Alan Scott: The Green Lantern is a six-issue miniseries by Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormay, published by DC Comics as part of the Dawn of DC initiative.
Way back in the thirties, closeted-gay military engineer Alan Scott and his lover Johnny Ladd were part of a secret mission to study a mysterious Red Flame in the middle of the ocean. The mission went awry and Johnny was seemingly killed. Years later, a string of bizarre murders involving victims who are all both burned and drowned - and who all have ties to Alan, who has since become the hero known as the Green Lantern - forces Alan to confront his past.
Alan Scott: The Green Lantern contains examples of:
- Armored Closet Gay: After returning to the Soviet Union, Vlad Sokov quickly married a woman to allay any suspicions about his sexuality. He also claims that his relationship with Alan was purely for the mission and "I'm not like you", even though the flashback showed him sleeping with the political officer who chose him to be a spy.
- The Backwards Я: The Crimson Host's name is written in font as "CЯIMSOИ HOST", to make them appear even more Russian.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: After facing his former lover Johhny Ladd/Vladimir, Alan Scott asks if the former's wife knows about him, when Vladimir (Red Lantern) interrupts Alan, thinking he meant "homosexual". However, Alan finishes the question: if she knows he is a spy.
- Beard of Evil: Red Lantern's bearded look contrasts with Green Lantern's clean-shaven one. The former is also the villain of the piece.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Justice Society appears to help Green Lantern and Red Lantern at the end of issue #5.
- Call-Forward: In issue #4, Red Lantern explains to Green Lantern that both the Crimson and the Emerald Flames are powered by emotion - which is the main power source of the Emotional Spectrum of the Green Lantern mythos. Confirmed in issue #5, when the Emerald Flame, using Jimmy's body, explains to Alan about the Guardians of the Universe and the Starheart.
- Cure Your Gays: Following the incident with the Crimson Flame, Alan's relationship with Johnny was exposed. As Alan had saved multiple lives during the incident, the army didn't want to discharge him for fear that those he saved might protest in his defense, so instead, they offered to let him return to the military if he agreed to submit to "therapy" to cure his "disease". Said therapy included electro-convulsive therapy and the threat of lobotomy. Poor Billie, Alan's roommate, gets the latter and is sent home as "Mr. Billings".
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: The miniseries explores in detail the terrible ways in which gay and transgender individuals were treated back in the thirties and forties. Even Jay Garrick, one of Alan's future best friends and a character who normally serves as a beloved grandfather figure to the entire DC universe, is put off by Alan's homosexuality. Subverted, surprisingly enough, with the Spectre. Normally The Dreaded because of his whole deal as the Wrath of God, he is quick to assure Alan that God does not actually regard homosexuality as inherently sinful.
- Enemy Mine: Red Lantern joins forces with Green Lantern to fight the Crimson Host.
- Funetik Aksent: Doiby speaks in a stereotypical Brooklyn accent, and his dialogue often substitutes "oi" and "a" sounds for "ur" or "er" (for example, he pronounces "murder" as "moida".)
- Has a Type: In issue #5, Red Lantern comments about his victims, mentioning how they "all looked the same... and so very familiar", implying Alan was trying to relive their relationship.
- Husky Russkie: Red Lantern appears in a one-page spread at the end of issue #3 and, like his cameos in the Justice Society of America (2022) book, he's got quite an imposing figure. He is also from Belarus, which, back then, was part of the Soviet Union.
- It's Personal: The victims of the killings are people personally connected to Alan. And so is their killer.
- Mythology Gag: The Golden Age Red Lantern being a Soviet is one for the original Red Lantern story, which predates the modern Red Lantern Corps itself, and was instead about Kilowog defecting to the Soviet Union. Geoff Johns created both the new Golden Age Red Lantern and the Post-Crisis Red Lantern Corps - both are likely a nod to that story.
- Named by the Adaptation: Billie takes the role of the unnamed Arkham inmate who crafted the lantern battery in previous continuities.
- New Old Flame: Pun intended. Alan Scott's love life has been reinterpreted to add a previously unseen first lover to him, who became the Soviet agent Red Lantern.
- Older Than They Look: In the DC Pride: Through the Years one-shot, Alan's conversational partner says he is a centenarian, though he looks like he is in his forties at the most.
- Once More, with Clarity: Red Lantern's flashback in issue #4 reinterprets how he acted during their relationship, by giving new context to scenes previously shown in both the DC Pride Through the Years one-shot and earlier in the mini-series.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Crimson Host, a group of Soviet agents, appears in New York to attack Red Lantern and Green Lantern, wearing dark Soviet-styled military uniforms and emiting the red glare of the Crimson Flame.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: A strange passenger takes a ride on Doiby's cab, and his eyes shine with a red glare. As the end of issue #3 shows, he is Alan's nemesis, the Red Lantern.
- Revision: The mini-series keeps the key event of Alan Scott's life: him surviving the trainwreck and being given powers by a green-colored source (as with other incarnations, the Emerald Flame). This time, the event is expanded to reveal more information about the accident.
- Spotting the Thread: Subverted; Red Lantern is astonished that Alan didn't realize that he was lying about his origins when he claimed to be a graduate of the Florida State College; Florida State College was turned into an all-women's college in 1905, although it would become coeducational again in 1947, after the events of the miniseries.
- Transparent Closet: In the forties, Alan is very much in the closet, but it's an open secret among his fellow superheroes.
