With the first chapter of the Green Lantern crossover event Lights Out hitting stores today in Green Lantern #24, unspeakable levels of madness, confusion, and despair will no doubt engulf the entire Green Lantern fanbase. Luckily, we sat down with Lantern writers Robert Venditti, Van Jensen, Charles Soule, and Justin Jordan to suss out how Lights Out will affect the entire Green Lantern universe.

Green Lantern #24

Green Lantern: New Guardians #24

Green Lantern Corps #24

The final page of Green Lantern #24.

That’s true. I would say the Red Lanterns aren’t “joiners.” They don’t generally help out unless there’s a real reason to do that. The other side of it is that there are things about the Red Lanterns that make them unique -- their abilities, their rings. The way they work is a little bit different than the other Corps. Some of that is going to be playing into Lights Out in a way that I think is very interesting and will make a lot of sense, but will also be surprising and cool.He is off by himself. The fact that he’s isolated in many ways -- emotionally, physically, geographically -- from the rest of the people he’s been working with for so many years plays a big role in Lights Out. It’s kinda cool, I think.In this particular case, it’s because the Blue Lanterns are arguably the most powerful of the Lanterns. As it said in issue #23 of New Guardians, if you’re doing what Relic is doing, which is stopping people from using the light, going after the people that, A.) there are only a handful of, B.) are kind of vulnerable on their own, and C.) can supercharge other Lanterns’ abilities, that would have been my first thought, too. It’s definitely one of those things that, yeah, it kinda sucks that the Blue Lanterns keep getting run out of each of their home planets. On the other hand, they need something to be hopeful against. I think it kind of worked out. In an ideal world, it would have been nice to have them not lose their planet twice in a year, but that’s just bad luck for the Blue Lanterns, man.Indeed.Yes.In New Guardians? No.There are plans for Saint Walker, but I can’t disclose them right now. You will see more of what happens to him after what happened to him in New Guardians #23.His white power is an amalgam of all the spectrums, so as the other Lanterns go out, he loses those parts of his spectrum. Actually, you see that happening in issue #23 when he fails to heal Walker because he needs to tap into the blue spectrum and it is gone. It isn’t accessible to him. Kyle is finding that his powers are becoming diminished as the other Lanterns fall.I think Jruk was all my idea. Rob and I worked on the plot together and talked through things, but all of the new recruits were all pretty much from me. A lot of credit has to go to [Green Lantern Corps artist] Bernard Chang, who gave him an awesome design. Without Bernard making him look like such a badass, I don’t think fans would have responded to him the way that they have.Start the letter writing campaign!In Green Lantern Corps #24, we’re going to see it pick up with the Green Lanterns in as dire a situation they’ve been in for a while [after the events of Green Lantern #24]. So John, having experience as a marine, he really brings that training and his knowledge of military tactics to bear. They’re facing a foe who is perfectly prepared to stop any light-based attack that they throw at him. John is bringing his knowledge and his experience and also his willingness to fight into that issue. I think it’s one of my favorite issues as far as John’s development and him having a lot to bring to the table.In issue #24, we’ll see both of those aspects of his character. Those will play a big part of his character going forward. That’s who he is and that’s the special knowledge that he brings to the Corps and what makes him unique. So yes, specifically in #24 will be seeing John utilizing all of his experience in launching this kind of counter-attack against Relic. And then for the foreseeable future, as long as John is the star of Green Lantern Corps, we’ll be seeing more and more of that.That's kind of the big question. Will they be able to save Oa?

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