Warning: The following contains spoilers for "By the Victors" by Steve Orlando, Stephen Byrne, and Josh Reed from DC Pride #1.
To Celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride month, DC released the anthology DC Pride, which celebrates a parade of LGBTQIA+ characters and creators. One of the stories features John Constantine having a drink with DC's first openly gay superhero, Extraño.
Extraño, or Gregorio De La Vega, regales Constantine with a story about he and Midnighter's battle with Count Berlin, a nazi vampire hellbent on using magic to alter the history of Patroclus and Achilles. Berlin planned to use Patroclus's bones to rewrite the relationship between the two Greek heroes so that they would be remembered as cousins instead of lovers. Midnighter and Gregorio took exception to this attempt at erasure and stopped the vampire in his prejudiced tracks. Midnighter pummeled Berlin into submission while Extraño undid the vampire's magic.
After Gregorio finishes telling the story, he and Constantine leave the bar together casually flirting despite De La Vega reminding the Hellblazer that he is already married. Extraño and Constantine's new friendship reestablishes his position among the DC Universe's most prominent mystical heroes and harkens back to Extraño's humble beginnings. De La Vega's first line in Orlando's story is nearly identical to the first line he uttered in his first appearance. In both "By the Victors" and Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, Ian Gibson and Carl Gafford's 1988 Millennium #2, Gregorio is sitting at a bar, telling the bartender "At last your drinks have had their desired effect."
In Englehart and Staton's Millennium series, Gregorio is one of ten humans chosen by the Guardians to advance the human race as part of their Millennium Project. The Guardians give each of the ten humans powers and some training so that they can protect themselves long enough to help bring about the next stage of human evolution. Gregorio was already a stage magician in Peru, so his magical powers are a natural fit. He later joins the New Guardians where he fights alongside other Millennium alumni and helps them with their personal problems. Throughout both series, he is a source of emotional support and comedic relief. He maintains a compassionate and kind attitude even after he tests positive for HIV. Despite his illness, he continues to fight alongside the New Guardians. At one point he even wields a crystal skull that greatly amplifies his powers.
While Extraño certainly broke barriers in the DC Universe, some critics feel that he came across as more of a stereotype than may have been intended and was often underutilized despite his powers and unique character. When The New Guardians series ended he and his compatriots faded into obscurity.
Extraño eventually resurfaced as a more serious character in Steve Orlando, Fernando Blanco and Romulo Fajardo's 2016 Midnighter and Apollo series. Since his time in the New Guardians, he had gotten married to a man named Hugh - who could potentially be Hugh Dawkins, the Tasmanian Devil - and adopted a daughter. Midnighter meets Gregorio in his home and asks for help locating Apollo's soul. The mystical master uses his magic to help discover that Apollo is trapped in Hell.
Steve Orlando's story in DC Pride retroactively adds a great deal of context to Gregorio's involvement in Midnighter and Apollo. It also places Extraño in the company of another mystical hero. In many ways, it is a surprise that he and John Constantine haven't met before now. Surely, they both deal with magic and the occult often enough that the two will have plenty to talk about. Gregorio's interaction with Constantine may be the next step in his development as a serious character and an important piece of DC history.
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