The fan response, as measured in letters to the editor, was mixed. The issue won an award for best comic book of the year from Glaad, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. I wanted an established character that we grow to know and love and that Kyle cares about.''Įight months later, Terry came out of the closet. ''We didn't want him to be a movie-of-the-week character. Fifteen pages in and there's Terry,'' Mr. Winick was offered the freelance writing chores on ''Green Lantern.'' Winick said, ''everyone who Bob had ever met was asking him for work except me.'' Over lunch one day, Mr. ''Bob and I were friends for about a year even before I got into comics,'' Mr. Zamora in his graphic novel, ''Pedro and Me,'' in 2000. Winick chronicled their friendship and the death of Mr. The experience led him to a strong friendship with Pedro Zamora, a well-known AIDS educator and fellow cast member. Winick is perhaps better known as one of the 1994 roommates in ''The Real World'' in San Francisco on MTV. Then enter Judd Winick, a cartoonist who broke into the comic-book industry in 1998.
Marz accepted an offer to write exclusively for CrossGen Comics. Schreck, who says he is bisexual, did growing up. The other would focus on Terry as he coped with his confused feelings about his sexuality, much as Mr. In one, Kyle would face the loss of his mother, echoing the death of Mr. Schreck and Ron Marz, the book's previous writer, had planned two personal stories. While the comic book industry over the years has introduced gay and lesbian characters, this is the first major story line involving a gay central character of a mainstream comic book.īob Schreck, an editor at DC Comics who is responsible for the ''Batman'' titles, ''Green Arrow'' and ''Green Lantern,'' said the plans for the character of Terry began more than three years ago. 154, which will go on sale in September, Terry is spotlighted in the first half of a two-part story about a downside of being proudly out. In April last year, eight months after his introduction to the supporting cast, Terry did something few characters in comic books do: he revealed he was gay. That's when Terry Berg, a teenage intern assigned to keep Kyle on track, entered the picture. His ring, however, is powerless to cope with the deadlines he faces in his civilian job as a freelance cartoonist. He uses it to right wrongs and keep the residents of New York City safe. In the world of DC Comics, Kyle Rayner is Green Lantern, possessor of an emerald ring, one of the most powerful weapons in the universe.