Dear Mr. Moore,
I'm an avid Connor Hawke fan and reading your list I noted that you said Connor Hawke was alluded to as being homosexual in Kevin Smith's run. I was wondering where you got that idea from?
My understanding of the situation is as follows:
Connor Hawke is not a homosexual retconned straight. Connor Hawke was created by Kelley Puckett and Jim Aparo. They never got to his sexuality. Chuck Dixon and Aparo and later Rudolpho DiMaggio worked on Connor Hawke after that. Because of Connor's asian heritiage he was slight, smaller and thinner than Ollie, added to that was his lack of horn dog ways, especially in the early comics fans begain to speculate. Ollie was basically slutting himself out to the Eden Corps and Dixon was drawing a distinction between Connor and Ollie, basically trying to show that Connor had personal values as a deeply religious and spiritual person.
DC editorial Carlin and Dooley discussed Connor Hawke kissing Kyle Rayner in the Emerald Allies storyline. Chuck Dixon was extremely opposed to this, and the resulting issue was that Connor is unsure about his sexuality-line at the diner with Kyle, because he didnt grow up around alot of women. Which just furthered homosexual speculation.
Dixon, still very opposed to Connor being viewed as a homosexual, has Connor sleep with Lady Wren an ancient chinese ghost, and kiss his tennant Mia with commentary between Eddie Fryers and Master Jansen.
Kevin Smith has Connor declare he is not gay to Ollie when asked, "I like girls... Geez, just because a guy ain't you."
Judd Winick has had Connor make out with Mia Durden, and in the "boys night out" one shot Connor says he isnt gay, he is just a romantic to Roy.
And in one of the creepiest scenes I've ever read Connor makes out with Shado in his recent mini.
At no time did Connor have sexual relations with a man, he has not kissed a man, he has not expressed interest in kissing men. And no writer to my knowledge has written Connor as being homosexual.
There was no retcon, and while it was considered according to Dixon, he fought against it as the writer of GA and won.
If I missed something, and Connor Hawke did have homosexual tendencies that were retconned out, I would really appreicate the issue number, page(s) and panel(s).
I am not a homophobe but I am an avid fan, If I missed something as fundemental as this I really like to know. Personally I always thought someone who was a Zen Buddihist monk like Connor would know himself better than most, and he had the most liberal parents ever created.(Its even implied in Smith's run that Ollie is so accepting of homosexuals he has a blind spot with regards to them.) If he was a closet homosexual, I'd think he would have come out, but I dont recall that ever happening.
If it did and they retconned it away I'd really like to know. If not perhaps you could edit your list to reflect that.
Either way thank you for your time in reading the ramblings of a Connor Fan.
Sincerely,
Alex
Dear Alex,
Thanks for taking the time to write such a well thought-out letter.
Incredibly informative. I'd love to print it on the site about the
superhero list, as it sheds a lot of light on the subject. I actually
find it even more disturbing that there was a storyline where some
people wanted the young Green Arrow to be gay, and others fought it, and won! I'm a
huge fan of Connor Hawke too. How disappointing. He would have been
an excellent role model in light of such disasters as Freedom Ring
By the way, have you had a chance to read HERO?
All the best,
Perry Moore
Dear Mr. Moore,
Thank you for responding to my email. I completely agree that Connor Hawke could have been an interesting and engaging homosexual character. Had they gone with that direction early on then I think it would have worked extremely well. At this point I think the ship has sailed though, with Dixon Smith and Winick all establishing him as straight. As far as that storyline, as I recall Dixon was really big at DC at the time, writing most of the Batman related titles, so I could see how he could win that fight. Plus I think Dixon (this is my personal opinion I have not seen any interviews to this effect) was annoyed that fans kept speculating Connor was homosexual when he was trying to show morality and religion (not that one precludes the other in my opinion). He has written homosexual characters (Midnighter/Apollo, and he is taking over Batman and the Outsiders which has Grace and Thunder), but in the face of fans proclaiming his writing is saying one thing when he meant another, I think really bugged him. Which I think may have played a part in him showing Connor making out with Shado, who had raped Ollie when Mike Grell was writing Green Arrow.
Feel free to post my email to you on your site. I'm glad I took the time to write. I have not checked out Heroe yet but reading the description I am intrigued. Maybe when I have a bit more free time I'll give it a shot.
Sincerely,
Alex
Thanks, Alex. Keep those comments, questions, and updates coming. Anyone else out there have more information on the Green Arrow backstory?
--Perry