really seems like too much revision to pretend it's the "same" character first introduced back in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940).

[Alphaxman]

Regardless of the phrasing, I don't really see Alan doing something like that, least of all for the sake of his own comfort. That said, I don't mind them potentially exploring that element. Could be interesting.

I know I'm late in this discussion, but I don't think it's fair to compare today's sensibility against someone who was raised in the early 20th century. I can believe someone in Alan's position would hate to "lie" to the woman he'd end up marrying, yet doing so because of his personal struggle. Many, if not most gay men had to make that difficult choice. I could totally see Alan feeling like Frank from Far From Heaven. Frank loved Cathy; he just couldn't fight his true self in the end.

[j9ac9k]

Regardless of the phrasing, I don't really see Alan doing something like that, least of all for the sake of his own comfort. That said, I don't mind them potentially exploring that element. Could be interesting.

I agree his relationships with his wives is something that should be explored. I'd like to think he was open with them and they accepted him as is, and regardless of whether or not he slept with them, if he considers himself gay then that's how he defines himself - either way, it's clearly something that needs to be addressed, especially since we know his kids weren't retconned out of existence anymore.

I wondered if the title of the next issue will refer to Alan being forcibly shoved into the closet through mental trauma or something at Arkham as a way of explaining him trying to lead a straight lifestyle for decades, but ... from his conversation with Doiby, his "criminal activity" seems to be in the present tense.

[The Darknight Detective]

If DC reintroduces Alan's wives, then they have to be "lavender" weddings, IMO.

[Mantis-Ray]

Alan does call his romance with the guy a "sin" so he still has the mindset at the time that what he's doing "is wrong". Its possible that yeah the tragedy of his death and Alan's experiences in the mental hospital will traumatize him back into the closet compared to where he was willing to risk starting a relationship with another man in secret.

[Refrax5]

Then I wish they just would have kept the New 52 bit and made him more distinctly a separate character. it's the "yes all those old stories happened to this character except..." stuff that causes all these problems. If this isn't the same Alan then just make him a totally different character. Don't reference All-Star Comics as if he is the same Alan that appeared there. Don't reference Infinity Inc as if this is the same Alan that fathered Jade and Obsidian there, You can't have it both ways. That has been DC's ongoing problem for at least 37 years.

I mean, that's literally every current DC character. This isn't the same exact continuity as the golden or silver or bronze age for any of them and hasn't been for a long time.

[Refrax5]

It's the original Alan rewritten to be gay.

Anyway the Multiverse and Hypertime combined are full of straight Alans.

Not unless the current DC Universe is the pre-Crisis Earth Two.

[j9ac9k]

I enjoy thinking that the current DCU is actually the present of the Golden Age continuity - where the JSA were never on "earth-2" - at the time, those guys were the "main" continuity. The Silver Age with Barry Flash and Hal GL where the JSA was on Earth 2 was the alternate timeline. When Crisis fused them, the current heroes just joined that same old Golden Age continuity as the present day heroes of that old timeline.

But really, each and every story is a slightly different alternate reality - every. Single. Story. That's why everyone looks different with each artist - these are all slightly different realities, some more different than others. That's the only way to reconcile all this nonsense and just enjoy the story.

[D.Z]

Not unless the current DC Universe is the pre-Crisis Earth Two.

It's the same clutter earth being rebooted, debooted, altered over and over...

The world with parts of Earth 1,2,4,X,S, and later on more.

[Refrax5]

It's the same clutter earth being rebooted, debooted, altered over and over...

The world with parts of Earth 1,2,4,X,S, and later on more.

Which has a different history and continuity than the original version so....

[D.Z]

So the original Alan is now gay.

[MajorHoy]

So the original Alan is now gay.

Actually, the current ret-conned version of Alan is now gay.

The "original" version of Alan from pre-Doomsday Clock wasn't gay in those stories.
So anything from before Flashpoint still has straight Alan as the Golden Age Green Lantern.

[D.Z]

That's not how it works.