Last month, comic book writer Tim Sheridan jumped to his social media to urge his fans to go out en masse and buy his re-boot of the Green Lantern story which features pages of gay sex between the title character and his boyfriend. But it looks like the scribe’s efforts fell on deaf ears as his Alan Scott, Green Lantern No. 1 has landed with a thud with few sales.
Writer Sheridan warned his followers that “haters and the queerphobes are out in force” ahead of the book’s October 24 debut and he urged them all to do him a “favor” and buy up copies of his gay-themed superhero series.
“The only way we can shut these people down is to make this book an undeniable success,” Sheridan told his fans. “The only way to prove to the big publishers that there’s a huge market for authentic stories about LGBTQIA+ characters and these stories are for everyone is to buy the heck out of books like this.”
“This one’s only six issues and each one has a few variants. So, I’m asking if you have the means buy them up. Buy extras. Give to people you think really need to read it,” he added.
Comics friends! Queer friends! Allies! I need your help. Please SHARE this and let’s work together to deliver CG a big L. #iLoveAlanScott pic.twitter.com/8JYZfmVunu
— Tim Sheridan (@iamtimsheridan) October 19, 2023
Sheridan also claimed that his profits would go to the Elton John Aids Foundation, so he assured readers that he personally would not be making bank on telling his fans to “Buy extras” of his comic.
Naturally, Sheridan restricted comments on his X post.
“I am asking you to join the Corps,” Sheridan cried. “If you care about truth and justice, about shining a light in the darkness, if you think comics are and should continue to be for everyone, or if you just want to force these ComicsGate trolls back under the bridge they crawled out from, please support our book.”
“And send a message that the bullying and the lies and the hate have to stop,” he said. “Everyone deserves to see themselves in comics,” he exclaimed. “Everyone needs allies. And if you’re an ally, now is the time to step up. We outnumber them. So let’s pool our power, vote with our wallets, and beat these asholes.”
But it seems as though Sheridan doesn’t have as many fans as he hoped because so far, issue no. 1 of Alan Scott, Green Lantern has thoroughly tanked, Bounding Into Comics reports.
It appears that few want to see the big gay Green Lantern reboot to date, the book did not appear in the top 50-selling books. Worse, it is ranked 25,763 in the Kindle Store and #170 for Superhero Comics & Graphic Novels.
The book was envisioned as a way to reimagine the long comic book history of character Alan Scott after DC Comics revealed in 2021 that Scott was a closeted gay man, Super Hero Hype reported early in October.
The new book engages in a lot of anti-Americanism, too. Back in the day, the Green Lantern character was an important part of the Justice Society of America (JSA), a comic book staple of patriotic American super heroes fighting to defeat Hitler in WWII.
But in this new tale, the JSA turns out to be a shill effort spearheaded by FBI villain J. Edgar Hoover, and at first Alan Scott does not want to join the group because he feels it is just a jingoist propaganda operation for the U.S.A. Then Hoover tries to force Scott into a sexual encounter, and informs Scott that he has photos of a gay tryst featuring Scott, so he better join the JSA or risk being exposed to the world as a gay man.
The anti-Americanism here reflects similar stories where longtime patriotic superheroes have turned on a dime against the evil United States. Similar transitions to America hating occurred in Captain America and Superman, and others in recent years.
Gay-themed comics do not seem to sell well, regardless. An effort last year to replace Clark Kent with his gay son as Superman didn’t even get 18 issues into its run before being cancelled because no one wanted it. Issue no. 1 featured a costumed Superman kissing his boyfriend. DC Comics had hoped that the gay Superman theme would be a turning point for the character.
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