With Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s The Green Lantern series set to end in March, the big question that’s been on the mind of Green Lantern fans has been about what happens next? Future State ends in February and while the March 2021 solicitations have not seen daylight yet, at the Comic-Con Experience in Brazil it was announced that Geoffrey Thorne and Tom Raney would be taking the reins of a new Green Lantern series which will debut in March. If the creative team sounds familiar, Thorne and Raney are the creative team writing the John Stewart story in the two-issue “Future State” Green Lantern book that comes out in January and February of 2021.

Controversy has already begun to swirl around writer Geoffrey Thorne, who’s public comments on social media about various Green Lanterns are incendiary and threaten to be the Molotov cocktail that ignites a fan base already fractured by DC Comics continual addition of new Earth Lanterns to the franchise without providing ample panel time for the characters who define it. Among Thorne’s comments are those indicating a hatred for and bias against the Hal Jordan character and that DC and WB should focus entirely on John Stewart.  He also attempted to minimize the success of Geoff Johns’ run on Green Lantern, which is widely held as the best and most commercially successful years in the franchise’s 80-year history.

If the conversation on Comic Book Resources’ message boards or social media are any indication, there are a lot of voices in the fan community who take exception to Thorne’s comments. My own opinion is that Thorne is clearly personally biased and I strongly disagree with everything he says regarding Green Lantern.  I also have doubts about how the characters will be portrayed, whether intentional or just influenced by his clear bias. But I’m also going to try my best not to let Thorne’s personal toxicity put me in a position to pre-judge the work until I have a chance to see it. In response to the initial fan reaction, Thorne took to CBR’s message boards to comment on the initial fan reaction. His comments are presented here for fans who do not inhabit the CBR message boards.

This is Rumor Control. Here are the Facts.

There is a MASSIVE difference between speaking as a fan to other fans and working as a professional writer in a professional context.
I do not take jobs to “shit on fans.”
I do not have vendettas against fictional characters.
I’m not allowed to say what the focus of the book will be for legal and ethical reasons but I can assure you, unequivocally, when and if Hal appears, he will be the Hal Jordan that has been established and will behave the way DC Comics would like him to be portrayed. I do not diminish one character in order to elevate another and, in fact, if we’re going through my tweets, you’d find several saying how much I hate when that is done. It’s an example of poor writing.
When I’m a fan, I speak as a fan. When I sit down to write, that stops.
I do not subscribe to the tribalism and angry fist-shaking that seems to be the rule with many current fans. EVERY Lantern has fans who think they should be THE Lantern. Neither I nor DC comics have any intention of shitting on them.
I have between 30 and 50 thousand comics, dating back to the 1940s. I love comics. LOVE.
I’m here to tell great stories, as is the rest of this team. We are excited as HELL about what’s coming.
For a lot of you I’m an unknown commodity but, being unknown, you shouldn’t automatically expect trouble any more than you should automatically expect greatness.
We have an epic yarn to tell with a LOT of great things coming that haven’t even been hinted at, much less announced.
Creators sign NDAs, meaning we are actually not allowed to refute rumors and fear-mongering with specific facts. Meaning, until the books actually drop, people who don’t know what they’re talking about get to dominate the field.
Here is a fact: Only about five people on this planet know what’s coming and none of them are in the fan press. None.

What won’t happen:
I will not debate story points here or anywhere else.
I will not debate any aspect of past, current, or future GL stories, here or anywhere else.
I will never give spoilers, here or anywhere else.
I will never shit on the work of the other creators who’ve driven the story of the Lanterns. EVERY one of them has done something amazing that is loved by some segment of the Lantern fandom.
I will not in any way tarnish the legacy of the Green Lantern Corps because that is neither my job nor my intent.

What will happen:
I will tell the story I came to tell.
Epic stories. Amazing art. Life and death. New faces. Old faces. New species. Old species and I hope, a lot of SciFi fun.
Anyone who thinks I have any intention of shitting on Hal Jordan can sit down and be still. Because that is a straight-up lie.

It’s not the first time that a creator’s personal statements and opinions have influenced public opinion of them. One has to only mention Ethan Van Sciver and the fallout from his public comments on his personal politics and harsh reaction to critics as an example of how a creator’s public persona is shaped by their personal comments on social media. This is no different, and until the books hit the stands and fans can judge the work for itself, the toxicity of Thorne’s comments will continue to color public perception.  I have invited Mr. Thorne to be a guest on The Podcast of Oa when he’s allowed to talk about the book, and his response was, “consider it a date”.