Friday, December 13, 2013
Green Lantern March 2014 Solicitations
GREEN LANTERN #29
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art and cover by BILLY TAN
1:25 Robot Chicken Variant cover
On sale MARCH 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $3.99 US
Hal Jordan, the greatest Green Lantern in the history of the Corps, has lost everything. Friends have died, Oa has been destroyed, and now he must say goodbye to Earth! As war threatens to dismantle the Green Lantern Corps, Hal does the unthinkable: He asks for help. Can he and a team of handpicked Lanterns remove a deadly weapon from the enemy’s arsenal, or will they be dealt their first defeat? And what of Saint Walker, the fallen leader of the Blue Lanterns? Can the Corps survive without its most trusted and powerful ally?
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #29
Written by VAN JENSEN
Art by BERNARD CHANG
Cover by FRANCIS PORTELA
1:25 Robot Chicken Variant cover
On sale MARCH 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
John Stewart and his team are surrounded by Durlans and Braid Clann on an unfriendly world. Their only hope is to fight their way out! And in the shadows of the Universe, the Corps’ worst nightmare is coming true: The Sinestro Corps is stirring!
RED LANTERNS #29
Written by CHARLES SOULE
Art by ALESSANDRO VITTI
Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
On sale MARCH 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
The Reds have found their newest recruit: Supergirl! Guy Gardner is hardly equipped to handle a teenaged Kryptonian Red Lantern, so he heads for Earth and hand her off to her cousin, Superman! But Superman is…unimpressed by Guy’s leadership skills – or lack thereof…
LARFLEEZE #9
Written by KEITH GIFFEN and J.M. DeMATTEIS
Art by SCOTT KOLINS
Cover by TYLER KIRKHAM
On sale MARCH 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Larfleeze must decide what’s more important – the orange light or his life – when he finds out the source of his power is killing him!
GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #29
Written by JUSTIN JORDAN
Art and cover by BRAD WALKER and DREW HENNESSY
On sale MARCH 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
The powerful God-Killers are coming for the Tamaranean goddess X’Hal – but she’s taken a VERY strong interest in Kyle Rayner! But is her dark side too much for Kyle to bear?
SUPERGIRL #29
Written by TONY BEDARD
Art by YILDIRAY CINAR and RAY McCARTHY
Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI and CAM SMITH
On sale MARCH 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
She’s done with people pushing her around, taking advantage of her and betraying her. She’s done feeling helpless, lost and discarded. She’s done with hope, faith and acceptance. Now, all that’s left is rage. And she’ll burn the universe down before she lets another person tell her who she should be. Supergirl’s journey as a Red Lantern continues here in “Red Daughter of Krypton.”
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #11
Written by JIM KRUEGER
Art and cover by NEIL EDWARDS and SCOTT HANNA
1:10 DC Collectibles Variant cover
Retailers: This issue will arrive in stores with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
On sale MARCH 26 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
After learning about the Last Son of Krypton, a troubled alien travels from a distant galaxy to meet Superman…and to confess the horrible secret that he was Krypton’s Green Lantern.
INJUSTICE YEAR TWO #3
Written by TOM TAYLOR
Art by BRUNO REDONDO
Cover by JHEREMY RAAPACK
On sale MARCH 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
Superman’s increasing hold over the Earth has concerned the Guardians of the Universe. And with Hal Jordan believing in Superman’s world vision, his allegiance to the Green Lantern Corps is being tested. So under the direction of the Guardians, two more Lanterns – Guy Gardner and John Stewart – are sent on a diplomatic mission to Earth to see the effect of Superman’s rule.
GREEN LANTERN VOL. 3: THE END TP
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by DOUG MAHNKE and others
Cover by DOUG MAHNKE and MARK IRWIN
On sale APRIL 23 • 264 pg, FC, $19.99 US
The mysterious Third Army has risen across the cosmos like a plague, destroying everything in its path, and Hal Jordan and Sinestro are nowhere to be found. Now Simon Baz must clear his name and become the hero the Corps needs in these stories from GREEN LANTERN #0 and 13-20, the finale of Geoff John’s historic run on the series.
DC COMICS – The NEW 52 EARTH 2 BATMAN, GREEN LANTERN, THE FLASH AND WONDER WOMAN ACTION FIGURES
Based on designs by EARTH 2 artist Nicola Scott, this is the latest action figure line from DC Collectibles, featuring four heroes who are familiar yet somehow different: Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman!
BATMAN – 6.75"
WONDER WOMAN – 6.75"
GREEN LANTERN – 6.75"
THE FLASH – 6.75"
EACH FIGURE SOLD SEPARATELY
* Action Figures * $24.95 US • On Sale June 2014
* Allocations May Occur
1:1 SCALE WHITE POWER BATTERY & RING PROP REPLICA
Bring the light of life into your home with this stunning replica White Lantern Power Battery and Ring.
Measures Approximately 11" Tall
$199.95 US • On Sale June 2014
* Allocations May Occur
GREEN & RED LANTERNS Writers Talk Sector 2814 & Status Quo Changes Pt. 2
For Green Lantern fans, the name "Sector 2814" represents that part of space that includes Earth — and it's the space sector protected by Earth's Green Lanterns.
But that's all changing now that Guy Gardner is the leader of the Red Lanterns. As the result of a deal he made during the Green Lantern event "Lights Out," the Red Lanterns are now the protectors of Sector 2814.
That means Red Lanterns will be visiting Earth quite a bit — and it opens up all kinds of story possibilities for the title, as the Red Lanterns can theoretically "police" most of the heroes and villains of the DC Universe.
Writer Charles Soule is hoping that means his critically acclaimed book will get a few new readers on board, and he's getting some help with that goal from Green Lantern writer Robert Venditti. The two comics — Red Lanterns #28 and Green Lantern #28 in February — are crossing-over, and DC is releasing them both in one comic: a 40-page flipbook for the price of one single issue.
In the second installment of our interview with Venditti and Soule [read part one here ], we talked to them about what it means to the DC Universe to have the Red Lanterns in charge of Sector 2814, and how the status quo of both comics are changed by the events of the next few months.
Newsarama: Charles, we talked earlier about how the Red Lanterns are now policing Sector 2814. What can you tell us about that new status quo and how it leads to the story you and Robert are telling in the Red Lanterns/Green Lantern flip book?
Charles Soule: There are basically two plot lines running through Red Lanterns right now. One is that Guy Gardner, who has traditionally been the kind of "hot-headed" member of the Green Lantern Corps, finally realized that his true calling may not be to be Green Lantern, but might be to be a Red Lantern, which are more focused on anger and being a little more hot-headed themselves. So Guy has left the Greens, and he's joined the Reds, and they're being styled more as kind of a space motorcycle gang, where they go out and have their turf, and they patrol their turf, and you're in trouble if you do anything bad on their turf.
The basic rule they have is that you can do whatever you want in their sector, as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else. But if does hurt somebody else, the Reds are going to come calling.
Though Guy has kept it really loose, he's applying that same rule to the Reds themselves. There are like five or six of them. And they have cool adventures.
So that's one side of it. And the tone is like a Sons of Anarchy or The Shield or something like that.
But the other burgeoning plot, that's been growing since I took over, is that when Guy came onto the team, he essentially killed Atrocitus, who ran the Red Lanterns at that time as more of a cult or religious figure. And Guy killed Atrocitus in this big, huge, epic beatdown. Guy lost control, and then Atrocitus was killed, and so it was kind of like, "Whoops."
But comics being comics, it turns out that Atrocitus is not actually dead. And he has been wandering out in space with his alien rage space cat, Dex-Starr — or rather, Dex-Starr's not an alien; he's an actual cat — but they've been out in space, trying to find a way to get enough power to come back and destroy Guy Gardner and the other Reds who betrayed them.
Guy's not even aware that Atrocitus survived, so there's this spinning thread — when is Guy going to find out? What's Atrocitus going to do? How are those two sides going to clash? And it's going to be epic, and huge, and really fun and cool when they do.
So that's what's going on in Red Lanterns these days.
Nrama: And the Red Lanterns are now the "protectors" of Earth.
Soule: Yeah. Sort of. In their angry way. So there are a lot of fun stories that will be coming out of that.
Nrama: Does that mean the Red Lanterns will conflict with other DC heroes and villains? '
Soule: Absolutely. That was one of the things I was most excited about having Red Lanterns have Earth as part of their jurisdiction.
I mean, the first thing to realize is that Sector 2814 is pretty big. There are a lot of different planets in it. And so, they are cleaning it up and getting rid of bad guys in their sector.
But they will certainly go to Earth. And we've seen the Greens interact with Earth's heroes tons of times, but we haven't seen Reds do it that much.
So for me, it was a very appealing idea that I could have them go up against… well, I guess you'll see that — some of that starts as early as issue #27, and we see some in #28, and then it just goes from there.
Robert Venditti: And the idea of the Reds taking over 2814 has such huge ramifications, not just in terms of Red Lanterns as a book, or the Green Lantern group. It's really affecting the DCU as a whole. I mean, this is a fantastic engine of conflict.
It's also a chance to flesh out what Sector 2814 is — what doe that neighborhood look like? We've gone to far-off parts of the universe, but we don't look at Earth's back yard very much. And having the Red Lanterns go to Earth and deal with heroes and villains from the DCU is all going to be exciting stuff.
Venditti: There are going to be some pretty significant events that happen in Green Lantern #27, which you got a hint of in Green Lantern #26. Hal has been going up against this criminal, and at the end of Green Lantern #26, it's revealed that there's another alien race presence as well. All the different threads that we've been weaving through the story of the Green Lantern Corps up to now are going to come to a head in #27.
So when issue #28 comes around, and as you say, Hal is policing light, it's revealed to him that there are suddenly new Red Lantern recruits out there. And so now, on top of everything he's trying to deal with — with these adversaries that have just revealed themselves in #27, and trying to police the light — now, he thinks that Guy is sending out rings and getting new Red Lantern recruits, which just compounds his problem.
Now he's got to go talk to Guy and see how they can straighten this out. And how can they all get on the same page here, so they're not just causing more problems for each other?
All this is going to be precipitated by the arrival of a Red Lantern that's going to cause a lot of — what's the word I would use? — turmoil and complications.
Nrama: I want to come back to something Rob said, about how this flip book, and the idea of the Red Lanterns policing Sector 2814, has ramifications beyond just one or two titles. Can you speak to the significance of this meeting we're going to see in issue #28 in the flipbook?
Soule: As Rob said earlier, the main through-line of story in the flip book is that there's a new Red Lantern discovered in Green territory, and it's very surprising to Hal. He felt like he could trust Guy to do the right thing.
And the mystery of who that character is, how that character was created, and how both Guy and Hal deal with that character is really a big part of that story.
It ends up that Hal and Guy have a lot of unresolved issues about the how 2814 thing. Hal is not aware, necessarily, of how Guy has been sort of running with things. So that's got to be resolved. And they have a lot of other unresolved issues, and tension with each other.
So that's a big part of it.
But we also layer in existing plot lines in each of our respective books so that you'll come away with a nice status quo change for both books. You'll learn about a lot of things. And you'll be able to just keep reading the books and run with them.
Venditti: Yeah, there's the internal storyline that happens within the crossover — this clash between Hal and Guy and Green and Red. But there's also threaded or continued all of the plot lines that are going to carry forward into Red Lanterns and carry forward into Green Lantern. So it isn't even an interruption of the current story lines.
And I can stress this enough — that was a big part of the goal here. We didn't just want to write a little Green Lantern story that featured some Red Lanterns. We wanted to actually showcase what Red Lanterns is as a title.
This is an opportunity for retailers to basically get Red Lanterns for free this month, and let their customer base try it out.
However many copies of Green Lantern you get, you're going to get Red Lanterns for free. Those readers are going to read that. And then hopefully, going forward from that, readers will stick around and see what's going on in Red Lanterns.
It's a book that is extremely content-heavy. There's a lot of stuff that happens in these 40 pages. And it's going to have repercussions that last for a very long time, not just in the Green Lantern family, but in the entire DCU.
Soule: It's got great action. It's actually got some romance, believe it or not. It's got a lot of good jokes. It's got crazy aliens. It's really — there's a ton in there, and i think it's going to be a really fun read. And I hope it sells 500,000 copies.
Venditti: It's got a Red Lantern that looks like a ball, and a Green Lantern that looks like a box. I don't know what else you want.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Venditti Convinced DC On GREEN LANTERN / RED LANTERNS' Flipbook
From Newsarama
When DC Comics releases two issues for the price of one in February's Green Lantern/Red Lantern flipbook, readers can thank Robert Venditti for the deal.
The two Lantern comics will be combined into a 40-page, two-sided flipbook in February, as the crossover story depicts a conflict between the different colored Lanterns and their leaders, Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. At the center of the conflict is the recent revelation that the Red Lanterns are now the protectors of Sector 2814 — the portion of space that contains Earth.
The flipbook is the brainchild of Green Lantern writer Venditti, who pitched the idea to DC after he and Red Lanterns writer Charles Soule came up with a story that combined their titles. According to Venditti, the flipbook will be the ideal jumping-on point for new readers of either series, and he's hoping to attract some new readers to other titles in the Green Lantern universe.
In the first installment of a two-part interview about the Green and Red Lanterns, Newsarama talked to Venditti and Soule about what readers can expect from the crossover story — and how Venditti convinced DC to take a risk and release them in a flipbook.
Newsarama: Robert and Charles, before we talk about the flipbook, what brought about the idea to crossover in the first place? Was this story driven?
Robert Venditti: Yeah. We were plotting out "Lights Out," and Charles had come up with this idea that the Red Lanterns would ask for a sector to be able to patrol as part of their deal of going to help Hal deal with Relic, since Hal needed them because there are certain abilities they have that other corps don't have.
And that idea was out there. And then Charles and I ended up being in New York together, and we were sitting down in one of the rooms at the DC offices, just kind of hanging out and talking to each other. And he was just sort of talking out loud about how we need to figure out what sector Guy is going to get.
And there was this moment where the two of us just looked at each other. It was like Charles had the peanut butter and I had the chocolate. We just realized it would make perfect sense for Guy to think he was asking about 2814, while Hal didn't really realize that's what the deal was. And for there to be this misunderstanding between them, and the conflict and all that just came from there.
From that point, it was really just figuring out how to get the story in as many people's hands as possible, and so with the marketing of it and doing the double issue, and the free content at the same price, it was just an effort of trying to not only tell the story in the best way possible, but also get more people to look at Red Lanterns, because Charles is writing such a great book. When you do a crossover, it doesn't guarantee that people will pick up both books. So the structure was just a way to insure that everybody would get the full story. They can't help but not read it, because it's all going to be in one spot.
Charles Soule: The other side of it, too, is that comics come out every month, and there's another one that comes out the next month, and it's easy to forget that they're there for something you're not already reading. But doing this is a way to get people to think about these titles again and think about, you know, that we're a pretty tightly knit writers group, and we like to do stuff like this.
There are a lot of exciting things happening in the Lantern group, so why not jump on board?
Nrama: So it's just one issue then? The entire crossover is contained in this flipbook?
Venditti: The two books crossing over is just going to happen in issue #28, so it's just one month.
And that's the one issue that's a Red Lanterns/Green Lantern flipbook. The story is 40 pages total, and it's going to tell the entire story of what this is. But it's also going to set up this long-standing status quo shift that's going to carry forward into Red Lanterns and Green Lantern.
We feel like all the Green Lantern titles are great right now — Green Lantern is great, Green Lantern Corps is great, New Guardians is great, and Red Lanterns is great. I enjoy reading them and I want more people to see them.
So getting DC to back the content in that way — and that they're willing to essentially give away 40 pages of comics at a 20-page comics price, and put it all in one spot and do this new and out-of-the-box model in presenting this story to readers… I think they're really putting themselves behind the story like that. It shows that they believe in the content, to the extent that they'll take these kinds of chances. So hopefully everybody will be happy to have all the story in one spot, and it'll compel them to pick up Green Lantern and Red Lanterns for months afterward.
Nrama: So am I understanding this right, that you guys came up with the idea and got DC to buy into it? Who came up with this idea?
Soule: It was Rob!
Venditti: Yeah, actually, it was my idea.
Nrama: Ah ha! It was the former publisher n in you, wasn't it? From Top Shelf?
Venditti: Yeah, I worked at Top Shelf for about 10 years. They're a comic book publisher, and they do small, independent stuff. And I worked on the publishing side for a very long time. And a lot of what I did, as my day-to-day, was talk to retailers and fulfill orders, you know, working in the warehouse, doing invoicing, and all those kind of things. And I got to know retailers pretty well.
I was just trying to think of a way — once Charles and I came up with the content together, and we were in that room, and there was just this moment… it was really a great moment. For me, that's what you live for as a writer. You have these moments of spontaneous coolness that happens with the story. And that was very much what happened when Charles and I were in the room, and the content hit us.
And now it was just a matter of, how do we get people to read this?
And to have one book come out one month, and another three weeks later? We knew we were going to lose people in the transition there.
So I was just trying to think of an idea that we could do. And it's no small thing.
Nrama: So how did you convince DC to do this? You're basically asking them to give up thousands of dollars, by essentially giving away a comic for free that month. Did you have to pitch it?
Venditti: Yeah, I went into [DC Co-Publisher] Dan [DiDio]'s office, and I made a presentation that involved printing costs, and distribution and all these kinds of things.
Soule: Vaneta, I was sitting next to him when he did it, and he had, like, the laptop out. It was very impressive. I didn't say a word. I just let him do it. It was great.
Venditti: I'm told I looked like a brush salesman. I don't know if that's accurate or not.
It was this whole presentation of, here's why we should do this. And yeah, you're taking a risk, but these are all the things we can do, and hopefully it will have results. I don't know. Dan was kind of laughing at me like, I don't know… it was a surreal conversation, I guess, for a publisher to have with one of the writers.
Soule: The things is, I don't think he was sold on it until you sold him on it. So congratulations to you. That's why we're on the phone today. Because of you.
Venditti: Hopefully it does well.
Nrama: It's great that you justified it enough for DC to take the risk.
Venditti: It's an easy thing for an artist to say, "Hey, why don't you sell 40 pages of content for a 20 pages price? Why don't you do that?" You know? I felt like if I just said that… I mean, that's not an insignificant thing to ask a publisher to do. That's a pretty significant hit.
So I really wanted to make a presentation, and I didn't know that they would say yes. And I wouldn't have blamed them if they said no. But I really wanted to make a presentation that showed that I had at least put some thought into it beyond just saying, "Hey, give away free stuff!"
I wanted there to actually be a method to it, and a hopeful upside to it that would last into the future of Red Lanterns going into the next story lines.
I wanted to really use it as a showcase for that book.
Like I said, to Dan and DC's credit, they listened to it, and at the end of the meeting, he said, "OK, you got your flip book. We'll do it."
Nrama: How have you approached it creatively? Is it the same as if it's two completely separate books? Or was there a difference in the way you found yourself putting it together?
Venditti: They're two separate issues, and they're drawn by the two different creative teams. But it was different from how we'd normally approach two separate issues.
Soule: Yeah, I did more drafts on this than I typically do on a comic. I did a bunch of drafts, and Rob did a bunch of drafts, and we really wanted to try to make it cohesive and cool and worthy of the fact that something special is being done with it.
And we obviously shared those drafts, and when all was said and done, we got on the phone together and read through both scripts at once. And we found even more ways that we could make it work. You know, like a line in Green Lantern that pays off in Red Lanterns. Or call back jokes. Or making sure the themes we were trying to explore are coming out more thoroughly.
Venditti: And the transition is different than you'd normally see. We could handle that differently. We could have a closer synergy between the two titles, because we didn't have to recap one at the beginning of the issue that comes out three weeks later. It's all in one spot.
I think it enabled us to put even more content into it.
Soule: I'm not saying it's going to reinvent comics, but it certainly is designed to be one really cool, big, long book that you pay for half the price you'd normally pay for that much.
When DC Comics releases two issues for the price of one in February's Green Lantern/Red Lantern flipbook, readers can thank Robert Venditti for the deal.
The two Lantern comics will be combined into a 40-page, two-sided flipbook in February, as the crossover story depicts a conflict between the different colored Lanterns and their leaders, Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. At the center of the conflict is the recent revelation that the Red Lanterns are now the protectors of Sector 2814 — the portion of space that contains Earth.
The flipbook is the brainchild of Green Lantern writer Venditti, who pitched the idea to DC after he and Red Lanterns writer Charles Soule came up with a story that combined their titles. According to Venditti, the flipbook will be the ideal jumping-on point for new readers of either series, and he's hoping to attract some new readers to other titles in the Green Lantern universe.
In the first installment of a two-part interview about the Green and Red Lanterns, Newsarama talked to Venditti and Soule about what readers can expect from the crossover story — and how Venditti convinced DC to take a risk and release them in a flipbook.
Newsarama: Robert and Charles, before we talk about the flipbook, what brought about the idea to crossover in the first place? Was this story driven?
And that idea was out there. And then Charles and I ended up being in New York together, and we were sitting down in one of the rooms at the DC offices, just kind of hanging out and talking to each other. And he was just sort of talking out loud about how we need to figure out what sector Guy is going to get.
And there was this moment where the two of us just looked at each other. It was like Charles had the peanut butter and I had the chocolate. We just realized it would make perfect sense for Guy to think he was asking about 2814, while Hal didn't really realize that's what the deal was. And for there to be this misunderstanding between them, and the conflict and all that just came from there.
From that point, it was really just figuring out how to get the story in as many people's hands as possible, and so with the marketing of it and doing the double issue, and the free content at the same price, it was just an effort of trying to not only tell the story in the best way possible, but also get more people to look at Red Lanterns, because Charles is writing such a great book. When you do a crossover, it doesn't guarantee that people will pick up both books. So the structure was just a way to insure that everybody would get the full story. They can't help but not read it, because it's all going to be in one spot.
Charles Soule: The other side of it, too, is that comics come out every month, and there's another one that comes out the next month, and it's easy to forget that they're there for something you're not already reading. But doing this is a way to get people to think about these titles again and think about, you know, that we're a pretty tightly knit writers group, and we like to do stuff like this.
There are a lot of exciting things happening in the Lantern group, so why not jump on board?
Nrama: So it's just one issue then? The entire crossover is contained in this flipbook?
Venditti: The two books crossing over is just going to happen in issue #28, so it's just one month.
And that's the one issue that's a Red Lanterns/Green Lantern flipbook. The story is 40 pages total, and it's going to tell the entire story of what this is. But it's also going to set up this long-standing status quo shift that's going to carry forward into Red Lanterns and Green Lantern.
We feel like all the Green Lantern titles are great right now — Green Lantern is great, Green Lantern Corps is great, New Guardians is great, and Red Lanterns is great. I enjoy reading them and I want more people to see them.
So getting DC to back the content in that way — and that they're willing to essentially give away 40 pages of comics at a 20-page comics price, and put it all in one spot and do this new and out-of-the-box model in presenting this story to readers… I think they're really putting themselves behind the story like that. It shows that they believe in the content, to the extent that they'll take these kinds of chances. So hopefully everybody will be happy to have all the story in one spot, and it'll compel them to pick up Green Lantern and Red Lanterns for months afterward.
Soule: It was Rob!
Venditti: Yeah, actually, it was my idea.
Nrama: Ah ha! It was the former publisher n in you, wasn't it? From Top Shelf?
Venditti: Yeah, I worked at Top Shelf for about 10 years. They're a comic book publisher, and they do small, independent stuff. And I worked on the publishing side for a very long time. And a lot of what I did, as my day-to-day, was talk to retailers and fulfill orders, you know, working in the warehouse, doing invoicing, and all those kind of things. And I got to know retailers pretty well.
I was just trying to think of a way — once Charles and I came up with the content together, and we were in that room, and there was just this moment… it was really a great moment. For me, that's what you live for as a writer. You have these moments of spontaneous coolness that happens with the story. And that was very much what happened when Charles and I were in the room, and the content hit us.
And now it was just a matter of, how do we get people to read this?
And to have one book come out one month, and another three weeks later? We knew we were going to lose people in the transition there.
So I was just trying to think of an idea that we could do. And it's no small thing.
Nrama: So how did you convince DC to do this? You're basically asking them to give up thousands of dollars, by essentially giving away a comic for free that month. Did you have to pitch it?
Venditti: Yeah, I went into [DC Co-Publisher] Dan [DiDio]'s office, and I made a presentation that involved printing costs, and distribution and all these kinds of things.
Soule: Vaneta, I was sitting next to him when he did it, and he had, like, the laptop out. It was very impressive. I didn't say a word. I just let him do it. It was great.
Venditti: I'm told I looked like a brush salesman. I don't know if that's accurate or not.
It was this whole presentation of, here's why we should do this. And yeah, you're taking a risk, but these are all the things we can do, and hopefully it will have results. I don't know. Dan was kind of laughing at me like, I don't know… it was a surreal conversation, I guess, for a publisher to have with one of the writers.
Soule: The things is, I don't think he was sold on it until you sold him on it. So congratulations to you. That's why we're on the phone today. Because of you.
Venditti: Hopefully it does well.
Nrama: It's great that you justified it enough for DC to take the risk.
Venditti: It's an easy thing for an artist to say, "Hey, why don't you sell 40 pages of content for a 20 pages price? Why don't you do that?" You know? I felt like if I just said that… I mean, that's not an insignificant thing to ask a publisher to do. That's a pretty significant hit.
So I really wanted to make a presentation, and I didn't know that they would say yes. And I wouldn't have blamed them if they said no. But I really wanted to make a presentation that showed that I had at least put some thought into it beyond just saying, "Hey, give away free stuff!"
I wanted there to actually be a method to it, and a hopeful upside to it that would last into the future of Red Lanterns going into the next story lines.
I wanted to really use it as a showcase for that book.
Like I said, to Dan and DC's credit, they listened to it, and at the end of the meeting, he said, "OK, you got your flip book. We'll do it."
Nrama: How have you approached it creatively? Is it the same as if it's two completely separate books? Or was there a difference in the way you found yourself putting it together?
Venditti: They're two separate issues, and they're drawn by the two different creative teams. But it was different from how we'd normally approach two separate issues.
Soule: Yeah, I did more drafts on this than I typically do on a comic. I did a bunch of drafts, and Rob did a bunch of drafts, and we really wanted to try to make it cohesive and cool and worthy of the fact that something special is being done with it.
And we obviously shared those drafts, and when all was said and done, we got on the phone together and read through both scripts at once. And we found even more ways that we could make it work. You know, like a line in Green Lantern that pays off in Red Lanterns. Or call back jokes. Or making sure the themes we were trying to explore are coming out more thoroughly.
Venditti: And the transition is different than you'd normally see. We could handle that differently. We could have a closer synergy between the two titles, because we didn't have to recap one at the beginning of the issue that comes out three weeks later. It's all in one spot.
I think it enabled us to put even more content into it.
Soule: I'm not saying it's going to reinvent comics, but it certainly is designed to be one really cool, big, long book that you pay for half the price you'd normally pay for that much.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Kyle Rayner Goes In New Direction Post 'Lights Out'
The Green Lantern characters got a rude awakening during October's "Lights Out" event — not only has their use of the emotional spectrum been depleting the universe of energy, but their ring-slinging came close to causing the end of the entire universe.
Kyle Rayner, who's now a White Lantern, came to the rescue, refilling the resource of light energy. But nobody's quite sure how long this replenished stash of energy will last — and how close the DCU is to its Lantern-caused end.
The end of "Lights Out" also brought about the promised "cosmic makeover" for Green Lantern: New Guardians, the comic starring Rayner, whom the rest of the Green Lantern universe now believes is dead.
The comic is now tackling familiar issues, but with sci-fi flavor, as Kyle is working in secret with the Templar Guardians and Carol Ferris to find an alternative to saving the world with light-powered rings. Newsarama talked to writer Justin Jordan to learn more about the future of the Corps, Kyle and more.
Newsarama: Justin, now that we've seen the new status of Kyle Rayner after "Lights Out," how would you describe the overall effect on your comic? It seems to have changed the comic's direction while really affecting Kyle.
Justin Jordan: It’s certainly affected Kyle a lot. The problem for Kyle is that, while he managed to refill the reservoir, he doesn’t know how he did it, if he did it right and if he can do it again. So he has some misgivings about the use of the rings.
So right now, Kyle and the Templar Guardians are looking for things that are sustainable, ways to help the universe without putting it, potentially, in danger. Kyle is trying to find a way to use the power of the ring responsibly.
So the stories are affected, and Kyle’s personality is a little different. He’s still shaken by "Lights Out," and unsure of what he should be doing. He knows every time he uses the ring, he might be making the universe a worse place. But he hasn’t stopped. He’s got reasons for that, but deep down he’s concerned that those are just rationalizations.
In terms of tone, I don’t think it’s radically different. Some adventures are grimmer than others, and some swing from light to dark within them. The Exuras story we’re telling now does that.
Jordan: Brad is amazing. Consistently. I keep sending him ridiculously difficult things to draw and what he sends back is always better than what I was imagining. A really good example is when I asked him to draw a double-page spread of the Entities sending the Corps across the galaxy. Seriously, that’s an awful thing to ask someone to draw, but Brad nailed it.
What’s really good is that Brad and I groove really well. We approach storytelling similarly, and that really helps in putting out a good book. Brad and Drew Hennessy and Will Quintana really elevate the book. Which makes me look good so, you know, that makes me happy.
Nrama: Kyle is presumed dead by the rest of the Corps, yet Carol Ferris is one of the only people in the universe who is aware of Kyle's survival. Does that mean she continues to play a role in the comic?
Jordan: Carol is in the book for the long haul. I’m plotted out through issue #34, and she’s there in every one. Carol is struggling with some of the same problems Kyle is, in what should she be doing with the power that she has? Should she be using it at all? And she’s got a problem of her own: Hal.
Carol needs to love to use her powers and so far, Hal has been that thing she loved. And she does love Hal, I think. But there’s being in love with someone and being able to live with them, and Carol has problems with the second part.
So for Carol, part of what she’s doing out there in space is sorting that situation out, and seeing if there’s another way for her to keep the Star Sapphire powers. And if you’ve been reading the main Green Lantern book, there’s a big hint about how the Star Sapphire powers work and, maybe, Carol’s future.
Nrama: You mentioned before that Kyle is troubled by the seemingly limited resources in the emotional spectrum. We've talked to Robert Venditti about the concern among the Lanterns that they're destroying the universe every time they use their rings. Is that a short-term worry, or something that's going to be part of the book for awhile? And is it a goal of the various Lanterns — Kyle among them — to learn the truth behind what happened to refill the Source Wall?
Jordan: It’d certainly ease Kyle’s mind to know the answer to that question. But yes, it’s a continuing concern for pretty much everyone in the book. The problem for them is that, yes, it looks like using the rings will speed up the end of the universe.
But, and this is an important but, it’s absolutely true that the rings have saved the universe multiple times. So the answer isn’t just, "stop using them." Knowing whether or not the reservoir can be recharged again and whether it was recharged fully last time would go a long way to resolving that problem.
And yes, you will get some of the answer about that and what happened to Kyle beyond the Source Wall in the next year or so.
Nrama: Will there be an effort to rebuild the other corps that were wiped out? Or to revive Saint Walker? (Is there hope for the blue?)
Jordan: All I can tell you is that there are, indeed, plans for Walker. Not necessarily in New Guardians, but Bro’Dee has not been forgotten.
Nrama: The Templar Guardians are very different from their previous Oan cousins. How would you describe them now, and what's their mission? How does it drive your story in the coming months?
The Templar Guardians are still trying to do that. They are looking for other ways to protect the universe, if the emotional spectrum isn’t the answer. But they haven’t been worn down by billions of years of trying to do this. They are still, in that respect, much like the Guardians were when they made the first rings.
In the book, they’ve got a couple of goals. They are still learning about the current state of the universe, they are trying to find a way to guard it without putting it in further danger and they’d like to know what happened beyond the Source Wall and what it all means.
Nrama: These Guardians have indicated that they believe the Corps is not the solution, so they're finding a better way. That doesn't bode well for the Green Lantern Corps, does it?
Jordan: Hah, probably not. And as we’ve seen in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, the same problem is coming up internally for the Corps as well. But the answer here is not necessarily what you expect it to be.
Nrama: OK, now let's talk about Exuras. We've been introduced this "paradise" that can only exist at the expense of others. I assume there are bigger themes you're exploring with this idea?
Jordan: Yep. I mean, the Exuras thing is a not-particularly-veiled metaphor for the U.S. using up such a disproportionate amount of the world’s resources while much of the world’s population struggles to survive. And honestly, that idea, of the few living in extreme luxury while the rest struggle, is kind of fractal – you can apply the same criticism to the 1% versus the 99% in the U.S.
Now, hopefully, that’s all wrapped in a fun adventure story that doesn’t feel like me beating people over the head with sociopolitics.
Nrama: Are you going to continue to pose these types of universal questions?
And if any of the readers just nodded off or eye-rolled themselves into unconsciousness, I always try to make sure stories are entertaining above all else. So our media manipulation story also has an alien being pounded into the ground by his beard.
Nrama: We've been introduced to what looks like the first post-"Lights Out" villain, Nias Den Throden (the alternate version of him). What were your thoughts behind this character? What does he represent? Is he important to the overall story?
Jordan: Alt Nias, which is the half-assed name he’s referred to by in the script, is definitely the villain of the piece. But the thing about Alt Nias is that he’s right. Maybe not in what he does, but he has absolutely, positively, been screwed by Nias the other Exurans. He can look at Nias and see what his life might have been, and now with certainty, that’s what his life would have been.
So I’m sympathetic to the guy’s position.
He’s definitely important to the Exuras story, and that does have ramifications to how Kyle looks at the universe.
Nrama: As Kyle pointed out in the last issue, there are still a lot of questions about how he "refilled" the source wall — included the question of what it means that Parallax wasn't there. Will those questions be answered?
Jordan: Eventually. Some of them fairly soon, some of them later on.
Nrama: So you guys have an end game in sight for all these mysteries?
Jordan: We do! I know, I was surprised too.
Nrama: How does all of this affect Kyle himself?
Jordan: Kyle needs to figure out what it means to be White Lantern and what he’s meant to do with that power. Answering the questions about the reservoir and the Source Wall is going to be a big factor in that.
Nrama: Is there anything else you want to tell fans about Green Lantern: New Guardians?
Jordan: If you want big cosmic action with a sci-fi flavor, this is the book for you. We’ve got big things coming.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
CHARACTER CLOSE-UP : Salaak
Salaak (sometimes incorrectly spelled Salakk, even in the published comics) is a fictional comic book superhero, an extraterrestrial from the planet Slyggia, and a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, who appears in DC Comics. Physically he appears to be an insect humanoid with pinkish orange skin and four arms.
A famous pessimist and loner, Salaak is a creature of protocol and laws. A veteran Green Lantern, he has served in many Corps campaigns over the years. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths he protects multiple sectors, but found the experience depressing. After this, he went to Earth looking for company amongst his fellow Green Lanterns. He served with the contingent of Green Lanterns assigned to Earth and became good friends with Ch'p of H'lven. For a time Salaak lived in the future, filling the identity of Pol Manning as Hal Jordan had before him. While in the future, Salaak was married to a human woman.
Salaak returns to the present day to warn about the destruction of the Corps. He was too late to stop the execution of Sinestro. The Central Power Battery on Oa ends up destroyed, and with it, Salaak's ring is made inoperable. He finds transport to H'lven where he reunites with Ch'p, one of the few Lanterns whose ring still functioned. Salaak remains on H'lven and acts as Ch'p's advisor until they discover that the Guardians have returned and have rebuilt the Corps. The two later petition for reinstatement, but Ch'p is killed in a traffic accident. The Corps is destroyed again when Hal Jordan, crazed with grief at the loss of friends, became the entity known as Parallax. Hal's activities caused the shutdown of the Oan battery again and Salaak, along with all other Green Lanterns, were left powerless.
Salaak attends Hal's memorial service on Earth. The Corps, reformed again, has Salaak as the senior administrator and the Keeper of the Book of Oa. The Book tells of the adventures of multiple Green Lanterns throughout the history of the universe.
Salaak reinforces the squadron of Lanterns sent to save Mogo from Ranx the Sentient City and other Sinestro Corps members (Sinestro having returned from the dead). He has expressed displeasure at the fact that the Guardians have rewritten the Book of Oa to allow lethal force against members of the Sinestro Corps, but is still committed to serve.
He survived the Sinestro Corps War without major injuries, and he continues to hold onto his position as keeper of the Book of Oa. He is kept out of the loop in some instances by the Guardians who neglected to tell him their plans to create the Alpha Lanterns. More recently however he is seen getting into an argument with Guy Gardner over a bar he wishes to open. Salaak quickly disapproves, which leads Guy to use his ring to make a miniaturized version of Salaak mocking him for "hanging out with midgets".
Salaak is seen in Final Crisis #5 as part of the trial of Hal Jordan.
During the Blackest Night, Oa comes under siege from the Black Lantern Corps. With the Guardians missing, Salaak takes command of the Green Lantern Corps as Clarissi and thus the next in succession after the Guardians, preventing the Alpha Lanterns' attempt to take control. As his first command decision, Salaak decrees that all fallen Lantern rings be sent to Mogo, so as not to endanger any new recruits.
After the War of the Green Lanterns, Salaak went along with the Guardians' orders to prepare a space for Krona in the Green Lantern memorial hall despite the other Corps members' anger at such a decision, despite Salaak claiming that the Guardians want to remember the good that Krona did in helping to found the Corps rather than the evil he committed later, with the other Corps members denouncing him for his blind loyalty.
In other media
Television
He has had a small cameo role in the Justice League animated series.
Salaak reappears in the episode "The Return" of Justice League Unlimited, among several other Lanterns, who sought to destroy Amazo for seemingly destroying Oa.
An animated version of Salaak appeared in the Duck Dodgers episode "The Green Loontern."
Salaak is featured in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. He made a cameo alongside Ch'p in "Day of the Dark Knight" and "The Eyes of Despero".
He also appears in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. He grew angry, along with Hal Jordan and Kilowog, when they found out that the Guardians had kept the other frontier Lantern deaths from the Corps. He later defends the Guardians when Atrocitus and Zilius Zox infiltrate Oa. He is able to deflect Zox's attack but is defeated when Atrocitus attacks him from behind. With what strength he had left, he opened the Guardians' chamber dome to allow Hal in to defeat Atrocitus. In the season finale, Salaak is seen coordinating the Corps against the Aya Monitor. He is voiced by Tom Kenny.
Film
Salaak appears as a background character in Green Lantern: First Flight.
Salaak appears in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights voiced by Peter Jessop.
Salaak makes a cameo appearance in the live-action Green Lantern film.
Alternate Versions
Salaak, along with the Green Lanterns Brik, Ash and M’Hdahna, perished in a Green Lantern crossover with the Dark Horse comic Aliens. However, as inter-company crossovers are not considered canonical, this was ignored.
Salaak appears in LICD web comic.
In an alternate universe ruled by evil versions of the 'Planetary' heroes, Salaak is one of the many dead Green Lanterns on display in the Planetary headquarters.
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