When Geoff Johns stepped aside as the writer of DC Comics' Green Lantern title in 2013, he had compiled one of the most critically-acclaimed, fan-favorite runs on the title in the publisher's storied history. Though it may have seemed daunting at the time, Robert Venditti took on the challenge of charting a new course for Hal Jordan and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps with Green Lantern #21.

Five years later, Venditti not only exceeded expectations, but he was one of the few writers to remain on a title following the launch of the DC Rebirth era as he continued to add new elements and threats to the Green Lantern mythology. CBR sat down with Venditti on the eve of this week's Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #50, which marks the final issue of the series and Venditti's last Green Lantern story, to get his thoughts on wrapping up his multi-year run, the clash between the Green Lanterns and the Darkstars, and what he'll remember most from working on the galactic police force.

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CBR: Robert, how does it feel to be at the finish line after a five-year run of writing Hal Jordan’s adventures as a member of the Green Lantern Corps?

Robert Venditti: Gosh, it's a bit sad. I'm going to miss writing the character, especially since Rebirth started with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. It's really felt a lot like writing stories with my friends twice a month, so in that aspect I'll miss it. But I'm also very proud with what we've all been able to do in the course of this run. It's not often you get to stay on a book this long or stay with the same characters for this amount of time in the modern era, so I feel very fortunate to be in that position and will always look back on it fondly.

Art from Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #50 by Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona and Tomeu Morey

Of course, your final storyline pits the Green Lanterns vs. The Darkstars. The feud is as much a philosophical debate as it is a physical altercation, with the Darkstars choosing violence and death for their victims over the Green Lanterns’ more judicial process. This really worked out beautifully, because it forced the characters and readers to pick a side. Can you talk about how you came up with this clash of ideas, especially with Tomar-Tu and Hal Jordan at the center of it?

Well, I think you can see from reading the whole series how far in advance we were going; the long-running subplot involving Tomar-Tu goes all the way back to the very second story arc of the series. That's one aspect of it -- another aspect of it is the parent-child theme that's been running throughout the series, whether it's Hal and his dad, or Guy and his dad, Tomar-Tu and Tomar-Re, General Zod and his son, Soranik and Sinestro, it goes on and on.

Every arc had some sort of theme in it somewhere where you saw that parent-child dynamic, so it's all those things coming to a head. This seemed like a good place to put this story and it was a natural evolution of what we were doing with those characters. To have Tomar-Tu to finally break away and try to become his own thing because he still carries all this anger and resentment for the way his father was taken from him by a criminal when he was young. It just seemed like it would put a sympathetic face on that philosophical debate for the Darkstars as opposed to some maniacal, wants to take over the universe type entity and put a very human face on it.

Hopefully, as you said, put the reader in that position where they have to think about the philosophical conflict as much as the physical one. Because having somebody like Tomar-Tu that they know and have spent decades reading and can relate to in ways...have that character be the leader of the Darkstars sort of brings that around in a way where you're forced to think about it as opposed to a character who is an outright villain. Then the reader doesn't get that philosophical conflict.

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Tomar-Tu, at least in my opinion, comes across as a sympathetic figure during this final story arc. In his heart and mind, he truly believes eliminating criminals before they get a second chance to strike is the only way to ensure everyone else's safety. From issues of how they dealt with their father’s deaths to their beliefs in law and order, Tomar-Tu and Hal Jordan can be viewed as different sides of the same coin. Did you ever find yourself leaning towards one side or another during your writing process?

Without going into too much detail, I do have some personal experience with the tragic side of murder from knowing victims. I think it's a natural emotion to see where Tomar-Tu is coming from and to sort of want that. But from the other side, for me, the way I view the world I believe people are inherently good and we can always be better even when we do wrong and the very best part is when we do wrong we use those things we've done to try and make us better people.

Though it was very much me seeing that argument from both sides, but I'll always be somebody who comes down on the side of Hal Jordan, because if I give up believing we can all be better as people and the world can be better, I don't know why we get out of bed in the morning. That's not to discount that style of writing or that arena of art. Just for me, aesthetically, that's not how I approach the page and it's not what motivates me and drives me as a writer.

Art from Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #50 by Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona and Tomeu Morey

In order to stand a chance against the overwhelming number of Darkstars, the Green Lanterns resort to calling in favors from their enemies, like General Zod and Hector Hammond. While Hammond has shown his devotion to Hal Jordan (rather hilariously), trusting Zod is another matter altogether. Can fans really expect these two to behave themselves during the battle in Issue #50?

Yeah, Hector was an interesting case. Sometimes you plan these things out really tightly and you know where you're going with them and sometimes the characters get up and speak to you, and tell you what they want to do. That was the case with Hector -- he started talking to me and writing himself I guess in his own way. Which is always fun when you're a writer when that happens. It feels more organic and truthful. In many ways, he represents the philosophical idea we were talking about before -- he is a villain, and he's somebody who is immensely powerful and wants to reform and be better. He sees Hal as an inspiration to become those things, in some ways the same manner as Tomar-Tu once did.

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The problem being, Hector Hammond is so powerful, he's almost become detached from reality -- and it makes him very dangerous, even though he's not intentionally being that way. But he does represent that reformed aspect of it.

General Zod is much different. He has an agenda for why he's involved in this. There's a reason why John Stewart needed him and his technology and his knowledge of Kryptonian weaponry, which was implemented in Issue #49 when John set up this trap that would negate the Darkstars' ability to teleport away and now put them in a barrel where the Green Lanterns can now fight them on even terms, and may the best group win. What Zod is in it for, we'll see in Issue #50, and how that turns out and whether or not he gets what he came for is part of the drama of this final issue.

I'm definitely ready to see some type of team-up comic between Hal Jordan and Hector Hammond, because I loved your characterization of him.

[Laughs] I appreciate that. I would be happy to write that just as much as I'd be happy to write a team-up series with Guy Gardner and Arkillo.

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The threat of the Darkstars spins out of the Dark Nights: Metal event, the final issue of which teased the returns of the Controllers and Darkstars. Did the events of Metal change your plans for how you wanted to end your run?

No, it actually all dovetailed together quite nicely. When Scott [Snyder] and all the editors briefed me into how Metal was going to end up, we were already doing the Darkstars arc. We had already explored the self-doubt, if you want to call it that, in Hal Jordan which he expressed in Issues #30 and #31, which was the Hector Hammond two-parter. Hal almost has this thought of, if it would be easier to kill these guys sometimes -- you wouldn't have to worry about them coming back and haunting us again.

We already seeded all those things and were headed this way long before we knew what the events of Metal were going to end up. But once we heard about Element X and what they were planning there, it all fit together rather nicely. Of course, whenever you can reflect things across the universe, it gives the reader that shared experience. So it all fit really nicely and didn't interrupt really any of what we wanted to do and we were able to end the series just the way we wanted to while also bringing in those events of Metal. It worked out nicely.

We talked about this earlier, about how you played the long game by planting seeds to this final anniversary issue by bringing back Orion, Arkillo, Hector Hammond and General Zod, to Tomar-Tu’s murder of Romat-Ru. Looking back, were there any stories or ideas that wound up being left on the cutting room floor?

Oh yeah, for sure. We had a lot of stuff we wanted to do. You never know, when you take on a series, how long you'll be on for and where things are going to sit. You always end up putting in more plotlines than you can end up using. But I would say there are things we hinted at way back in Issue #13, potential story ideas we had that we didn't know if we'd be able to get to them or how we'd fit them into the series. There are a couple of things we wanted to do we never got around to doing.

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I don't know if I should say them, in case they may still end up happening in some capacity. But yeah, that's just the nature of serialized comics. As you're writing, circumstances may change or you may have other ideas you want to do differently or what have you. It's better to be a speedboat than a battleship -- a speedboat can adjust to things quickly, and that's what we've had to do as well.

Finally, what will you remember most from your time on the Green Lantern franchise?

[Sighs] Gosh, I think it will be writing the four of them together (Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner). You know, I started out with the Green Lantern back in the New 52, which was the Hal Jordan driven book, where it wasn't really until Rebirth where I was able to have all four characters all in one book and have them play off each other and show the respect and admiration they have for each other as characters, despite the vast differences they have between them and how they use their powers, where they get their willpower from. It was really enjoyable to put them all in the same room, have them go on the same adventures and show how the four of them together are stronger than one of them individually.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #50 goes on sale Wednesday, August 8 from DC Comics.