When I started collecting DC comics in 1976, I was so enamored by the industry that there was little that I didn't buy - usually things like Richard Dragon and the war comics, but I tried and usually continued to buy most of what the company put out. In fact, I've told other fans that if you're looking for something between 1976 and, oh, about 1980, I probably still have it in 15 long boxes in a storage unit in Yonkers, NY. :) I'm not sure if that's anything really to brag about but it's a fact. lol :)
One of the things that made me want to dive into the genre was the use of parallel universes, specifically Earth 2 which focused on the Golden Age versions (from the 1940s). I loved that some of the heroes were older, not perpetually 29 like Superman and Batman. I thought that added great texture to the stories especially when the company introduced younger heroes and there was an aspect to the stories of 'training the heroes of tomorrow'. Ten years later, the company would take a wrecking ball to the parallel Earths claiming that no one could understand it. I was 12 when I started reading and I not only understood it, it was a prime reason that I loved the DC universe so much. Of course, 40 years later, parallel Earths are back.
Recently DC unleashed a few titles featuring the original super hero group, the Justice Society of America - the Golden Age Flash has a title as does the Golden Age Sandman (not the Netflix version, for you newbies!) :) But my favorite of these titles is the Alan Scott Green Lantern title.
The Golden Age Green Lantern was never a particular favorite of mine - he seemed a bit generic even with an incredible power of creating things out of green energy that came from a ring. But he's always been involved in these stories and has, on occasion, even teamed up with the Silver Age Green Lantern who is back again being the current Green Lantern.
To give the character a bit of depth, someone along the way decided to retroactively make the character a closeted gay man. Many fans have complained (loudly) about this but I think it's a brilliant move and not just because I am gay myself. No, this gives the character a really interesting dimension. And, in the current mini series, the story, written by Tim Sheridan, explores how Alan was on, what we would now refer to as "the down low". Alan seeks out partners in unlikely places like the waterfront or alleys. There weren't gay bars in 1940 like we have now, and I wonder if current fandom actually understands this. One of the biggest complaints that fans have is that Alan got married and had a couple kids (who also became super heroes).... and again I wonder if fandom actually understands that the world is FILLED with gay men who married women and had kids. I know of many, mostly much older than me, but not entirely. And, when I was just coming out, a relative told me that I was to marry a lesbian and have kids. That was 1989. I was part of an emerging group of gay men who weren't going to do that anymore and we all spent the past 30 years trying to figure out how to navigate a world where we would no longer stay in the closet.... but what that's meant has been challenging to figure out. It's absolutely been exciting in a way, but, also, terrifying - there has been no road map for this and it has not been easy. (100% not complaining/whining, just stating a fact).
In any event, I'm surprised that the book is so frank about things and I think that's a good thing and it went from a book that I was marginally interested in because of the era it was set in, to a must read in just four issues. Sure, there are some quibbles - yeah yeah the readers see where the Red Lantern story is going and I'm all for it. I don't mind it, and think, in fact, it's quite soapy and has real potential to be very interesting.
Anyway, I recommend the book and look forward to the final two issues coming out this spring. :)