Extraño

Extraño is a superhero magician appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Joe Staton, he first appeared in Millennium #2 (January 1988). Extraño is noted for being the first openly gay superhero in DC Comics. Originally a minor supporting character affiliated with the Green Lantern mythos, the character in recent stories is instead cast as a powerful sorcerer in the DC Universe, serving as the magical ally of Midnighter who is both leader and founder of Justice League Queer, a loose network for LGBTQ superheroes who can call on each other for superheroic and personal support.

Extraño is a superhero magician appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Joe Staton, he first appeared in Millennium #2 (January 1988). Extraño is noted for being the first openly gay superhero in DC Comics. Originally a minor supporting character affiliated with the Green Lantern mythos, the character in recent stories is instead cast as a powerful sorcerer in the DC Universe, serving as the magical ally of Midnighter who is both leader and founder of Justice League Queer, a loose network for LGBTQ superheroes who can call on each other for superheroic and personal support. ==Fictional character biography== During the 1988 Millennium storyline, Extraño was part of a group selected by the Guardians of the Universe to take part in an experiment in human evolution. Extraño was a Peruvian man, Gregorio De La Vega, from Trujillo City. As a minor magician, his magical powers were heightened by the procedure, and his fellow participants gained new abilities as well. Together, they formed the superhero team New Guardians, and they fought evil worldwide. Extraño initially wears loose colorful garments and refers to himself as "Auntie", often imparting parental advice to his teammates. Serving as the team's resident magician, he could fire blasts of energy from his hands, levitate, and perform a large number of "stage tricks, including ping-pong 'balls' to outwit his foes. He had an earnest sense of justice and love of life that made him popular with his teammates. During The New Guardians short run, Extraño acquired a crystal skull which seemed to greatly amplify his abilities and a more traditional, "masculine" superhero costume, perhaps as a reaction to the comments of readers. In The New Guardians, Extraño helped his team defeat a number of supervillains while trying his best to assist teammates with their personal problems. On one mission in particular, he was attacked by an "AIDS vampire" Hemo-Goblin (a name using wordplay on the blood component hemoglobin). Extraño was subsequently confirmed to be HIV-positive, but it is unclear whether he was infected by Hemo-Goblin or had already been infected prior to his introduction. Though he showed no outward signs of the disease, his infection remained a somewhat unorthodox plot point. Although the Guardians continued to fight evildoers behind the scenes even after their comic ended, their island base was attacked and engulfed by Entropy in the series Green Lantern. For a time it was assumed Extraño died during this incident, but the subsequent reappearance of other New Guardians throws this into doubt. ==References== ==External links==

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