Broken Frontier

Green doesn’t love yellow. Yellow doesn’t love green. In fact, they hate each other’s guts. That’s the story of the Green Lantern mythos versus Sinestro in a nutshell. However, whereas the Lanterns regularly bonded together to oppose the most dire of threats—see: Corps, Green Lantern—Sinestro always had to battle those pesky battery-powered dudes all by himself.

Not anymore. The yellow mastermind with the funky moustache has recruited a legion of devotees of his own, all set to take down the Green Lanterns once and for all. Artist Ethan Van Sciver stopped by for a chat on Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special hitting tomorrow through DC Comics.

BROKEN FRONTIER: Will Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps be as defining as the GreenLantern: Rebirth mini series of two years ago was for Hal Jordan, and the Lantern mythology in general?

ETHAN VAN SCIVER: Only time will tell something like that. I mean, it's been a couple of years since REBIRTH, and Green Lantern fans are the ones who own it now.

SINESTRO CORPS is our EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, you know? I hope it's received well. I hope it's another defining story arc.

BF: Sinestro Corps is a 64-page special. How come you and Geoff settled on a one-shot instead of a new mini series?

EVS: I don't remember. That was probably Geoff's doing, because I think we had planned two giant sized books, bookends, for a six issue story arc in the main series. Then DC decided not to only do one giant sized-opener book. I don't know if I'd want to, or if I'd be able to devote 150 pages to Sinestro. I love him, but that's a lot of work for me!

Also, this whole thing is part of a bigger story, which I will be involved with down the road.

BF: Where did the idea come from to counterbalance the GL corps with one under Sinestro’s command?

EVS: Geoff and I talked about it during REBIRTH. I can't remember whose idea it was originally, Geoff's or mine, but I remember talking about it, and it seemed like an outrageous idea, but we were sceptical about whether or not DC would let us do it. A few months later, Geoff and I were on a three way phone call with Peter Tomasi, and both of them told me it was a definite plan, and that they were going to build towards it in the monthly.

Sinestro was one of DC's unpolished gems, a character that few creators seemed to see the potential in, and I blame that on some really bad depictions of him in old comics and television shows. We all loved him; we all knew we could help him out. It was only a matter of the best way, and it's a good thing we all agreed that he should have his own army.

BF: What was the design process like for the different corps members? How did you and Geoff get your ducks in a row on that?

EVS: Well, since it's such a vast army, Geoff, Ivan Reis, Pat Gleason and anyone else who helps to tell this story can have a grand old time with it. There are 7200 of them. So the rules are, as long as they appear to be able to instill fear, draw them! We'll take them. To begin with, Geoff and I tossed around a few ideas, and they became the Corps members you've come to know as Karu-Sil, Despotellis, and Bedovian. Geoff and Ivan came up with Arkillo.

From there, I've used this special one-shot to devise a hundred or so brand new characters by myself, which Geoff will examine, name, and grant a background to for future stories. It's kind of haphazard, but overly planning these things doesn't lead to originality, or anything worth keeping.

Out of my hundred, maybe half a dozen will become real players. Pat and Ivan will come up with some dynamite new characters, I'm sure. The important thing is that everybody be creative and have fun with this.

BF: Now, the February issue of Wizard included a sketchbook with some of the more prominent Sinestro Corps members—Karu Sil, Despotellis, Arkillo, and Bedovian. Can you go through each of their roles in the story? Is one of them more important to their master, or integral to the story than the others?

EVS: Despotellis is a real problem. I'm not sure of all of their roles yet. My book is more about establishing them as a fact and then beginning a very dark war. We'll all have to wait and see what details Geoff provides in the future.

BF: Also, ho did you and Geoff manage to give them each enough screen time over a mere 64 pages? Like Green Lantern: Rebirth, it must be a rather dense story…

EVS: It's only chapter one of a rather dense story that continues for six months in both GL titles (Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps – ed.). All of them get some screen time, though.

BF: One more thing about the design of the Corps: they all have the Parallax symbol on their chest. Is that just a way to highlight Sinestro’s ties to Parallax as established in Rebirth and to visually brand the Sinestro Corps as opponents of the GL corps? Or does Parallax figure in the story as well?

EVS: Parallax is fear. These creatures worship fear. They wear its emblem.

BF: Do you know where we’ll see Sinestro and the corps next, following the conclusion of the special?

EVS: On and on and on, throughout the ongoing titles. You'll have PLENTY of them.

BF: And finally, where will we be seeing you next? After a period of mostly doing covers, is there any ongoing interior work in the cards?

EVS: We'll see. I'm still choosing between two projects right now, and which one to do first. DC will announce it when the time is right. I think I'll design some toys now.

Thanks, Broken Frontier!