GREEN LANTERN has gone in a unique, new direction in the post-CONVERGENCE world, where Hal is a renegade, but that's not all, issue #42 of this book, really flipped everything on its head as everything started turning to stone.
We talked to writer Robert Venditti and inker Mark Irwin over the phone about the new direction of the book, how it all ties into the Godhead story line and the future of Black Hand this past week. Heads up, there may be a few spoilers here about the latest issue of Green Lantern.
COMIC VINE: How did you guys come up with the redesign for Hal Jordan?
ROBERT VENDITTI: We knew that Hal was going to be a renegade and on the run and we also knew he was going to have Krona's gauntlet, which has the backpack element to it. Because he's trying to be inconspicuous, it makes sense that he would have an overcoat of sorts. It also makes sense that if you don't want people to recognize you and you have short hair, you grow it out. If you typically have long hair, you cut it short. Billy [Tan] took note of all of that and did a great job.
MARK IRWIN: Yeah. He did a fantastic job.
CV: Were there certain things you wanted for Hal's look that didn't make it into the book?
RV: No. Billy pretty much got it in there. A lot of the elements of the costume he brought in on his own. One of the things Billy is really fantastic at is design. If you think of a book like GREEN LANTERN and the amount of design work that has to go into that, he was just filling it all in. Even in #41, you look at all these aliens and there will be little hidden jokes in the crowd, with all these designs and he really pays attention to detail and design and all that stuff. It's great. There were just initial ideas, like the coat, that we gave to Billy and he just ran with it.
CV: Mark, you've been working on GREEN LANTERN for roughly 20 issues, have you gotten into the flow of inking a book the primarily takes place in space and is that a challenge compared to other books?
MI: I would say that it's a different kind of challenge. I've done space books before. I did a run on some Dark Horse books. I've kinda been there before but every artist has a different way of doing it. A different way of describing technology in space. For me, all of that stuff is what the artist brings to me and my job is try to make them look better and look better. That's how I look at all the stuff I do with an artist. Different artists bring different takes and Billy's take is awesome. It's been fun and exciting to do that.
CV: Hal's currently doing this lone cop routine, but still hiding from the Green Lantern Corps. What's going on with Hal and his headspace? Can he just not drop the space cop job?
RV: Yeah, I think that Hal is somebody that will always be a hero at heart. I wouldn't say he's a space cop now in the same sense of how he was for the Green Lanterns because with a formal police force, you have all these rules and regulations and uniforms and all these things, and I think for a guy like Hal, at his core, he doesn't necessarily like it as much. It seems like his choice now is a bit more freeing. In #41, he can go where he wants and do what he wants and he's going to be a hero. If he comes to someone that needs help, he's going to help them. That's just who he is. I think it's the balance of him not so much being a police officer but a hero with his more "go it alone" mentality and being a fighter pilot that he has.
CV: Issue #42 ends with Black Hand and Hal has gone up against Black Hand numerous times in the past. Is this the most dangerous we've seen this villain since the things he's touching are turning into the Source Wall?
RV: Yeah. This is the most dangerous he's ever been. It imposes a unique challenge for Hal. There's the mystery of why things are turning to stone and what's going on there. How do you fight into an environment where if you touch anything, you turn to stone? How do you fight an enemy where if you touch them, you turn to stone. That's not an easy problem deal with, especially when it's someone like Black Hand, who is an extremely fun character to write, and he's sympathetic to write in a way, but he's completely crazy and terrifying.
MI: It's Hal split in to halves, if you look at it like that, which is a genius take too.
RV: Yeah.
CV: When Black Hand released everyone from the Source Wall [Godhead], we saw pieces of it go into space as well. Is that going to be another threat Hal will have to deal with in this arc?
RV: Yeah and I wouldn't say they're unrelated, without getting too much into spoilers. Black Hand and the pieces that are floating around, aren't necessarily separate things.
CV: The last time we saw Relic, he was investigating the Source Wall. What role will he have in this arc?
RV: He is. Relic is somebody who is a brilliant scientist, from a previous universe. He studied the Source Wall. It is his entire existence, pretty much. He's probably one of the most knowledgeable beings in the universe about the Source Wall. He also happens to not like Hal very much and wants to see him get killed so Hal needs answers about what's going on and he knows a guy who he can get those answers from, but that guy isn't going to want to see him very much.
Thanks a lot to Mark Irwin and Robert Venditti for chatting with us and make sure to check out GREEN LANTERN #42, which is currently available for purchase and download.
Also, check out our breakdown of issue #42 and the all the information you need about Black Hand and the Source Wall from the recent Godhead event. Check out the rest of the preview for issue #42 below.
