Just two short days ago we were treated to Green Lantern solicitations for August and now we’re treated to some more art. CBR spoke with incoming Green Lantern Corps writer Van Jensen about the series and was even lucky enough to get the first look at Bernard Chang’s interior artwork. Check out those pages and some choice quotes below.

Jensen wants GLC to fun while having character moments:

With “Green Lantern Corps,” this is a book about space cops patrolling the universe, so I want to make sure it’s fun. It should be fun, and there should be a level of high adventure to it. It’s going to be very character focused, but it’s not going to get bogged down with overly serious naval gazing.

 

Jensen on the status of John Stewart:

He’s a pretty fascinating character just in how much stuff has happened to him. As the central character of this book, the first issue is all about setting a new starting point for him. We’re not changing the status quo or anything. It’s more about figuring out where he is. He’s gone through these things that have affected all of the Corps, but he’s also gone through some changes on an individual level.

 

One of the most interesting things is that he has this military background, and there is some history in his military experience with him questioning the leadership and what his place is in the Marines. That’s a great analogy for what’s been going on with the Corps and the Guardians. Things there have changed to a significant degree. But John has always been the good solider – which is funny because soldiers and Marines are different things – but what happens to the good soldier when he realizes that the higher ups are not reputable? John is taking a moment here to be introspective and wonder what he wants out of his future and whether that will include the Corps.

John’s relationship with Star Sapphire Fatality will anchor the series:

Exploring that relationship is definitely going to be a big part of this series. A relationship with a Green Lantern under the best of circumstances is not very ideal in the history of the comic, and John and Fatality come into this with as much baggage as you can possibly have. The way we’re looking at it and why it’s kind of interesting is that she’s now forgiven him. As a Star Sapphire, she has committed her love to him, and he still needs to process al of this stuff that’s in the background. As much as he’s willing to go ahead with this relationship, he’s still very doubtful. It’s a huge amount of stuff to deal with. Destroying an entire planet? It’s takes a while to get over that.

Van talks about working with Green Lantern writer (and GLC co-plotter) Robert Venditti:

…The way we’ve worked together since I came on the book is that every so often we get together and talk about ideas. It’s almost like a grown-up version of when you sit around with your friends and spitball story ideas. There’s a close collaboration on that front.

And really, we’re talking when we meet about the entire Green Lantern universe. It’s not one of us putting out ideas and then the other writing it. It’s us figuring out how this works together and how everything interacts. As far as the scripting goes, I’m doing 100% of that myself, but I run stuff by Rob and the other guys because we want to make sure these books work together. And he’s helpful because he has a lot more experience with monthly comics, and there are little idiosyncrasies that he’s able to help me with.

Van on allowing change and new directions for the Corps:

As far as this being a smaller story within a larger story, there’s definitely some big, big things coming up in these books. That’s both in the fairly short term as well as the long term. Balancing those things is one of the challenges because 20 pages is really not that much real estate. You have to prioritize story and bring character across very quickly and very effectively. You have to have a plan for every character – not just John and Fatality. We’re introducing some new characters and bringing in a new status quo for some established cast. We’re really trying to focus on the idea that things have change pretty dramatically, establishing the idea of where things are going and what the conflicts are internally and externally, and also being open to the idea that the characters can guide the story in a new direction.