SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!
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FULL INTERVIEW WITH GEOFF JOHNS
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READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
The battle lines are drawn, and it's time for all-out war.
As DC's Green Lantern titles are immersed in the story of the Sinestro Corps War, readers have been writhing in anticipation of the impending showdown between the yellow-ring forces of fear and the Green Lanterns backed by willpower. Each side has staged skirmishes -- to brutally take prisoners of war, or to rescue them from the hands of the enemy
-- but the time for posturing and pondering strategy is over. It's time for the real fighting to begin.
And the main battleground? Earth. In Green Lantern #23, the Sinestro Corps appeared as bright yellow bursts of light in the sky over Earth, joining five of the biggest, baddest villains in the DCU to descend upon the people of Earth and dispense their home-grown brand of deadly fear.
Things are looking kind of bad. Like... end-of-the-world bad.
But as the Earth and the multiverse and the whole DCU looks like it might fall into the hands of the evil Anti-Monitor and his motley crew, fans can feel secure in the knowledge that the military strategist overseeing operations for the united army of Green Lantern readers is Geoff Johns, who's been orchestrating this war over the last year since we got the first inkling of a Sinestro Corps.
At this breaking point in the war, we sat down for a military briefing with General Johns to find out what has happened so far in the conflict, what the current military situation means to the future of the Green Lantern forces, and what might happen as the greatest battle of the war ensues.
Newsarama: We talked to you at the beginning of this story – just after the Sinestro Corps Special – but let's catch everyone up to speed on where the story stands right now. Over in Green Lantern #23, the Sinestro Corps is heading to Earth. And in Green Lantern Corps #15, the Green Lantern named Mogo, who is a sentient planet, is being attacked by the sentient city Ranx of the Sinestro Corps and the Children of the Lobe.
Geoff Johns: Yeah, Earth is the real target. The Corps has been preparing for a massive assault on Oa, but it's happening across the universe. Meanwhile, a massive squad – including Ranx and Arkillo – are out to destroy Mogo.
NRAMA: Explain why Mogo is so important.
GJ: Mogo is the compass for the rings when they're searching for new bearers.
NRAMA: So without him, they wouldn't be able to find the proper recruit?
GJ: Yeah. Mogo's kind of like Yoda, but he's a planet. A lot of Green Lanterns – rookies especially – will go there on pilgrimage, because what happens when you're on Mogo is your surroundings change to help lead you down a certain path. Everyone's path is different, and so he literally creates a path in front of you, and the landscape changes with your emotional state – which is what all of this is about, strengthening your inside to strengthen your outside. Mogo knows what your path is. He's somebody that can sense greatness in a person and help that greatness come through.
NRAMA: Then his purpose is a lot bigger than we realized before this story.
GJ: Yes, it's a revelation for this story. Dave Gibbons is leaving Green Lantern Corps, but he's going out on an amazing note. I feel absolutely blessed to have been able to work side-by-side with Dave for so long. So if Mogo is taken down, the power rings will have no compass to guide them to recruit new members.
NRAMA: And the Lost Lanterns have rescued Ion, the embodiment of willpower, from Qward, where he had been ripped out of Kyle Rayner's chest.
GJ: Yep. After losing two members – Chance to Parallax, and their leader, Ke'haan, to the Anti-Monitor.
NRAMA: They're taking Ion back to Oa now, but when they found him on Qward – what was the Anti-Monitor doing to Ion?
GJ: He was experimenting!
NRAMA: That's what it looked like! [laughs] Why?
GJ: The Anti-Monitor is the maddest scientist in the entire universe!
[laughs] Look at what he did in Crisis On Infinite Earths. He's searching for power. And here he's experimenting with power sources because he's always been about collecting power and energy and feeding off of them. So when he had this new power source that was Ion – the Ion entity, the living embodiment of willpower – he wanted to see how it works and if he could absorb it.
NRAMA: But they got Ion away when the Anti-Monitor was taken down, or at least knocked off his feet.
GJ: Yeah. By Hannu specifically. That big rock guy's one of my favorites. He refuses to rely on his ring because on his planet it's dishonorable to use a weapon. So he hardly ever uses it. We've never even seen him fire it before this. He literally used 90 percent of the ring's charge [laughs], and no one's ever done that before. When Hannu unleashed that meteor shower, it was almost everything he had. And it actually blinded the Anti-Monitor.
For like a second.
NRAMA: A second. So we haven't seen the last of the Anti-Monitor.He'll be back, right?
GJ: Oh, yeah. He'll be involved with the rest of the story.
NRAMA: And then the next shocking moment was when Hal grabbed all the yellow rings.
GJ: Yeah. That was fun.
NRAMA: It was actually pretty cool, looking back now, but when he grabbed them, it was scary too, because he had that look in his eye!
It was like – Hal! What have you done?
GJ: Yeah! Well, it is scary, because when you put the yellow ring on – and they say, well, Guy used to wear a yellow ring too at one point – it does affect you. It does affect your mood. And we saw what happened to Hal, and now Kyle, when fear creeps into them because fear is more than just an emotion. It actually is a living, breathing thing. And so, it's something you have to fight against. What happened when Hal put on all the rings, there is a flashback for a second to his Dad's death. But Hal is also one to say he can do this. He can overcome fear again. He's been through this experience, and he's a guy who thinks on the fly, so if a weapon's there, no matter what the risk might be, he needs to get it and he'll use it.
NRAMA: And he does so successfully, so it was a good decision.
GJ: Well, successfully enough. Sinestro kind of schools him a little on it. [laughs]
NRAMA: Yeah! He practically laughs at him.
GJ: Yeah. He's like, "What are you doing, Jordan?" Sinestro saw him with all those rings on, and he knew Hal thought he was a bad-ass. And he almost started laughing, because all he was doing was flaring energy. He had no idea how to manipulate it. He didn't know how to do any constructs with it. He's a rookie. It was like watching a monkey try and build a computer together.
NRAMA: And Sinestro took the energy …
GJ: … oh, he took the energy and put it back in his ring. And then the Manhunters came and sucked the rest of it up with their power battery skulls. The Mahunters are acting as soldiers and power energy resources for the Sinestro Corps. And then Parallax shows up.
NRAMA: And as the battle continues, Guy, Hal and John almost seem like they're enjoying the experience of working together. Are they really that confident against this threat? Or is it more about camaraderie and the way they work together?
GJ: These guys have done this kind of thing for years. They're the Four Musketeers when Kyle is with them.
NRAMA: Four Green Lanterns from Earth. You've said before that we'll find out more about why there are so many Green Lanterns from Earth.
GJ: Well, Earth is the center of the multiverse. And we'll explore the importance of Earth a little more beyond just that. It's more than just physical. There are things about Earth that are very unique in the universe. And very core to the spiritual essence and journey that goes with being a Green Lantern and what I'm exploring in this book.
NRAMA: OK, before we talk about what the Green Lanterns are doing now, let's talk about what's going on with the Guardians. They seem to be making some big mistakes.
GJ: Yeah, it does look like they're making mistakes. They always have their own way of doing things.
NRAMA: But it seems like Ganthet's always the one who's right – and this time, Sayd too.
GJ: Well, you have to remember that they're fighting against lethal force. And lethal force has been enabled now. So who's right? That's a debate. The Guardians are just getting started.
NRAMA: So Sayd and Ganthet are against lethal force, but the Guardians are for it, and it's not clear who's right?
GJ: Well, the question's not is it right or wrong, but whether or not that's going to turn the tide on the war. And it is.
NRAMA: Now, the lethal force is only enabled against Sinestro Corps members, right?
GJ: Currently, yes.
NRAMA: And "lethal force" is the first of the 10 new laws in the Book of Oa, which the Guardians just announced.
GJ: Yes. The first of 10.
NRAMA: Are we going to find out what the other nine new laws are?
GJ: Of course we are! We'll find out another law soon and the other 8 will play into the stories over the next year and a half.
NRAMA: It's pretty shocking for the all the Lanterns when the rings announce that lethal force has been enabled.
GJ: Yeah. That's one of my favorite scenes that Ivan drew. Just the look on everyone's face. It's like … holy-! They can't believe it's happened.
NRAMA: And now it's been revealed that the target of the Sinestro Corps is Earth, and that's where Hal, John and Guy have gone to recruit help. So it's safe to assume much of the next couple issues of Green Lantern is going to take place on Earth, right?
GJ: Yep.
NRAMA: How did we as readers not know that? In hindsight, it makes so much sense that the battle will concentrate on Earth because it's the planet on which the entire multiverse depends. Ganthet and Sayd knew Earth was the target. How did the rest of us not see that coming? Why did we think the battle would be over Oa?
GJ: I think because I literally had the Guardians say, "They're coming to Oa. We need to prepare." And I had a couple of the characters say, "We need to get back to Oa!" I just always would be very conscious and kind of plant into the minds of everyone reading it – they're going to Oa, they're going to Oa, they're going to Oa, the big battle will be on Oa, of course it will be on Oa. It's always on Oa!
NRAMA: But it's not! [laughs]
GJ: No, it's not. [laughs] And some people saw that coming, but a lot were surprised.
NRAMA: And Ganthet and Sayd seem to have something up their sleeves – but now they're separate from the Guardians and have gone off on their own, right?
GJ: They've been banished by the council.
NRAMA: For supposedly acting on "emotions" – a word we keep hearing (and we'll talk about in a second here). Is it safe to assume that Ganthet and Sayd will have a more meaningful role down the road?
GJ: Down the line…sure.
NRAMA: Everyone's gathering on Earth now. Even the villains. Kyle, now possessed by Parallax, is going for Coast City – and that was a scary scene, with Hal's niece and nephew there.
GJ: Yes, he's in Coast City going for Hal's family. And you know what happens to families in the DC Universe!
NRAMA: Uh oh. We also saw Prime on the moon, right?
GJ: Yes. He's been on the moon just waiting for everybody. He's like, "OK, you guys do your thing and I'll be here waiting for you." And that's why he's been there. We saw him there in Issue #21, the first part after the special.
NRAMA: But now he'll unleash his power?
GJ: You're going to see a lot of that in the Superman Prime one-shot. The one-shot is going to be like Superboy-Prime vs. the DCU Round II.
NRAMA: Right. He fought against the DCU in Infinite Crisis. The Green Lanterns couldn't take him down last time. It took two Supermen – wait, they only have one Superman this time!
GJ: Yep, that's right. They only have one Superman, and Superman's pretty busy with Cyborg-Superman at the time. That's explored more in Alan Burnett's Cyborg-Superman issue too.
NRAMA: Plus the Anti-Monitor is on their side. Man, Earth is screwed.
GJ: [laughs] Well, that's the idea. Sinestro's not an idiot. He wouldn't just team-up with Evil Star and attack.
NRAMA: OK, but with the Green Lantern rings being lethal now, is there going to be a bloodbath over earth?
GJ: Well, if rings are lethal and there's a war, then Green and yellow Lanterns will die. It's a war. There are casualties. Ke'Haan, who was one of my favorite Lost Lanterns – unfortunately, the Anti-Monitor got the drop on him. And Chance – again, Parallax took him down.
NRAMA: OK, let's talk about the one-shots, since you mentioned the Superman Prime one-shot.
GJ: Yeah, that's the one I'm writing. So that's obviously the one I'm closest to. I'm being very careful to make it a stand-alone issue about who Prime is and where he's coming from, and why he's doing what he's doing. And again, make it Round II of the DCU vs. Superboy-Prime.
There's also a back-up Tales of the Sinestro Corps by Sterling Gates and Jerry Ordway that's one of the creepiest stories ever. It made Peter Tomasi scared.
NRAMA: Is reading the one-shot tie-ins a necessity to get the story?
GJ: All the major beats are covered or touched upon in the main book.
You could read the Corps book and not read Green Lantern and still read the story about Mogo vs. Ranx, and you could read Green Lantern, or you could read the one-shots. I mean, they're all part of a bigger story, obviously, and we want people to read them all because it's fun and it gives us the room to spotlight guys among the battles, but we're trying to do our best to make it so that anyone picking up the books is going to know what's going on.
NRAMA: Your Superman Prime one-shot was originally called the Anti-Monitor Special.
GJ: They only solicited it as that because we wanted to delay the name being revealed for as long as we could.
NRAMA: The "Superman Prime" name as opposed to being "Superboy" Prime?
GJ: Yeah. Obviously, there are legal things going on, but really this is a rites of passage issue. There's a reason "boy" becomes "man" – Prime looks at another boy who became a man who didn't fair as well.
NRAMA: Let the guessing begin on who that is. OK, let's talk about all the villains. Right after the Sinestro Corps Special came out, we talked to you, and you said that we'd find out all the key villains'
motivations. Some of those have been revealed.
GJ: Yeah, at this point, you pretty much know why everyone's doing what they're doing.
NRAMA: Well, then let's run through the list.
GJ: The Anti-Monitor, obviously – he's from the Antimatter Universe, and he's about power and control. And if he can control the Earth, he can tap into the energy of the multiverse, and he can feed off of the positive matter universes. He wants to consume it all.
Cyborg-Superman obviously has a deal with the Anti-Monitor, and he's in it for death.
NRAMA: He just wants to finally die.
GJ: After everything he's been through, he's tired. And Sinestro's motivations are obvious. He's the ultimate renegade – revenge, power, order, and he really believes that fear is a better tool to control people. And the bottom line is, he's just going to spread that fear because it leads to control.
NRAMA: And Superman-Prime?
GJ: He's the wild card. And he's got his own reasons, but really he loves to see anything that thrashes this "New Earth."
And then Parallax is obviously an entity that thrives off fear, so the more fear is out there in the universe, the stronger he becomes and the brighter the color yellow glows.
NRAMA: And on that notion of the color yellow glowing, let's talk about the colors of the emotional spectrum that were introduced earlier in this story. They've been hinted at, but not defined.
GJ: Yeah, there have been hints. We will find out more about the emotional spectrum in Green Lantern – now and in the future.
NRAMA: Will we see more of the Zamorians and the violet rings that were shown at the end of the Star Sapphire arc?
GJ: Yeah, you will see the Zamorians again.
NRAMA: There are a lot of guesses out there about what's to come with those colors, you know.
GJ: Yep.
NRAMA: Do you want to address those?
GJ: Nope. It's fun to listen to people discuss.
NRAMA: We talked about the emotional spectrum last time we talked. But just to recap, let's talk about your belief concerning emotions.
GJ: My belief is, people say we're animals, and to an extent, we are.
We're defined as that – we live and breathe and eat and whatever. But there is something different, and feeling emotions, I believe, is a part of that. Being human is more complex than just reactions of chemicals in the advanced brain. Emotions are something you can't really quantify, you can't really touch, and yet they have great, great power. And being alive has great, great power. So that's something I wanted to explore and something I've always been interested in. And having the venue of Green Lantern – seeing how the characters themselves explore that as well as how it affects the universe, looking at the inner being and reflecting it the outer war.
Willpower was the focus of Rebirth. It was Hal's will to live. To continue on despite everything he'd gone through. He overcame his fear. With Sinestro Corps, I wanted to explore fear further, because fear is so prevalent in our society.
NRAMA: And disabling too.
GJ: It is! It can be completely disabling. It can be completely overwhelming. And there are days where fear can freeze somebody, and it can stop you from enjoying life when you should be enjoying life – you know, it's not going to last forever. And I think this chapter of the Sinestro Corps in the big Green Lantern story that I want to tell – because it goes beyond Rebirth and Sinestro Corps and the next story; it's all these stories combined – the big story I want to tell is looking at the Green Lanterns as the greatest way to live life.
That's what the Green Lanterns and Hal Jordan's yearning represent – how to live life to the fullest. And this is just one step in figuring that out.
NRAMA: Getting back to the specials, we just found out that Kyle's seeing what Parallax is doing while he's possessing him…
GJ: Oh, yeah. Kyle is aware of everything that's going on right now.
NRAMA: Well, we talked about people being disabled by their fear.
That's what is literally happening with Kyle right now, right? He's in the metaphysical back seat while Parallax is at the wheel.
GJ: Yep. He's literally disabled by his fear. And again, the theme of Green Lanterns overcoming fear – that's going to keep these characters relevant forever. As long as fear is a part of our lives.
It's not about being without fear. We've made the Green Lantern Corps about overcoming fear. You're not fearless. You overcome fear. You work through your fear. You're faced with something that's hard to face, you're afraid to tackle an issue you don't want to tackle, and the best thing you can do is to find the willpower to tackle it, to overcome it. It's hard to do, but you have to do it. I think that overcoming fear is something all of us have to do. We don't always succeed, but we have to try.
NRAMA: And getting back to Kyle, the Guardians say he's been "compromised."
GJ: Yes, he's been compromised.
NRAMA: Does that mean he can't be Ion anymore?
GJ: Well, the Guardians believe he's been tainted.
NRAMA: OK, so we've reviewed everything that has happened to this point in the story…
GJ: Yeah, and I just want to say, I've been really, really happy with the reader reaction and support of the Sinestro Corps storyline so far. It's been way above what anyone thought it would be. And it's been on sheer word of mouth. And thanks to the retailers for keeping the reprints out there so people can still find the story. But I'm just happy that people are enjoying it, and people are seeing how kick-ass the Green Lantern mythos is. It's Star Wars superheroes.
NRAMA: Star Wars superheroes?
GJ: Yeah! Star Wars, to me, captures such a great sci-fi epic feel, and I love superheroes. And the Green Lantern mythos is as rich and diverse as any other sci-fi, if not more than any other sci-fi property or story out there. I think there are endless stories to tell about the Green Lantern Corps and the Earth Green Lanterns. I'm really trying to peel back layers and break my head and heart open to explore a little deeper into their mythos – what their power means and how it affects people – and what it means to light up the universe. I think with the right exposure, Green Lantern could be as big as Star Wars. I would use lethal force to write a Green Lantern movie.
NRAMA: I'm sure there are a lot of your fans that would like to see you do that.
GJ: But for now, I really want to focus on enjoying Sinestro Corps.
I'm certainly enjoying working on it. I've had a blast working with Dave Gibbons, Alan Burnett, Ron Marz and Peter Tomasi. Ivan Reis is, for me, the penciler of the year. If you look at his stuff – I just got a double-page spread from issue #25, the last issue in this story, and the pages are just mind-blowing. The amount of work he does and the detail he does; it's just phenomenal stuff. I hope people are seeing what this guy is capable of. He should be topping everyone's favorite artist list.
NRAMA: You mentioned Issue #25 – the final issue in The Sinestro Corps War story. That's an oversized issue, right? How many pages?
GJ: 54 pages. And it's great because Ethan [Van Sciver] is doing pages and Ethan's stuff is – well, people have seen how incredible his work is. Ethan's a freaking genius. Make sure you're wearing a helmet when you read issue #25 so there isn't a mess when we blow your miiiinnnnd.
It's a great team to work with. Patrick Gleason and Angel Unzueta over on Corps – they're like Vath and Isamot. [Colorist] Moose Baumann's the light weaver – he's been on Green Lantern for like a decade coloring it up – he's our Kilowog. [Inker] Oclair [Albert] and Joe Prado are Hannu and Graf Toren.
Eddie Berganza, our editor who has gone above and beyond the call once he took the reigns from the great Peter Tomasi (soon to be new Green Lantern Corps writer), along with Adam Schlagman, our assistant editor – I can't say enough good things about them. They are our Guardians.
Eddie and Adam have been so supportive, so on the ball, and so willing to fight the fights to keep the integrity of this story, the quality of the story, and the quality of the books as high as humanly possible. The books are this good because of them, because they won't let anything go through that they don't think is perfect. I owe a lot to them, and all of us enjoying it owe a lot to them because they're pouring all their energy into it just as much as we are. So thank them when you see them at a show for me.
NRAMA: And getting back to the Star Wars analogy – you and Ethan have been talking about …
GJ: Our trilogy?
NRAMA: Yeah! And you specifically used the language, Return of the Jedi, for the third part yet to come.
GJ: Yeah.
NRAMA: It's not that tough to see Rebirth as fitting the description, of "A New Hope," and this Sinestro Corps story being ..
GJ: Empire Strikes Back. [laughs] Yeah. Only bigger!
NRAMA: So what's next? We've seen some of the solicits past Sinestro Corps. What's coming on the journey toward your Return of the Jedi?
GJ: After this, we'll explore other facets of the Corps as we deal with the ramifications of the Sinestro Corps and build the pieces leading up to our next big storyline. We'll explore Hal Jordan and John Stewart in Green Lantern, and Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner in Green Lantern Corps. And we've got storylines coming up in Green Lantern. We've solicited the Alpha Lantern story, which springs out of the reaction to the first of the 10 new laws. We'll find out more about the 10 laws in that storyline. And after that, we'll come into "Green Lantern: Year One" in Green Lantern.
NRAMA: What is Green Lantern: Year One?
GJ: It's what it sounds like. [laughs] But it's going to focus in on the relationship between Hal and Sinestro. And then after that, we have storylines I don't want to get into just yet, but again, they build…to the third part of the trilogy.
We also have a Green Lantern / Sinestro Corps Secret Files that finally lists every single member of the Green Lantern Corps, along with some data on them. It's a godsend for us for the future as I have notes all over my walls and lists of who is from where and what they do. That's going to be my own personal Book of Oa and the GL rookie, Sterling Gates, is also working on that. He's earning his ring with the amount of research we've had to dig through!
NRAMA: OK, but when is that third part of the trilogy going to happen?
GJ: You'll know soon enough.
NRAMA: It sounds like there's a lot more to come for Green Lantern.
GJ: I always was amazed by Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing because of the mythology he birthed from that concept. And what Grant Morrison ripped out of Doom Patrol and Animal Man. What Mark Waid built on the Flash. What Frank Miller did on Daredevil. I'm striving to reinvent the Green Lantern mythos and expand it to previously unseen areas. And it feels like we're just getting started.
WOW, so it looks like there may be some light left for the Green Lanterns yet...
we can just wait and see
M
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