When DC Comics reset all of its titles to #1 last year as part of their "New 52 initiative," the reboot promised to make the company's sprawling 70-year history more accessible to new readers by modernizing DC’s superheroes and their origins. Superman wears jeans! Batgirl is no longer paralyzed! And, according to DC co-publisher Dan DiDio, one of DC’s iconic superheroes would be gay.

DC announced today that Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern and something of an elder statesman in the DC Comics Universe, would be retooled as a modern media mogul and a young gay man. The original Scott first appeared in 1940 and went on to have a super-powered son who was gay. James Robinson, who is penning the new Lantern comics, told Entertainment Weekly that he decided to change Scott’s sexuality when he realized making the Green Lantern a young man would erase his son from the comics.

“I want to stress that Alan Scott is a gay man, but that’s just a part of who he is.” Robinson said. “He’s an interesting, complex character that I think people will respond to on many levels. He’s the epitome of heroism. And I hope that he’s a positive representation of a gay man.”

The new Green Lantern will make his first appearance in “Earth 2,” which hits stands on Wednesday. “Earth Two” follows the Justice Society of America, a team lead by the Green Lantern that fights crime in a parallel universe separate from the main cast of DC heroes. That mainstream universe contains Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern who is likely more familiar to fans, and was the star of last summer’s “Green Lantern” film.

Some fans may be disappointed that DC’s newest gay comic book character is a b-list hero relegated to a parallel universe, and not an icon on the level of Batman or Superman. But compared to other gay characters, such as Archie Comics' Kevin Keller, Marvel’s Northstar and fan-favorite Batwoman, Alan Scott is the most visible homosexual superhero so far.

Read a few pages from "Earth 2" #2, the debut of the new Green Lantern, here.