Hal Jordan is once again becoming a member of the Green Lantern Corps, after months of being an outcast and a renegade. DC's new Rebirth event aims to bring new readers into the 21st century, which means returning to the status quo: Hal Jordan as a Green Lantern. Writer Robert Venditti continues his run with the character, except this time, he's focusing on the entire core. We discussed the upcoming series Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps with the writer and how this will appeal to new readers.
COMIC VINE: What's the timeline for this book? Are we seeing what happened to the Green Lantern Corps after the mini-series, Edge of Oblivion, or is this jumping ahead in time?
ROBERT VENDITTI: We are picking up from that. I think for the mission statement of Rebirth, which is to write stories that are very cleaned up and you never had to have read a Lantern book before to know what's going on, but also staying in line with the long history of these characters, which includes the New 52.
So yeah, we'll be picking up from the end of Green Lantern #52 and Edge of Oblivion #6, but we're doing it in a way that reintroduced a lot of this stuff to readers. If you haven't been reading those issues, this is all new content. If you have been reading those issues, you'll completely understand what's going on, and we'll find out what's happening next.
Do you feel this has been a big challenge going into Rebirth considering there is so much heavy continuity in Green Lantern within the past 5 years?
VENDITTI: The Green Lantern concept is a very continuity-heavy concept with things like the emotional spectrum, but I think the way we're starting now with how the Green Lantern Corps are cops in space is something new readers can really grasp onto. I think you can easily grasp onto the concept of will versus fear.
We're starting out with Sinestro and basically, we open the Rebirth issue with Sinestro in charge of the sector Hal used to be, and he's the established, accepted police force in the universe. This will explore how the Green Lantern Corps and Hal Jordan get back where they're supposed to be. I think those are all concepts people can grasp pretty readily, whether you're familiar with Green Lantern or not.
At this point, how do the Green Lantern Corps feel about Hal Jordan, considering he's been a renegade for such a long time while the Corps was in a different universe?
VENDITTI: They haven't reunited with them yet. As we're going to see in the Rebirth issue and in Green Lantern #52, as far as Hal Jordan knows, he is the only Green Lantern left. He doesn't have a ring anymore. He's not plugged into the system. He doesn't get the messages. They don't know where he is and he doesn't know where they are. All he knows is that they're missing, and his mission is to find his friends and bring them back. How he does that, gets the ring, and reclaims the mantle of Green Lantern, we will learn in the Rebirth one-shot. Following up on that, we're going to see how the Corps gets back, how everyone hooks up, and how they get the band back together.
Is the story of Hal becoming pure willpower going to be wrapped up in issue #52 or will that push forward into the next series?
VENDITTI: At the end of Green Lantern #52 and the last arc of that, we see how that has an effect on Hal. He's almost becoming a being of pure will. This is a totally unexpected side effect, if you will, of wearing the gauntlets. That ties very heavily into the events of the Rebirth one-shot and how Hal is able to resolve that and what the outcome is.
This is something we've never seen in Green Lantern and it's something that's going to be a moment that, 12 issues from now, you're going to be able to track back and see where they started. I'm already 10 issues into this series, in terms of script. We've already got 3 issues in the can. There is a plan in place. Each arc is going to be very new-reader friendly. You'll be able to look at it a year from now, two years from now, and see all of this was linked to ways that weren't immediately apparent.
You mentioned earlier that the Sinestro Corps is returning and the Red Lantern Corps is appearing in the Green Lanterns title. In regards to all the Lantern Corps, they've been relatively friendly with each other. Can you give us any idea of what is going on with the other corps and who will appear in the series?
VENDITTI: Sinestro Corps and Sinestro are the established police force in the universe now. How Sinestro chooses to go about their missions is a part of the central conflict. Going back to the classic will versus fear, green versus yellow, goes back to the beginning. We'll be seeing them. We'll see the Indigo Tribe sooner than people will expect. We've already seen the Red Lantern Corps in Red Lanterns. We got Carol Ferris as Star Sapphire. We will be seeing other corps, but to get into how they come about would be a little more spoiler-y than we want to be right now.
What characters, aside from Hal, will we be following in the book?
VENDITTI: Hal, John, Guy, and Kyle. Kyle won't be as heavily up front because what we're doing with him is much more secretive. This is why he hasn't appeared in a lot of promo art. That's by design. When he does show up, it will be for a very important reason, so he can accomplish something that only he can do. So in the meantime, it will be Hal, John, and Guy as the leads of the book. There will be plenty of supporting cast [characters] as well. We're going to have a lot of surprises with characters that I don't know if people think they would show up.
Are either of those characters B'ox or Gnort?
VENDITTI: [laughs] I will say that I have not typed the name "Gnort" into a script yet. I have typed B'ox. His name has appeared.
You're working with artists Ethan Van Sciver and Rafa Sandoval on this book. What's the process of writing for two different artists?
VENDITTI: When you're monthly, you'll write four issues and someone will come in and do a few issues. You're working with a lot of different artists. The great thing here is we're so far ahead. I know which artist is drawing issue 7 and which is drawing issue 4. I know the schedule. Depending on when they come into the stories, it will feel like the story has shifted in a way for the new artist. It will have a different flavor to it. It's nice to be this far out and to plan for those sort of things.
One of the most important things, when it comes to Green Lantern, is the colorist. Who's doing the colorwork on the book?
VENDITTI: Yeah, absolutely. Jason Wright is doing coloring for Ethan Van Sciver. The Rebirth issue looks absolutely phenomenal. Some of the effects he's brought in are story related. He's telling a story with color in a way that we haven't really seen before. The way he and Ethan render Hal and the constructs are just extraordinary. Tomeu Morey is coloring for Rafa Sandoval, and again, it's just fantastic. We have three issues in the can right now. Just beautiful stuff. I think everyone is excited about the stories. Everyone is excited to be on the book. It's a great thing to be a part of and you can see that passion in the work.
With Rebirth, you're trying to keep the long-term readers while appealing to people that maybe have never picked up a comic before. For you, what kind of challenges do you face trying to reach these vastly different audiences?
VENDITTI: I don't think that it's any different from anything else I've done. Everything I've done on X-O Manowar for the past five years now... every issue of that series is meant to appeal to the historical fanbase of that book but invite new readers. It's very much the same here. It's very personal to me. I didn't start reading comics until I was 27. I remember walking into the store and seeing these high issue numbers and coming in and not knowing anything that was going on because the issues were so steeped in continuity. For me, it's something I really try to do with everything I write.
To be able to have a number one [issue] to bring it in is about getting to those core concepts which are really relatable. The Green Lanterns are police in space. Everyone understands that. The idea of will and overcoming great fear. Everybody understands that. I think if you distill it down to those principles, it doesn't matter there may be aliens using rings that do amazing things. I think if you base it in those understandable concepts: Sinestro, he wants to rule through fear. He has a daughter who disagrees with him. Everyone can understand that. If you stick to those kinds of core principles, you're able to add more layers to the characters for historical reasons but be welcoming to new readers.
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Rebirth #1 will be coming to comic shops on July 13 and the main series starts on the July 27.