NOW A GAY GREEN LANTERN WILL HAVE A MUSLIM SIDEKICK

Warner Bros.-owned DC Comics, which surprised fans in June when it announced that its long-running character The Green Lantern will come out as gay, has revealed that one of the principal characters of its relaunched Green Lantern series will be Arab-American. Geoff Johns, the chief creative officer and writer of the series, has created Simon Baz, who is based on his own background growing up as a Lebanese American in Dearborn, MI, the largest Arab community in the U.S. According to the Associated Press, the character’s story will begin on Sept. 11, 2001 when Simon, age 10, watches the attack on the World Trade Center on TV, and proceeds as U.S. Arabs and Muslims face suspicion and ostracism. Johns told the AP: “One of the things I really wanted to show was its effect on Simon and his family in a very negative way.” But, aside from that message, Johns said, “I think it’s great to have an Arab American superhero. This was opportunity and a chance to really go for it.”