Fridae

DC Comics, home to superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, has taken the bold step of making gay lifestyle a running thread in its Green Lantern series.

In the comic, Kyle Rayner is a freelance artist and the sole remaining Green Lantern.

Possessing an emerald ring which bequeaths upon its wearer almost godlike powers limited only by imagination and will power, Kyle Rayner chose to fight the good fight and protect the innocent both as Green Lantern and as a member of DC's premier powerteam The Justice League.

As part of its strong supporting cast, Green Lantern recently introduced Terry Berg, an assistant to Kyle, who came out as a gay teenager in the landmark Issue 137 in 2001. The sensitive portrayal of the entire episode garnered the comic the Outstanding Comic Book award in the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's (GLAAD) 13th annual Media Awards Ceremony.

However, it is Green Lantern's latest two-part story arc entitled Hate Crime that is making headlines with coverage in the New York Times and even on Donahue. For Issues 154 and 155, the creative team of writer Judd Winick and artists Dale Eaglesham and Rodney Ramos drew on the Matthew Shepard and Brandon Teena attacks and produced a moving and shocking storyline focusing on Terry who falls victim to a heinous hate crime.

Beginning with Issue 154, Terry and his boyfriend David were walking home hand in hand after a night out at a club before they decided to share a kiss out in the streets. Unfortunately, this open display of affection attracted derogatory anti-gay slurs from three men who proceeded to chase the teenage couple down the streets. The men eventually caught up with Terry who was then brutally beaten up and left for dead in an alley.

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Naturally, Kyle a.k.a. Green Lantern vows revenge against the guilty perpetrators but not before having to deal with other pertinent gay issues such as an unsympathetic law-enforcement rife with stereotypes of homosexual behavior and Terry's homophobic father who blames David for his son's coma and refuses to allow the former to visit the latter at the hospital. These episodes were so realistically handled that readers cannot help but share the resentment and helplessness of the entire cast of Green Lantern.

The three men responsible for the crime were eventually brought to justice by an angry Green Lantern who, unlike the usual do-gooders, is not above using torture to obtain information. But even though Terry came out of his coma at the end of Issue 155, Kyle Rayner was so shaken by the senseless brutality of the incident that he lost his will to protect humanity and decided to leave Earth on a sabbatical to explore the universe.

With its sensitive portrayal of gay characters and its current hate crime storyline, Green Lantern ostensibly focuses the spotlight on gay bashing but in fact transcends hate crimes against the gay community by also bringing to attention the brutality and injustices of individuals who were/are/will be attacked just for being different.

To quote super-speedster the Flash with whom Kyle was having an argument with: "This isn't just about Terry. This is about every teenager who is terrified of being different. Different because of race, because of appearance, because of who they love" (Green Lantern, Issue 155).

So who says comics these days are only for kids?