Metro Detroit native and DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns will appear at the Arab-American Museum in Dearborn next month to celebrate the first Arab-American Green Lantern. The character Baz will join a long line of everymen to wear the iconic Green Ring that provides superpowers.
The fictional Baz, like the real-life Johns, is an Arab-American and is part of a larger diversity movement in the comics industry.
DC has been a big part of the shift. This year, for instance, a gay Green Lantern was introduced in the "Earth 2" title series set in an alternate universe.
Johns will be writing the series featuring Baz. "I think Geoff is a proponent of diversity in comics," says [comic book author Rob] Worley. "There's a real drive at DC to have characters of different ethnicities, backgrounds and demographics, to make sure that everyone who reads the comics sees a little of themselves in the heroic characters."
Johns will be at the Arab-American Museum on September 8.
