DC Comics launched the New 52 in 2011 as a “soft” reboot of its superhero continuity. I was 8 years old at the time and just getting into comics. At 9, I attended New York Comic Con for the first time, and continued to attend the convention annually until 2020.
At that age, the only comics I cared about were DC. A healthy dose of Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans and Batman: The Brave and the Bold had trained me to know and understand the basics of the DC Universe. So when I began reading comics monthly, it was only natural that I was exclusively buying DC comics. At my local comic book shop, there was a deal that if you pre-ordered five comics monthly, you received 20% off your purchase. My five were Batman, Teen Titans, Blue Beetle, The Flash and Green Lantern.
Being a new DC reader in the throes of the New 52, which coincided with online fan spaces on websites like YouTube, was rough. I personally enjoyed the comics I was reading! Maybe it’s because I was a child and couldn’t really tell what a good comic looked like, or maybe it was because hidden beneath the convoluted continuity, retconned character histories and fan outrage, there were fun stories with interesting characters, like Simon Baz, the Green Lantern.
Created by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke in 2012, Simon is a Lebanese-American from Dearborn, Michigan. His story is meant to reflect the mass fear that gripped the Muslim community in America in the aftermath of 9/11. Johns, who is half-Lebanese and from Michigan, has stated in interviews that he created the character out of the love he has for his community, as well as a tool to explore cultural and political fear. As a muslim, Simon is routinely discriminated against based on his faith and his culture, even being sent to Guantanamo Bay on the charge of being a suspected terrorist.
Guantanamo is where he receives his Green Lantern ring. However, at the point when he needs it most, it fails him. Deeply distrustful of the ring, after leaving Guantanamo and beginning his Green Lantern career, Simon decides to keep a handgun in a leg holster in case the ring were to fail him again. Simon’s fear — his fear surrounding the nature of the ring’s power and his fear of himself — keeps the rookie GL from realizing his full potential. But after a confrontation with Batman, he gives up the gun and begins to trust his own power.
Simon has had 460 comic appearances since his debut. He’s been a member of the Justice League, had his own solo series and a duo series with fellow New 52 Green Lantern Jessica Cruz. However, he hasn’t been seen much since his duo series, Green Lanterns, ended in 2018.
The nature of Big Two comics is such that older characters like Hal Jordan or John Stewart will always be considered the default of these legacy mantles. As time marches on, new writers will inevitably create new characters for these legacy titles, and the in-between characters will end up falling to the wayside. In contemporary, post-Rebirth comics, the lead rookie is Sojourner “Jo” Mullein, a new Green Lantern, this time from New York City, who also has 9/11 as a key part of her backstory. Far Sector, a 12-issue 2020 series focusing on Mullein carrying out her first big mission as a Lantern, was good! I read it and loved it! However, I still feel bad for Simon.
Here is a character whose story is more prescient than ever. With war raging across the Levant, and the fear and stigma that surrounds it permeating the United States, it is deeply unfortunate that his voice isn’t being heard on panel. There is a deep history of Levantine Arabs, both Christian and Muslim, who have immigrated to and lived in the United States for over a century, but there are very few heroic characters at DC and Marvel that have Arab-Muslim origins, and fewer still with the number of appearances that Baz has. Monet St. Croix is Algerian, Khalid Nassour (Dr. Fate) is Egyptian, but other than those two, the only other heroic Arab-Muslim characters at either publisher exist to appear in cameos at best and are nowhere to be found at worst.
Damian Wayne is a quarter Arab on his mother’s side, though pinning down the faith of any one Bat family member is a minefield. A brand where the main character, Batman, is canonically half-Jewish but also Catholic but also maybe Protestant but also probably an atheist isn’t exactly primed for Damian to explore his Arab heritage, especially since that heritage comes from Ra’s al Ghul, a fictional immortal who may or may not predate (in continuity) the revelation of Islam.
Simon Baz as a Muslim Green Lantern, a warrior for justice, simply makes sense as the canvas on which to paint a story that centers the Arab-Muslim experience, especially that experience in the United States. His heritage isn’t complicated, his faith does not prevent him from using his powers; in fact, one could argue his powers could allow him to better utilize his faith. At the intersection of galactic justice and Islam, Baz is poised to explore important topics regarding his religion and culture, especially the very misunderstood and maligned concepts of the Islamic faith.
As a Jewish American, I know what it’s like to have your faith and culture misconstrued by the ignorant masses. I know how it feels to be looked at a certain way because of how westerners, other Americans, view foreign states or non-governmental entities run by my co-religionists. I know what it’s like to see the tenets of my faith distorted to make people hate me and my people. Hal Jordan is Jewish, so having him and Simon establish some kind of deeper professional relationship could be a lens through which to explore Jewish and Muslim community building in the U.S. and around the world.
Comics have often been at the forefront of cultural representation. Jewish characters, Romani characters, even Aboriginal Australian characters have all graced the panels of Big Two comics and become important, even essential, creations to the wider worlds of DC and Marvel. At a point in time where fear and ignorance surrounding Islam are deeply ingrained in American culture, it may be time for Simon to set the record straight on page once again.
