Reuters
September 5, 2012.
New superhero is a tattooed Arab-American called Simon Baz with a criminal record for illegal street racing
Green Lantern is back - this time as an Arabic-American street racer who
is chosen
to join an intergalactic police force. Photograph: Reuters
DC Comics introduced a new Green Lantern on Wednesday - a Muslim from Dearborn, Michigan, who leaves behind street racing to join an intergalactic police force.
Simon Baz, the muscular protagonist in his early 20s with the Arabic word for courage, "al-shuja'a," tattooed on his arm, is the latest example of superhero diversity in the comic book world. His debut comes after DC unveiled a gay Green Lantern in June and Marvel Comics presented a half-black, half-Latino Spider-Man last year.
"In typical comic books there's a big handsome white guy and that's it. But that's not the world we live in, and comics are reflecting that," said Thor Parker of Midtown Comics in New York. Parker's store was selling the new comic on Wednesday.
Most fans know the Green Lantern's alter ego as Hal Jordan, who is Caucasian, a ladies' man who was played by Ryan Reynolds in the 2011 film.
But the new comic tells the story of Baz, an American of Arab ancestry raised in a Muslim family. He is chosen to be part of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force.
The original Green Lantern was introduced in 1940 with a character named Alan Scott. DC revived the Green Lantern in 1959 with Jordan.
The new story begins with Baz as a child watching television images of a burning World Trade Centre on September 11 2001. As an adult, Baz, with a criminal record for illegal street racing, turns to car theft after he loses his job at a car factory. A vehicle he tries to steal lands him in the middle of a terrorism investigation. Later on, he is magically bestowed with a ring that gives him superpowers and anoints him a Green Lantern.
Geoff Johns, who writes the series, said Baz's character was part of an effort to diversify the universe of superheroes.
"There's no real prominent Arab-American superheroes in DC at all," Johns said, adding that Baz's background also dovetailed with the superhero's story.
"You are chosen to become a Green Lantern because you have the ability to overcome great fear, and I thought that would be a great [theme] to play with, with a character of this background," he said.
The new comic is part of a collection released in September that tells the back story of famous DC characters. Baz will be the focus of several more comic books, Johns said, but he declined to say for how long.
The next Green Lantern comic will be released in October.
*****
Comment: There are a few thoughts swirling around me head about this new "Islamic" superhero.
First, it is quite plausible to expect that an "Islamic" superhero who is an Arab-American would in fact have an Arabic/Muslim first name, no?
I know a grip of Arab-Americans Muslims and even more other Muslims across the globe and I am yet to encounter one called "Simon".
Second, if DC Comics did a little homework they would know that Muslims do not tattoo themselves. There is no specific injunction in the Qur'an that I am aware of, please tell me if you know one, but Muslims like Jews consider tattoos to be verboden.
So a Muslim superhero, even one from Dearborn, Michigan, with a tattoo is somewhat contentious (if not pretentious) projection.
If the purpose was to make him look cool with a tattoo and an Anglo name then I think DC Comics is missing the plot on what a Muslim superhero would project, if even in fictional terms.
Finally, if this is an exercise in multiculturalism then it is surely a contrived one (yep broer I am thinking f*cked up).
The renegade identity constructing sh*t about him having a criminal past and then joining an "intergalactic police force" is just ... well tiresome white superhero crap really.
In my thinking any Muslim superhero, in the US or anywhere else, would not be drawn from illegal street racing circles.
It is more reasonable to expect that a Muslim superhero would be found on the battlefields destroying American drones that are killing innocent Muslims, especially women and children at weddings and funerals.
But that is just my 2.5 cents worth in resistance to the project of whiteness and its self-serving myopia.
Onward!
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