Summary

• Hal Jordan faces challenges without his Power Ring, improvises with confiscated weapons.
• New villain Thaaros manipulates emotions and experiments, setting stage for showdown.
• Green Lantern series to head in new direction with All In initiative, changing status quo.

With Absolute Power taking over the DC Universe and the United Planets out for blood, it’s been a busy time for Green Lantern. The last year saw Hal Jordan depart from his beloved Corps, but with an authoritarian seizing control of the Green Lanterns, the Emerald Knight has had no choice but to step up.

Unfortunately, in the middle of this cosmic coup, Amanda Waller is out to take control of Earth’s superhuman population, including non-powered heroes like Green Lantern. At San Diego Comic Con, Screen Rant had the opportunity to speak with Green Lantern writer Jeremy Adams about Hal’s role in Absolute Power, as well as what lies ahead with the DC Universe’s latest threat, Lord Premier Thaaros.

Screen Rant: Jeremy, I find it interesting that Green Lantern's the one hero Waller can't actually de-power. But you found a way to put Hal in the same position as everyone else during Absolute Power.

Jeremy Adams: That was something I was like, "Huh. I wonder if I could do this without everybody freaking out.". Yeah. I mean, the thing is trying to service Absolute Power, but also service what's going on with my book, and that leads to Thaaros and Waller having this little bit of a power struggle in mind, where Theros thinks that Waller is nothing. Waller thinks "I'm using Thaaros." And so having that come about at the same time when Absolute Power happens, Hal's gotten away, he's got beaten up, Carol saves him, and everything's great! Then, mercenary shock troops. Hal hasn't got a chance to get back to the main Power Battery. And now we're back to Hal head butting sharks to try to get away.

Hal really is the kind of person who thrives on improvisation, so you put him in a world where he doesn't have access to the Green Lantern Power Ring. But he does have access to everything Waller has just confiscated. Were you like "I'm just gonna be a man and put Hal in this fun situation"?

Jeremy Adams: It was so much fun, because I went through my Who's Who, and I'm just writing up crazy weapons and things that they have and then I send it to Mark. And Mark's like "Yeah, this is great. Add these three other obscure things.". I'm like "Awesome! I'm having a conversation with Mark Waid about obscure superhero weapons and supervillain weapons." I mean, this is great. It all organically kind of came together. Hal is going to be able to use some of these weapons. It's going to be a real fun variation on Die Hard except "Oh, that's Blue Devils old trident". But it's tying together not just that, but Task Force VII #3 with the Jadestone Amazo, which is going to be critical. Let me just put it this way. That character is going to be more important to Green Lantern going forward.

You have so much going on in your book. You've got the United Planets. You've got everything going on with Absolute Power. You've got Hal just trying to get his love life back on track. Do you ever feel you're putting way too much on your plate?

Jeremy Adams: It is spinning plates. But we've had like 12, 13, 14 books leading up to the insanity. It's just crescendoing at this moment. And I was very intentional about the pacing of the book. People would be like "There's nothing happens" and then suddenly Sinestro turns red. I'm trying to do it organically and in a way so that we all feel that train moving. And I'm telling you, the one-shot that Philip and I did, every page is like "Oh my gosh! No! What?!". I don't think it's chaotic or disted. But the real question is, can I pay it off? But we'll see.

The last time we talked you were a little coy about the Emotional Spectrum, which has become a huge part of your run. Jeremy, you got a Sorrow Lantern! First of all, do we have a name yet for this guy or his Corps?

Jeremy Adams: I would say his name is Sorrow. What that is,was two things. One it's a mirror image of how Star Sapphire showed up for Hal Jordan originally. This was meant to give Carol a nemesis in a way that is very the mirror image of what it was for Hal with Carol. The gray of it, the sorrow of it, is also a byproduct of the Emotional Spectrum. It's really effed up right now. And I don't think that Sorrow will be the last emotion that's seen. The mythology that Geoff and all those guys developed is really massive. This is something else, this is a splinter. This is like something refracting out over crystal. This is like the Source Lantern, we don't really necessarily know exactly what's going on. Kyle knows something's going on. So this is an outgrowth of that and it will lead to a new status quo within the Green Lantern universe.

I'm glad you mentioned Kyle because I was a fan of his White Lantern era. It was a really pivotal moment for him. You're not ignoring that and you're making it a very important part of him because the damage to the Emotional Spectrum is really making Kyle suffer. It's like the pathos of the book.

Jeremy Adams: And that's where he is. He's being affected by it in an internal DNA way. And that's gonna lead to what I think is very interesting...oh, I can't even use the right word right now!

You also brought up Thaaros. Do you want to talk about him a little bit because I do think he's one of the most vile antagonists we've seen in a while. He kinda reminds me of Sinestro with his whole fascistic outlook, but Thaaros has done things that I don't even think Sinestro would do.

Jeremy Adams: Right. Guggenheim did an incredible backup outlining his origin story, but also making him very intelligent, not necessarily wrong. I don't want to tell you where he's going, but it gets really complicated in a great way. And what we're trying to do is just make another really great villain. It's really easy to go "I'm going to use Darkseid, I'm gonna use Sinestro." I want to try to add more toys in the toybox. Thaaros was created by Philip Kennedy Johnson and I've had a lot of conversations about what might happen to him or where his endgame might be or what it could be. It's not just the twist of him going "Hey, I'm manipulating things" but "Hey, the people of my race are manipulating things. I am doing experiments on Keli. I'm trying to do something with the Source Lantern. I got the ability to shift people into different emotions and make them considerably more dangerous.". It's gonna get worse.

So DC All In is coming. Yeah. One of the biggest things in the solicitations was the reveal of the Civil Corps Special. What can you tell us about where things are going particularly, because the solicits mentioned the Darkstar Ring, which just showed up in Green Lantern: War Journal. Jeremy, I've been following the Olgrun stuff for a while. I need answers!

Jeremy Adams: Well, the Olgrun stuff you're gonna have to pry into Phillip's head. But the one-shot is what's basically going to kick off the finale of the Green Lantern story that I've been telling. It doesn't mean I'm off the book, at least that I know. But it does mean that at the end of this, the status quo for Green Lantern will have changed. We will be at a new crossroads in certain ways. This one-shot is definitely the starter pistol to the end. And it's great because we're really going to be at a new place for Green Lanterns and it's going to be much easier for people to enter into the cosmos.

To get 'all in'?

Jeremy Adams: Yeah, get all in. Get all in! (laughs)

Okay, speaking to the larger All In initiative. This is a shake-up in a lot of ways, but for you, it seems to be business as usual. But did you feel any sort of pressure or did they just want you to keep doing what you're doing?

Jeremy Adams: Oh, I have been insulated on that side. The only thing pre-All In is just you know, working with Mark and making sure everything serves Absolute Power. But as far as All In and what's going on there? Not right now.

Any Green Lanterns that you haven't really used yet that you're just like 'I haven't focused on this Green Lantern, let me bring them back a little bit.'?

Jeremy Adams: There's a lot of alien Lanterns people are vying for which I hope we get to play with at some point like B'dg. Obviously we all want G'nort back. But no. Honestly for me, I want to spend more time with Razer. I want to spend more time with Tom Kalmaku. I want to spend more time with fleshing out more periphery characters so they can be bigger parts of Hal's world. I would love to explore more of Hal's family.

Just because you mentioned him, I have to ask this again. I love seeing Razer. I think anybody who was a fan of the Green Lantern animated series loved seeing Razer. But Jeremy, I've got to ask you just point blank: Where's Aya?

Jeremy Adams:(laughs and sings) Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight.

Jeremy Adams: I mean, my first credit on television was Green Lantern: The Animated Series. I did two episodes of that and I have a huge affinity for it. And it's always there. In the back of my head. "Where's Aya? Where's Aya?"...

Green Lantern #14 is available on August 14th from DC Comics.