So now with all the hubbub of Alan Scott (Green Lantern of a parallel Earth) being being gay in his debut in DC's New 52 Universe, I really can't wait to see what we think of the new Muslim (note the Arabic "tattoo") Green Lantern coming out this fall.
The way I see it, kudos for DC bringing in a Muslim character. I really wish it wasn't another Green Lantern since now there's 6 of them and that's at least 4 too many. Domino masks are a classic, I don't know why DC can't just do that. I never liked Kyle's noseless mask thing and I never will. This "Ski mask from TRON" thing goes even further away from the simple Domino. Boo.
Beyond the odd choice in mask, or how there's a (possible Green Lantern light construct of a) tatto in Arabic on his forearm, I'm really most confused about the gun.
A Green Lantern ring is a weapon limited by only the user's imagination. In the past such rings have been used to recreate an entire city complete with tens thousands of living citizens, an entire space station complete with all the moving parts required therein, and in the case of the Orange Lanterns, an entire army. Why on Earth would you need a gun? I mean, if you wanted to use a gun, the ring could just make one. And it could be a super gun, like an extremely long range sniper rifle with armor piercing bullets or a gating gun with the infinite ammo cheatcode turned on. Carrying around a regular gun just doesn't make any sense.
Unless... and I sincerely hope this is not the case as it is a horrible idea. This guy used to be a terrorist. It's an appealing enough story arc, while signed up as a suicide bomber he's recognized by the Green Lanterns as being "without fear" and has a nice little story line where he stops being a terrorist and starts being a hero. The plot writes itself. Except that's incredibly lazy storytelling and the worst idea for a Muslim superhero ever. Don't do it. Just don't.
However, there's always the chance that this character is just Night Runner from Batman Inc.
Night Runner is a Muslim from France, not a terrorist, AND both costumes in question have fingerless gloves, and short sleeved shirts with a chest design that comes up and over the shoulders. Most importantly not a terrorist. In fact, if he had a moment of crisis and had to struggle with using a gun to save an innocent person's life or break the rules Batman set, that could be interesting. Perhaps that explains why he's no longer part of Batman Inc. Though I would encourage them to ditch the gun soon after this plot point.
A plucky young hero with ties to Batman AND Green Lantern? (both DC's two top-selling groups of books, mind you) Sign me up.
