The Ethan Van Sciver Talk Back thread

[Guest Close Rayner90]

The green lanternshark, Etmopterus virens, is a shark of the family Dalatiidae found in the western central Atlantic from Texas to Florida and the northern Gulf of Mexico, and Nicaragua and Suriname between latitudes 30° N and 9° N, at depths of between 100 and 1,000 m. Its length is up to 26 cm.

The green lanternshark is a dwarf slender lanternshark with a long narrow tail. The gill openings are very short. The upper teeth generally have less than three pairs of cusplets. The trunk has short stout hooked denticles on the side, and these also cover the snout.

They may school and communally attack and eat quite large prey, for example squid.

Coloration is dark brown or grey-brown, with an elongated broad black mark above and behind the pelvic fins and other marks at the tail base and along the axis. The underside is black.

Reproduction is presumed to be ovoviviparous.

Holy crap, he's right

[Ethan Van Sciver Honored Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Ethan Van Sciver]

Are we sure this is really Ethan? First Moose, then Geoff and now Ethan....this place is bloody great.

I have a question!
What's up with Kilowog always changing his GL costume in different issues of yours? One issue he's wearing the regular, old GL suit, the next issue he's got an oversized John suit, the next issue he's got more of the newest Hal suit.

I don't know. Okay, I do know. When I first drew Kilowog in GL REBIRTH #2, Geoff and I had sort of pictured him as a big, bovine animal. And I thought it would be great to see some really thick musculature, especially around his back...like a bull. Now, I draw GL costumes with the black areas solid black, and I don't want to make any exceptions there. He needed as much green, therefore, as possible, so I could show more knotty muscles. He could look lumpier and less humanoid. So I drew him in the ORIGINAL GL suit, complete with the green crotch area.

And then the toy came out. I hate that toy...it doesn't look anything like Kilowog to me, and I've been campaigning for a new one for a long time. But I felt at the time that the product that DC Direct puts out should be an accurate representation of what's in the comics, which means that sometimes we have to work backwards. The rings that I drew, for example, were all modeled after the ones DCD released with those GL busts a few years back. That way, if you like the comic, you can go buy the rings or the toys, and they MATCH. Very important.

So when Kilowog showed up in GL #4, I sort of gave in and drew him in the John Stewart cut of the uniform that the DC Direct toy was wearing. It didn't work very well, in my opinion. So back he went for Sinestro Corps.

Long answer, but hopefully that explains it for you!

EVS

[Bob Sachs Voice of Guy Gardner Find all posts View Profile Close Bob Sachs]

Hi ... First of all, WELCOME to the best GL forum on the internet ... YOU rock !!!

I only have one question for ya ... Has the internet changed the way artists, colorists, and writers put comics together ??? If so, please explain how ...

[Ethan Van Sciver Honored Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Ethan Van Sciver]

ethan welcome to this part of the sector, just re-met ya at the NYC CON a few weeks ago.

tell shari I say hi.

My wife's name is Sharis. Rhymes with Paris. And she says hi back!

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

I remember Kilowog's uniform varying not just in your books, too. I seem to remember Kilowog returning to the classic GL leotard in the "Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Ion" special also.

Do you have any opinion or idea on how the whole "the green areas of a GL suit are hot" works? It was in the Manhunter arc, and now it's coming up again in Secret Origin... a lot of folks are confused by it.

[Ethan Van Sciver Honored Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Ethan Van Sciver]

Hi ... First of all, WELCOME to the best GL forum on the internet ... YOU rock !!!

I only have one question for ya ... Has the internet changed the way artists, colorists, and writers put comics together ??? If so, please explain how ...

Oh, of course. It's bound to. I get direct feedback from fans about my work. If A WHOLE LOT of strangers are saying basically the same thing, it's time to listen and change. Or if even one person is making a really great point, I'll think about it. We didn't have this before, the direct interaction with fans. When something isn't selling or working very well, it's easy to find out WHY now.

[Jack-O-Lantern Master Customizer Find all posts View Profile Close Jack-O-Lantern]

Wow. That was a long answer. But a very good detailed one. I was wondering this myself for a long time. The figure didn't match the books, and why does it keep changing, balh, blah, blah. But now I know. Awesome Ethan thanks for that info. They should just re-release an accurate DCD figure....

[Ethan Van Sciver Honored Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Ethan Van Sciver]

I remember Kilowog's uniform varying not just in your books, too. I seem to remember Kilowog returning to the classic GL leotard in the "Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Ion" special also.

Do you have any opinion or idea on how the whole "the green areas of a GL suit are hot" works? It was in the Manhunter arc, and now it's coming up again in Secret Origin... a lot of folks are confused by it.

That's something Geoff came up with that I thought was kind of neat. I think it came from the idea that I was throwing around that the black areas of the costume were literally the absence of light, which is why they didn't reflect back grey anymore. Geoff thought that sounded cold, like the temperature of that part of the suit would differ from the warmer green areas. I don't think it's important, (nor is my idea for the black part of the suit) but it may be of some interest to people who are detail obsessed. (Like me.)

[Bob Sachs Voice of Guy Gardner Find all posts View Profile Close Bob Sachs]

Thanks for the reply ... I should have phrased my question better ... I was talking more about how artists, colorists, and writers get together and/or communicate ... Due to the convenience of the internet and email, ya can swap information and sketches without actually using the postal service, etc ... In fact, ya don't even hafta be in the same place to show each other what you're doing ...

[Jack-O-Lantern Master Customizer Find all posts View Profile Close Jack-O-Lantern]

Oh, of course. It's bound to. I get direct feedback from fans about my work. If A WHOLE LOT of strangers are saying basically the same thing, it's time to listen and change. Or if even one person is making a really great point, I'll think about it. We didn't have this before, the direct interaction with fans. When something isn't selling or working very well, it's easy to find out WHY now.

Which has been so much better for comics in the last few years. About a decade ago, most art in mainstream comics seemed too cartoony. Then Jim Lee and you Ethan, and Ivan, plus many many others came out with this new amazing stuff that just blows us all away.

[Jack-O-Lantern Master Customizer Find all posts View Profile Close Jack-O-Lantern]

That's something Geoff came up with that I thought was kind of neat. I think it came from the idea that I was throwing around that the black areas of the costume were literally the absence of light, which is why they didn't reflect back grey anymore. Geoff thought that sounded cold, like the temperature of that part of the suit would differ from the warmer green areas. I don't think it's important, (nor is my idea for the black part of the suit) but it may be of some interest to people who are detail obsessed. (Like me.)

I think it was a really interesting and awesome idea. To say that it's not just a fabric material. But that it is made up of energy with green being hot and black cold. You just know that there is more to the suit and powers behind it all. Just another great idea on both your parts.


Y'know, with all this feedback from you Ethan, we should all be in the chat room!

[Guest Close Rayner90]

Here's something I always wondered, who is your favorite Earth Green Lantern to draw?

[Ethan Van Sciver Honored Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Ethan Van Sciver]

Thanks for the reply ... I should have phrased my question better ... I was talking more about how artists, colorists, and writers get together and/or communicate ... Due to the convenience of the internet and email, ya can swap information and sketches without actually using the postal service, etc ... In fact, ya don't even hafta be in the same place to show each other what you're doing ...

Oh, I see. I'm not sure...when I first started in comics, we at the very least still had fax machines. And we used to fax drawings back and forth. I still do use a fax machine now and then. But we'd always exchange phone numbers and talk to eachother on the phone.

The internet has done wonders for communicating with fans one on one though. It's not terribly difficult to get commissioned sketches anymore. Or at least, be in a position to ask.

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

For the record, I kinda like the Kilowog figure... but I agree it is a little off (my girlfriend was the first one to tell me that, even... and I was geeking out like, "No, it's Kilowog, he's fucking huge and massive, it's a badass figure!" and she'd simply tell me, "OK, well... but it doesn't look like him"). I would have certainly preferred either the standard leotard or the newer Hal GL suit for him, as it better accents his muscles and detail and all that, stuff that is lost when 90% of his body is just a black mass as it is with the Stewart costume.

Another question for you: Who designed the current Kyle costume, and what was the deal with the 3 shoulder bumps on each side? Were they there to begin with and you and Reis phased them out when you worked on GL #25, or were they never even there in the design to begin with, and it was just various Countdown/Challengers artists improperly drawing/adding the 3 bumps on each side?

Personally I love the shoulder bumps (and I think some others do too). They're a carryover piece of his Jim Lee suit, just a tiny piece (though not totally the same... obviously they're green now, not black, and there's 3 on each arm, not 9 or 10 as in the Jim Lee suit), and it gives his costume a very necessary touch -- just a touch -- of his artsy side. Without them it appears somewhat plain, and a little too reminiscent of Hal's suit (and Kyle doesn't even get the dynamic, angular lines on the gloves and boots that Hal's current suit gets).

[Ethan Van Sciver Honored Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Ethan Van Sciver]

Here's something I always wondered, who is your favorite Earth Green Lantern to draw?

Guy and John, because I've gotten to draw them the least. And they are both interesting visually, with Guy's kind of Billy Idol sneer and John's precise and immaculate method of creating constructs. Both require more effort, more thought from me, and both pay off more in the end, I feel.