Green Lantern #21 Post-Game Commentary From Robert Venditti and Billy Tan

From IGN.com (spoilers ahead)

IGN Comics: I love that you introduce new characters right away. Can you talk a little bit about these new recruits? How did their designs come about? Any designs that you tried that weren’t used?

Robert Venditti: I wanted new recruits who’d pose a challenge for Hal. If a green ring searches each space sector for the most suitable wearer—the wearer most capable of overcoming great fear—then what happens when all the best wearers have already been killed off? We’ve seen a lot of Lanterns fall in recent storylines, so it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that the recruits drafted into the Corps now would be a few steps below what everyone might expect in terms of size and natural skill.

There are many types of fear, and even more ways one can stare it down. Van Jensen and Bernard Chang will be showing more of this in Green Lantern Corps as well.

Billy Tan: The new recruits are to be portrayed as young and inexperienced. The description for Gazzl is that he is a Grey type alien with 3 antennas. Two-Six is a female alien who comes from a world where computation and math are a big part of their life. Nemux is an alien with 2 antennas.

Then there is an alien who was not given a name because he got killed on the second page. Rob refers him as "nobody" in the plot. I was lucky that everyone goes easy on me on these designs and was approved on the first run with only minor changes.

IGN: We talked a little about this earlier in the week, but GL #20 showed Hal and Carol having a happy ending. Clearly, they’ve got a ways to go, as we see in their scene together here. Why do you think their relationship dynamic is often so troubled? How much will this be coming into play in your run?

Venditti: Hal and Carol’s relationship—or lack thereof—will be hugely important to the Green Lantern line, for reasons that’ll be revealed soon. As for Hal and Carol having a happy ending . . . as I said in the previous interview, just because the Book of Oa says something happened, that doesn’t mean it did.

IGN: Billy, do you like rendering these types of scenes, as opposed to ones with giant alien monsters and ring slinging? Are there different challenges you face laying out a dialogue scene like this?

Tan: Ah yes, the talking head scenes. I couldn't say that I prefer them more than the giant alien monsters and ring slinging scenes. But I guess you would have to slow down the pace sometime and let the characters have their moments. To me, they are more challenging because you would have to make a quiet scene interesting or at the very least not boring. There lots of expression in these scenes and it's challenging to capture them just right all the time.

IGN: I was glad to see the new Guardians hanging around on Oa. Will they be playing an integral role in this series?

Venditti: Yes. But there’ll be elsewhere, too.

IGN: Giving Hal the responsibility of Corps leader I would imagine will even further complicate things with Carol. How do you think she’ll react to the news? Is this a job Hal even wants?

Venditti: Carol would say the Green Lantern Corps needs a CEO who can make better hiring decisions, because the Guardians obviously aren’t cutting it. From her point of view, Hal isn’t even equipped to run his own life, much less something as vast and complex as the Corps. Hal would tend to agree.

IGN: There’s a bit of interconnectivity between this issue and a thread I assume will be picked up in New Guardians, when the Guardians ask to talk to Kyle. How much direct crossover will there be between the GL titles?

Venditti: Really that’s a bit of table-setting, establishing what the status quo is for the reader. I don’t know how much direct crossover there’ll be, but I think “interconnectivity” is a good word. The titles will stand on their own, but if someone is reading them all, they’ll see the common threads linking everything together.

IGN: It seems like Kilowog is positioned to play a major role. How do you define the relationship between him and Hal? How will that come into play in this story?

Venditti: I see Hal and Kilowog as very close friends. After all they’ve seen and been through together, how could they not be? But as is the case with close friends, they sometimes knock heads. Kilowog has spent a good portion of his career as a Lantern setting an example for new recruits, and he understands the importance of that. By contrast, if there’s one thing Hal doesn’t want to be, it’s anyone’s role model.

IGN: Billy, is there a challenge in portraying Kilowog’s emotions, given his unusual design? How do you compensate for that?

Tan: No. I actually don't think it's difficult to portray Kilowog's emotions. Although he doesn't have a set of eyebrows like humans, he does has a very prominent set of corrugator muscle, which could serve like the eyebrow to express emotions. His ears could also help to express how he feels. For example, they would perk up if he was alert or excited. It would point down and backward if he is frowning.

IGN: I was surprised to see Larfleeze make an appearance; how big a role will the other Corps be playing in this run?

Venditti: I could’ve had the Corps go against any villain—new or established—in the issue, but none of them would’ve represented what Larfleeze represents. There’s a very specific reason I chose Larfleeze, which will be a bit clearer in issue #22 and clearer still in the following months.

As for the other Corps, the mythology surrounding the emotional spectrum is a central aspect of the series, so we’ll certainly be making use of them. But there will be plenty of other adversaries as well.

IGN: Can you offer us any hints at that teaser page you showed off? Are these all-new characters? How far into the future does this panel look?

Venditti: Everything you see in that teaser image will have happened by October. It’s going to be a busy few months!