Fan Expo Boston’s Saturday morning got off to a bright start with the By Lantern’s Light panel, which featured writers Jeremy Adams (Green Lantern, Emperor Aquaman) and Morgan Hampton (Green Lantern Corps). The two writers have been in charge of the Emerald Knights for a few years now, and were more than happy to dish on what’s to come for Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps.
The panel started off with Jeremy Adams discussing the differences between writing for comics and animation, which is where he initially got his start as a professional writer. In fact, the upcoming Batman: Knightfall animated movie was but he wrote it four years ago, so it’s hard for him to remember exactly what has changed since he wrote it and the final product, which releases in a few weeks
“Writing for animation is like writing for storyboard artists”, Adams said, “so the move to comics was pretty natural.”
For his part, Morgan Hampton doesn’t have anything beyond spec scripts written for works in Hollywood, but did say that the hardest thing for him when writing comics is coming up with the best static panel for the artist over individual scenes.
The two then discussed their individual writing styles, with Adams talking about being more of the “pitch over theme” writer while Morgan said they like to look at “what the character needs to overcome” and then making the plot from there. Adams responded, “I like to drive ahead and then see what happens plot-wise.”
The two then discussed what it was like working together on the Green Lantern Corps book, with Hampton saying he didn’t know he’d be co-writing the book with Adams when he first got the job. What helped the two crack the stories for the series was that they lived close to each other and worked together to come up with A and B stories, which allowed them to figure out the plot beats for the individual characters. Adams, for his part, has experience working in writer’s rooms thanks to his work on TV series like Supernatural, and he loves how collaborative that type of room can be with the right people.
The two then teased an upcoming Green Lantern event for the Fall that will crossover between the two books, and that they are seeing a lot of new interest in the line since they started working on it. Adams in particular wanted to shout out that they’ve been hearing good reactions to their Emperor Aquaman run, which led to him mentioning that it is typically “rare to get a long run” on series anymore, but the overall strength of DC’s books, particularly the Absolute line, is allowing them to stay on the books longer and try new things.
The two writers said they both like to “swing for the fences” because they both feel like they might get fired at any moment, but that can lead to Adams feeling stuck at times to come up with a new story, especially for Aquaman and his new power set. “Oh no, I have to come up with another story,” he joked.
Adams then went on to say that “part of the job of being a professional writer is looking for the next job”, which was different for him since he came from the TV writing world, where you only had to look for new jobs when a season or show wrapped up. This can lead to him having to find new work in comics frequently, like when “my wife says the kids need braces…Flash Gordon, it is!”
The host then asked the question we were all waiting for: “Who’s your Green Lantern?” For Adams, it was Guy Gardner, thanks to the Justice League International run. Hampton loves John Stewart because of the Justice League cartoon, and because his father was a Marine.
The panel then switched over to Emperor Aquaman briefly, with Adams saying that the pressure from DC editorial isn’t nearly as big on that book, since “most people don’t like Aquaman, but those that really do are kinda mad at me” (harsh, but fair). Adams mentioned that he was the one to pitch the idea of Aquaman becoming an Avatar of the Blue, and every issue he’s had fun upping Aquaman’s power set to new levels. In fact, he keeps expecting his editor to get him to stop, but they have yet to do so.
“As a writer, it’s been hilarious to keep playing with his powers every issue,” he joked. Hampton mentioned that he also has had fewer editorial pressures on the upcoming Steel series, which is so early in development that the rest of the creative team hasn’t been locked in yet. Hampton could only confirm that the series is coming next Spring and will feature both John Henry Irons and his niece, Natasha.
The floor then opened up for questions, and yours truly was the first one up. Since I’ve been covering Adams’ Emperor Aquaman run since DC K.O., I wanted to know about what was next for that run. Adams said that “we can expect more from the villains, and the upcoming “Tidal War” is coming.” He said that both he and Hampton were told by DC editorial that all the heroes would have “Visions” post-K.O.,but weren’t told what those visions would entail, so they were able to use that as stepping stones for what was next to come in their respective series.
The two were then asked about their favorite non-human Green Lanterns (Hampton said Volk, while Adams likes Ch’p), and when asked what Corps they would be part of, the two laughed for a bit, with Adams chiming in first, saying he’s a Blue Lantern because he’s “hopeful to a degree”, but he would be “Rage during L.A. Driving”. Hampton said that he doesn’t think he’d get a Green Lantern ring, but maybe a yellow one because of his anxiety. He joked that if he’d be given a Green ring, it would be like when “Jessica Cruz got a Green Lantern ring”.
The two also took time in their panel to give some advice for any aspiring writers in the crowd, which was to read Stephen King’s On Writing, citing it as “the best book about the craft of writing.” They especially highlighted King’s use of a writing routine and the importance of creating one for yourself, even if it’s just an hour a day. Hampton also mentioned giving yourself distance from drafts so you can review them fresh later on. Adams brought up that one of his mentors reminded him that “you don’t get paid for writing. That’s the fun part of the job”, and that the “work” comes from revising and taking in and deciding what to do with feedback from editors. Adams is also a big believer in the “slop draft” method and that you can always go back to fix a draft after it’s written.
They closed out their panel with a fun exchange about working with a big publisher like DC that has to answer to corporate overlords, and the weird things that can come from it. One aspect in particular was how they couldn’t age up Teen Lantern in their series because the higher-ups didn’t want to change them, but the fact that the character wasn’t thirteen yet would mean they shouldn’t be called “Teen Lantern”, so Adams and Hampton were simply trying to make the name make sense.
They also mentioned how they have become the unofficial “Hawkworld” lore keepers because they’ve featured Thanagar in their books so much. “I think if there was a Hawkman book that wouldn’t be the case,” joked Adams.
The First Light panel was a great start to the day for FanExpo Boston’s Saturday, and really shone an interesting (Green Lantern) light into the fun and at times complicated world of writing for a big franchise like Green Lantern. Despite the odd location for the panel (it was off to the side of the artist alley, with the over-com system constantly interrupting), the panel was a great experience to get myself excited for what Adams and Hampton have planned for Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Emperor Aquaman, and Steel in the coming months.
Returning to Fan Expo Boston reminded me why comic conventions endure: A field report
Marvel Preview: X-Men ’97: Season Two #3
Alex Ross returns with 12 new Marvel Timeless variant covers this September
Comic Books
Marvel reveals final chapters of ‘DNX’ as Cyclops and Beast’s war reaches its climax
Comic Books
Jordan Morris explains why ‘Amazing Venom’ is Marvel’s strangest new superhero comic
Comic Books
Marvel reveals slew of variant covers for Daredevil, Avengers, and more
