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As the release of Green Lantern #0, on stands tomorrow, draws near, the mainstream media has finally begun to notice that there’s a new guy at the head of that title, and that he’s not nearly as WASP-y as most of the previous Lanterns.Simon Baz is the full name given for the new, tattooed and gun-toting Muslim Green Lantern introduced in tomorrow’s issue, according to a new Associated Press story that also says the character “begins with the character’s family watching the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the suspicion and ostracism that followed for many Muslims and Arabs.””Obviously, it’s affecting everybody,” Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns told The Associated Press. “One of the things I really wanted to show was its effect on Simon and his family in a very negative way.”Concerns that many comic book fans had when they first saw the guns and tattoos appear to be not entirely unfounded, too: Johns told AP that, inspired by his own working-class Detroit background, he’s written Baz as a laid-off auto worker who becomes a car thief to make ends meet.”He’s not a perfect character. He’s obviously made some mistakes in his life, but that makes him more compelling and relatable,” Johns said. “Hopefully (it’s) a compelling character regardless of culture or ethnic background. … But I think it’s great to have an Arab-American superhero. This was opportunity and a chance to really go for it.”From car thief to the Justice League of America? Maybe our man Baz is a kind of stand-in for the so-far-absent Plastic Man in the world of the New 52!
