Obsidian
26 years ago - Todd James Rice is born, the son of Rose Canton, unaware his father is Alan Scott. He and his twin sister Jennifer-Lynn Hayden are adopted by different familes after his mother's death.
10 years ago - 16-year-old Todd is found by his biological father Alan Scott, meets his twin sister Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, and first discovers his shadow powers, learning how to use them from his father.
9 years ago - 17-year-old Todd joins the new Justice Society as Obsidian.
5 years ago - 21-year-old Todd leaves the Justice Society and joins the Justice League after his father dies.
3 years ago - 23-year-old Todd is injured during the White Martian attack on the Justice League, and falls into a coma.
2 years ago - 24-year-old Todd comes out of his coma. His powers are still inactive.
Obsidian was part of a huge expansion of DC's character catalog in the early 80's. At the time writers were really leaning into the multiverse. There was a constant back-and-forth between various Earths and the heroes populating them. It was an environment where a team of heroes that occupied Earth-1 but were children of heroes from Earth-2 could actually happen. Read a few comics from this era, and you can see exactly why the Crisis of Infinite Earths was necessary.
Obsidian was never a huge character. The first book I read where he stood out was Green Lantern #86, where he was part of what can only be described as a Three's Company gag. His powers and characterization are cool, but ultimately the best things about him are his relationships with other characters. Hopefully we can dig into that.
Obsidian was never a huge character. The first book I read where he stood out was Green Lantern #86, where he was part of what can only be described as a Three's Company gag. His powers and characterization are cool, but ultimately the best things about him are his relationships with other characters. Hopefully we can dig into that.
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Obsidian's Comic HistoryObsidian appeared for the first time in the pages of All-Star Squadron #25 along with the rest of the members of Infinity Inc, a team made up of the children of the original Justice Society. He and Jade were the twin children of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. A few years later the Crisis of Infinite Earths played havoc with the role the Justice Society filled, and Infinity Inc's role in the DC universe became essentially untethered. There was some story juggling to keep the fan-favorite characters in play, and while all of those characters have a place in one corner of DC or another, Obsidian actually made out really well, becoming a member of the Justice League right up until Grant Morrison took over the team with their new book.
Todd shows up in a variety of stories. He's often a supporting character in stories that featured his father or sister rather than starring in his own adventures. With his father having a major part in the rebooted Justice Society and his sister playing a long-standing role in Kyle Rayner's Green Lantern books, you saw much more of Todd then you did of Obsidian. The New 52 reboot reimagined his father as childless and living back an alternate Earth, so Obsidian is by and large gone from modern DC, although he made a few small appearances before the new timeline was settled. |
Our Obsidian StoryIn what strikes me as an interesting reflection of the way Infinity Inc posed a wrinkle in the new timelines after the first Crisis, Obsidian and his sister Jade both gave us a small complication in our rebuilt timeline. Like other members of the Justice Society who have a role to play in the modern timeline because of their children or apprentices, Alan Scott needed to leap forward in time from World War II, but unlike the rest of those characters the specific date of his arrival had to be shifted back from the other members of the Society to account for Todd & Jade's age.
Once he's in our story, however, Todd's timeline plays out pretty organically. We didn't include Infinity Inc, choosing instead to simply imagine the modern Justice Society as a new team built to honor the old and including several members of the Infinity Inc lineup, like Todd & his sister. The death of his father provides a great catalyst for him to join the Justice League. He is, of course part of the team that is defeated by the White Martian Invasion. Part of that story requires that that team is entirely out of commission for a time, which is why he will spend a brief while in a medical coma. |
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Representation in ComicsTodd is one of a very small handful of LGBTQ characters in comics. While representation is being handled much better today than even a few years ago, what makes Todd stand out is that the reveal of his sexual orientation managed to happen in a way that felt organic and unforced. It wasn't even really made a big deal, it simply developed as a natural progression of the way his character was presented. There were hints that he was perhaps queer through his appearances in the mid 90's Justice League, and then he eventually came out in the pages of Manhunter in mid 2005. The book is widely considered a hidden gem for it's fantastic characterization. There might have been LGBTQ characters in Vertigo books as far back as the early eighties, but Todd coming out indicated a shift in representation in superhero comics proper.
The promotional material for the New 52 indicated that they were planning to make a major character gay. It felt weirdly promotional at the time, but when it was revealed that the character in mind was Alan Scott, it was hard to not feel a little cheated. Alan was technically a Green Lantern but certainly not THE Green Lantern so it was difficult to really buy into the idea that he was a 'major character'. Since Alan was now childless, the change took a pretty seminal gay character whose growth has been such a huge landmark in comics out of their new continuity in favor of what felt like a promotional stunt, and you couldn't help feeling a little frustrated. |
Obsidian's CostumeObsidian's costume has remained largely unchanged as long as he's existed. This really says two things. It's a solid, functional design that differentiates the character well, but it also does little to make him stand out. He works well in group shots, is recognizable, and you can't really point to any one feature of his costume that you might change, but there also really isn't anything about him that might elevate him to a featured character.
There are a number of fan-made concepts to reimagine his look that I particularly like, any one of which we might adapt. The first is called Obsidian 2099 by Craig Payne... clearly an attempt at a future version of the character. The second is actually from Roy Westerman's Earth 27 Project, one of the biggest fan continuity projects on the internet. His regular Artist Phil Cho did the Obsidian (Earth-27) commission, (as well as his out-of-costume picture above) and like a lot of their work it is loaded with tons of neat ideas. My favorite take, however, has to be this fanart of Jade & Obsidian by deviant artist Luciano Vecchio. The image isn't really a format I can use for this site, but it's just an absolutely stellar piece of work and would absolutely lead to a surge in popularity for the character. |
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Todd's FutureOur story requires that the members of the Justice League that fall at the hands of the White Martians remain out of commission for a time in order to facilitate the creation of the Watchtower and the brief delay before the creation of the new Justice League. For the most part this works because the characters on the Justice League at the time are minor enough that It doesn't really disrupt anything to set them aside for a moment, but I do feel a little bit frustrated with myself for not using Todd more. He's generally not a major character, but as one of the few well-written LGBTQ characters in comics it feels like a missed opportunity to not give him something more to do moving forward.
I want to set him up for something in the future, so I've made a point of saying that the only reason he's not currently an active hero is because his powers are still healing. He is absolutely going to come back in a big way. For now, we get to enjoy what has always been the best part of the character, his personal relationships with other characters in different parts of the DC landscape. Perhaps this brief period without his powers will allow him to find a more concrete place of his own before he returns to a whole new role. I happen to think Todd is a character that deserves to have a very well-written series of his own. |
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