Flash, Green Lantern in spotlight in 2009
WORD BALLOONS
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Flash and Green Lantern will be the “cornerstones” of the DC Universe in the coming year, said writer Geoff Johns, speaking at the ComicsPRO annual members’ meeting last week.
ComicsPRO is a nonprofit organization of direct-market comic store retailers.
Johns is the writer of the upcoming “Flash: Rebirth,” slated for release on April 1, and “Blackest Night,” which kicks off with a free No. 0 issue on May 2, Free Comic Book Day. “Blackest Night” No. 0 is the first original story created by DC for a FCBD giveaway. The first half of the book will be by Johns and Ivan Reis.
“It’s a 12-page story that’s a lead-in to the DC Universe through Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and Barry Allen (Flash),” Johns said. “I look at Hal and Barry as very different in how they’re coming into the DC Universe.”
The Flash died a hero in “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” saving the world from the Anti-Monitor, before returning in “Final Crisis” last year. Hal Jordan was turned evil by the entity Parallax and destroyed the Green Lantern Corps before dying in the “Final Night” series. In the 2004 series “Green Lantern: Rebirth,” Hal Jordan was purged of the entity and returned as a hero.
“There’s a line in (”Blackest Night” No. 0) where Hal says, ‘You died a saint and I died a sinner,’” Johns said, referring to the different situations in which the two close friends now find themselves.
Barry Allen returning from the dead is “the worst thing that ever happened to him,” Johns said.
“I think a lot of people are wondering why we’re bringing Barry Allen back,” Johns said. “But really ‘Flash: Rebirth’ is knee-deep in doing what we do best.”
“Flash: Rebirth” is from the creative team of “Green Lantern: Rebirth,” Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver.
DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio announced that, based on pre-orders, “Flash: Rebirth” No. 1 will be DC Comics’ top book for April.
“Blackest Night” No. 1 will launch July 15, written by Johns and drawn by Reis. It will tie in with “Green Lantern” and “Green Lantern Corps.”
“I’ve been working really hard on Green Lantern for the last few years,” Johns said. “When we did (the) Sinestro Corps (storyline), it was kind of a surprise for a lot of people,” Johns said. “But now that we’re headed toward ‘Blackest Night,’ the fact that readers, retailers, DC, everybody’s really excited about it, that gets me excited, because I’ve been wanting to tell this story for a long time.”
By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
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