TRANS-SCRIBE: Alan Scott: Green Lantern #3

Alan Scott: Green Lantern was a book that I was already geared to like, thanks to my love of the Green Lantern mythos and the Justice Society, but it was through the exploration of Alan Scott as a gay man in a time of rampant, normalised homophobia, and the astonishing second issue, that I came to count this series as one of the best of 2023. This issue continues to explore the mystery of the killings that are plaguing Alan's life, as well as his battle to accept himself in this harsh and cruel world.

This is the first issue of the series that doesn't really have any flashbacks (if you don't count the whole thing being set in DC's past), and instead focuses on Alan's investigation in the present. As with the previous entries we see that the homophobia of the time is a constant plague to him, with Alan's investigation being disrupted almost immediately when police arrive at the docks to arrest any gay men that they find. This is bad for Alan, preventing him from investigating her further, but it is also hard for him from an emotional point of view.

Despite having seen him break out of Arkham in the last issue, seeing the strength he had to stand up and say 'no more' and go against the homophobic societal pressure designed to destroy him, he seems to be slipping backwards somewhat here. The constant police raids and arrests of queer people is having a toll on him, and he calls himself deviant, he starts to see himself as a criminal just because of who he loves. These kinds of thoughts cause some tension for him when dealing with the Flash, who's helping him at the morgue. Jay is clearly trying to extend a hand of friendship and understanding towards Alan, letting him know that it's fine that he's gay, but thanks to everything that Alan has been dealing with his response is to snap at him, to get angry, which forces Jay to pretend that he was meaning something else entirely.

Interestingly, it's the other investigator on the case who's the one who actually gets Alan to open up a bit more, which considering it's the Spectre is somewhat surprising. This is easily one of the more interesting versions of the Spectre I've read, and I love the way that Tim Sheridan balances out the spirit of vengeance with the soul of the man he's inhabiting. Jim Corrigan feels like a big part of this version of the Spectre, and there's a sense that he's having a bit of fun with his powers and abilities, scaring criminals to get answers because it brings him a sense of both power and amusement. It's very humanising, and offers readers a type of Spectre that we've not really had in comics for a long while.

It's whilst investigating missing police files together that the Spectre and Alan end up having a heart to heart, and it's the Spectre that manages to get through to him. This is surprising to both Alan and myself, for different reasons. I was surprised because, as I said, the Spectre has been written very differently for a while, usually as cold and vengeful, the kind of person who is there to judge and condemn rather than being open to having a normal conversation. Alan, however, is taken by surprise by it because he assumes that God would hate him for being gay. The rhetoric of the time (and still used today to be fair) is that God hates queer people, that those identities are against his will and his religion, even though the Bible never once says that.

And the Spectre makes this clear to Alan, he shows him that despite what people are telling him, despite what's being used to create cruel laws, God doesn't love him any less because of who he himself loves. The reuse of 'If God himself didn't want you to love then how could you?', a phrase that Johnny once said to Alan, whilst he and the Spectre hug, was genuinely moving. Despite not being able to see all of his face, and what you can see being covered with a mask, you see enough to know that this moment means so much to Alan, that a literal servant of God telling him that he's not broken, that he's not a deviant, means so much to him. Plus we get the Spectre helping to heal a mans soul by hugging him; who'd ever thought we'd see that?

It's also during this conversation that Alan begins to come to some realisations about the killings, and why they've been targeting him; a realisation that has him rushing back to his home. This leads to a final page reveal that, I have to be honest, I saw coming since issue one, but doesn't pack any less of an emotional punch. Alan finds the Red Lantern in his home, and sees that it's Johnny. There's no shock for me in this moment, but Johnny punching Alan, hurting the man who loves him so much, is the part that makes this ending memorable. The book has spent so long building their relationship, showing how much it meant to Alan, how much it changed his life, that you can't help but feel your heart break a little in this moment because of how much this is going to hurt Alan.

Despite having figured out Johnny was going to be Red Lantern so early on it doesn't mean there's not some mystery here still. Johnny speaks in Russian, which raises some possibilities for what's happened. Either he was found by the Russians after the accident that left Alan thinking he was dead, and has defected to the USSR, or, he was a Russian spy. Whilst I think him being a Russian spy the whole time would be the much more interesting option that I'd love to see explored, it also likely means that his love for Alan was a lie the entire time, and I do not want to see what that revelation will do to Alan. I suspect, if Sheridan is going that route that that will be the incident that leads to Alan being closeted, the reason why he only recently came out. I can easily see the first man he loved, the man who changed his life forever and forged him into who he is turning out to have been a liar who never loved him would easily push Alan into thinking that being gay was wrong, and that he should live as a straight man for the rest of his life.

The art for issue three is done by Cian Tormey, with Chris Sotomayo colouring, and the book looks great throughout. There's not really any big action this issue, there are no huge moments where the art team can make you go 'wow', but it's in the little moments that things really shine. The part I already mentioned where you can see the pain on Alan's face when he's hugging the Spectre is a prime example of a very normal, very plain moment that just looks fantastic and tells a huge amount with the art. The Spectre himself is also a stand out, and I love the way this team makes him look in this issue and really want to see more of them working on JSA characters in the future. A series set in this era with this writer and this art team would likely be the best Justice Society comics we've had.

With such heavy focus on Alan Scott's queerness in the previous issues I was hoping that the series would continue to put his sexuality at the centre of things going forward, but understood that that part of the story might have to side lined somewhat to focus on the mystery and super heroics. This issue shows that that doesn't have to be the case though, and Sheridan is able to weave the two together into a truly impressive and deeply moving narrative. I'm sure that there will be some out there complaining about the focus on queer stories and characters here, as there was people who complained about Alan coming out to begin with. But those people are, frankly, idiots. For the rest of us, we've got an amazing story that brings a whole new lease of life to one of DC's oldest characters in a book that's going to be remembered as DC's best queer focused work.