Marz is a fantastic writer, known within professional circles for his innovative scripting and outstanding work ethic. He's paired on this project with artist Rick Leonardi and the result of this collaboration is a tight, pulse-pounding adventure that editor Phil Amara is incredibly proud of. "If someone told me when I was a kid reading comics that I'd be lucky enough to work with my boyhood favorite artist, Rick Leonardi, I'd have whipped them with a car antenna for being a wiseguy," said Amara, who is working with DC senior editor Bob Schreck on this project. "Years later, not only have I been able to collaborate with Rick as a writer, but now I get to be his faithful editor on this crossover. His work is still wire sharp, and he's as smart and ornery as ever! Oh, and Ron's not too bad of a guy, either."
Marz and I chatted about his work on Green Lantern Vs. Aliens while he was wrapping up his work day in the offices of the newly-formed publisher Cross Gen, based in Florida. He recently signed an exclusive contract with Cross Gen, so Green Lantern Vs. Aliens and his other current series, Star Wars: Darth Maul, will be Marz' last work for Dark Horse -- at least for a few years. Dark Horse would be fortunate to work with Marz again in the future, and we're glad he's done such a great job with Green Lantern Vs. Aliens. Read on:
Shawna Ervin-Gore: One of the first things I found interesting about your scripts for Green Lantern Vs. Aliens is that you base the story pretty heavily on both the classic Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, and one of his successors, Kyle Rayner. What lead you to make this choice?
Ron Marz: One of the things that really appeals to me about Green Lantern is the cyclical nature of the concept. Superman or Batman are very specific individuals -- only Bruce Wayne can be Batman, only Clark Kent can be Superman. But Green Lantern is whoever has the ring. I like the notion of Green Lantern having a lineage to it, the mantle being passed down from generation to generation. So it seemed appropriate to set Green Lantern Vs. Aliens over two generations and use it as an opportunity to play with both Hal and Kyle. It was a chance to see how Hal and Kyle would react in essentially the same situation, and see how one generation can effect the next. Beyond that, it was just cool to write Hal in his prime.
SE-G: Have you featured both of these guys in one story before?
RM: In the monthly Green Lantern title we did a storyline featuring Hal and Kyle together using that old chestnut time travel, which allowed us to have the two characters play off one another directly. That's a little different than the way Green Lantern Vs. Aliens is set up, because Hal and Kyle never actually meet in Green Lantern Vs. Aliens. I also wrote a graphic novel, "Fear Itself," which featured the three most notable Green Lanterns -- Alan Scott, Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner -- in their respective eras.
SE-G: How long have you written for Green Lantern, and how many stories have you done?
RM: I took on Green Lantern in the fall of 1993, and my first issue, #48, came out a few months later. My last issue of the regular series was #125 in May 2000. With regular issues, annuals, specials, mini-series, and all that, I wrote more than 100 Green Lantern stories.
SE-G: Did you create any new characters when you were helming the series?
RM: Most prominent, of course, would be Kyle Rayner, the current Green Lantern. Artist Darryl Banks and I co-created him. There were also various supporting characters and villains, but Kyle was our baby.
SE-G: Let's get to the Aliens, now. You make an interesting choice in the first issue (which is structured as a flashback to the rest of the series) by having the Green Lantern Corps sequester the offending Aliens on a remote planet instead of killing them... does this owe to the Green Lantern Corps' role as guardians for the entire universe, not just the human-friendly aspects of it?
RM: Well, it didn't seem terribly heroic to have Hal and the Corps just wipe out the Aliens, even though it's the most practical solution. To my mind, Green Lanterns are supposed to protect all life, not just the non-threatening species. But obviously that decision comes back to haunt them. I wanted to compare decisions a hero like Hal would make then, and the decisions a hero like Kyle would make now. Has the concept of heroism changed from one era to another?
SE-G: That's an interesting point, and it becomes pretty clear that what might be heroic at one point in time may not work in other situations.
RM: Exactly.
SE-G: Why do you think this is a good cross-over? What is it about this specific pairing that worked well for you and what was difficult?
RM: It's really up to the readers to decide if this was a good, crossover, isn't it? I know I had a lot of fun doing it, and it was a pleasure working with Rick Leonardi. It's a pairing that makes sense from the standpoint of Green Lantern and Aliens both being outer-space/science-fiction concepts. We didn't really have to go through a lot of machinations to bring them together, as you have to do with some of the other crossovers. The difficulty was in the relative power levels of the Green Lantern and the Aliens. The Aliens are nasty and scary, but ultimately they're not much more than animals. The Green Lanterns all have what is invariably billed as "the most powerful weapon in the universe" on their fingers. You don't want to completely lose the element of the power ring, because then it's not really a Green Lantern story, but you do have to do something to balance the scales a bit.
SE-G: Is this officially your last Green Lantern story, considering the CrossGen contract? And are you sending Kyle out with a bang?
RM: In this business you never say never, but yeah, at the moment this seems likely to be my last stab at GL. I don't know if I'm going out with a bang per se, because to me, going out with a bang means something drastic -- killing Kyle, giving the ring to somebody new, something like that. With Green Lantern Vs. Aliens I'm going out doing what I tried to do in every issue of my run, which was give the readers their money's worth and tell a good story.
Keep a green eye peeled for the exciting adventures of Green Lantern Vs. Aliens, bursting of a chest near you (just kidding!) September 13.