Thomas spoke on the character's creation, stating "To make up for Nuklon's and Northwind's non-blood-relative status, Dann and I decided that Alan Scott, a.k.a.

"[2] Todd Rice is the son of Alan Scott and Rose Canton, respectively the Golden Age superhero Green Lantern and villain Thorn.

[7] At one point, he was corrupted by Ian Karkull and attempted to cover the world in darkness before being defeated and cured of his mental instability.

[8][9][10][11][12] Afterwards, Obsidan retired, came to terms with his self-identity as a gay man, and began dating Damon Matthews, an assistant district attorney and ally of Kate Spencer / Manhunter.

[14] During the "Brightest Day" storyline, Obsidian and the JSA battle Alan Scott, who has been possessed by the Starheart, the cosmic force that empowers him and his children.

He has a short-lived, troubled relationship with Marcie Cooper, the third Harlequin, shortly before the disbanding of Infinity, Inc. Later, sexual confusion was shown during his tenure in the Justice League, when he told his friend Nuklon that the only two people he could ever love in the world were his sister and him.

After Obsidian's redemption, JSA penciller Steven Sadowski stated that Todd's sexuality would be dealt with whenever he returned to that title.

Marc Andreyko, the writer of Manhunter, goes into detail about selecting Obsidian as Damon's lover: I didn't want to make a character gay unless it felt organic.

3) #40, Willingham attempted to address this concern in a humorous way by having the newly restored Obsidian announce that his homosexuality has been cured, only for him to quickly renounce this claim, telling the readers, while breaking the fourth wall for a brief moment, that he was only joking and that he was still gay.