Artist Liam Sharp has spent the majority of his DC tenure illustrating the adventures of Diana Prince in Wonder Woman and The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman. However, his next challenge takes him to the stars with Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern.

Teaming with writer Grant Morrison, The Green Lantern brings the focus from the larger Green Lantern Corps to Hal Jordan in what's been described as a police procedural set in space. The Green Lantern also gives Sharp an opportunity to work on a collaborative project once again, after pulling double duty with the writing and art on Brave and the Bold.

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CBR had the opportunity to talk with Sharp about finally working with Morrison, stylistic differences between Brave and the Bold and The Green Lantern, similarities and differences he shares with Hal Jordan and the opportunity to world build in the cosmic side of the DC Universe.

CBR: You're coming into The Green Lantern after handling the writing and art duties on Brave and the Bold. Can you talk about what it’s like to flip the switch in your brain from having the majority of the load on your shoulders to now collaborating with Grant Morrison?

Liam Sharp: Yes, there’s pros and cons to both. I think the big advantage to working with other people is being part of a team and the collaborative aspect is fun. You’ve got extra brains and the enthusiasm that comes along with that as well. And it’s Grant [Morrison], of course. We’ve been talking about doing something together for a long time, so when this came out of the blue it was definitely something I was going to jump at.

I love working on the stuff I write as well. I have a couple of prose books out so I’ve always written. Writing is a big part of my life but it’s not what I’m known for. I really enjoyed the chance to write, especially about stuff I’m passionate about, like Celtic and Irish mythology. It’s something I’ve had an interest in since I was a teenager. So that was a dream project and in that sense it was amazing.

They’re both different but they’re both amazing in different ways.

Of course, there are some stylistic differences between The Green Lantern and Wonder Woman and Brave and the Bold. The latter two dealt with fantasy elements, while Green Lantern is cosmic. Was that difference something you looked for when choosing your next project?

Well, I definitely didn’t want to become a fantasy guy at DC. I wanted to be able to spread my wings a bit and try different things. I did one issue of Justice League that was a more traditional superhero classic story, and that was a lot of fun. I think those big tropes – science-fiction, fantasy and horror – are the things that appealed to me when I was young and pulled me to art and pursuing it as a career.

Grant and I were thinking we’d do some type of one-shot project together and squeeze it in our schedules. When Dan DiDio offered this up as a possibility it was like, "Okay this is even better." It’s ongoing and can be a substantial run and that was really exciting because, of course, Grant is one of the finest writers in the business.

Are there any specific things about the science-fiction side of the DCU that appeals to you?

Well, I think it’s world-building. I had the pleasure to do it in Brave and the Bold, and there’s even more of it in The Green Lantern and I feel like I’m doing it issue-to-issue at the moment. It takes me someplace new every time, and that’s extremely exciting. As an artist it keeps you motivated, keeps it interesting.

So far each issue has had a different artistic tone as well because of the nature of the surroundings and the nature of the story.

The Green Lantern stars Hal Jordan, but what is your sense of Hal as a character? We know he's essentially the star of the Green Lantern Corps, but are there any qualities you share with him? Or any differences?

Neither Grant or I are very much like Hal [Laughs]. Hal’s the type of person I would have liked to have been as a kid. I was a sensitive, shy kid and characters like him and Conan, and these badass characters could handle anything. They were the people you aspired to be in the ‘70s because it was a different time then. You wanted to be more immune to the harshness of the world. These days it’s more acceptable to wear your heart on your sleeve, which is great.

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In the past Hal was a test pilot, which already elevates him to a different level in terms of reaction times and bravery to the average human. But he’s so much more than that. He’s seen the universe and been on the other side of good and bad. He’s died and come back to life. There is not much left for him to experience. So what does that make of the person? He’s fearless but also a little ungrounded and searching for what his place might be.

He’s had these deep relationships with people on Earth that have mattered, but he’s also changed by circumstances and left wondering does he belong on Earth. Maybe Hal would find a more satisfying existence somewhere else. I know Grant has some ideas about exploring that down the road.

We see in the first two issues there are a couple of new Green Lanterns that pop up, like Maxim Tox and Floozle Flem. How much freedom were you afforded when it came to creating the newer characters? And is that something you look forward to as a creator?

Oh yeah, everybody loves to play with new characters. Grant sometimes has a strong idea for a character and sometimes he doesn’t. In the first issue, Maxim Tox was suggested as a sort of elongated statue of David, very hauty. So I tried to get that across through his mannerisms and expressions.

I know one image that pops up on more than one occasion is the Green Lantern with a volcano for a head, who might be my favorite character so far.

Volk, he’s great. We all really liked him. I know our editor, Jessica Chen, would get gleeful every time he appeared on a page. I first came across Volk in the Kevin O’Neill Green Lantern comics back in the day. It was fun to go back to some of that really weird and alien stuff and play with those characters. Obviously, I haven’t drawn it exactly like Kevin’s stuff but I’ve adapted it into the style of the book that we’re doing.

Also, in the smoke of his head you sometimes see a face with a really wide mouth and tiny little eyes that are far apart, which is a lot of fun. It’s really subtle but it’s there.

Something else I really liked was the amount of detail you put into displaying Planet Oa. Was there anything that turned out to be more challenging than you initially anticipated?

That page I kept going back to. I did an earlier version where I spent a day and a half on it, and it was alright but not epic enough. It was also getting very industrial and I really wanted to make it twinkle because it had to be a working environment but also a magical place as well. I wanted it to feel like a city of a billion lights. I ended up spending about four days on that page and I kept going back and adding more and more details to it.

I believe it was worth it because it gives the page grandeur and scale that you can only get with a serious commitment to the image.

Grant has talked about being ahead in his writing for The Green Lantern, even going so far as to bring up a Season 2. Are you planning on sticking with the series for whatever shape Season 2 takes?

For the moment that’s definitely the case. There may be a small break to allow me to catch my breath and I think if that does happen, there will be a fill-in story. But at the moment we have a story we’re both committed to, and we’ll have a Season 1 and Season 2 with a small break in the middle. But that’s all up in the air because we’re so far ahead and I’m wrapping up Issue #5 currently.

You mentioned earlier that Kevin O’Neill was an artist you looked back on. Were there any stories or other creators you looked to for inspiration?

We’re referencing a lot of early stuff. I’ve got a big hardcover of early Gil Kane stuff that’s amazing with the origin stories, and weird-looking characters from that time. So Gil Kane is in the mix. Dave Gibbons is one of the guys who was drawing Green Lantern when I was in my teens. I really love his Hal Jordan. And, of course, you have Neal Adams.

It’s a tough one because we’ve leaned more into the world-building at this stage. As the series gets more character-driven we pay more attention to the dynamics of the figure and looseness that Neal brought. You can really get caught up in the trap of being intimidated by the extremely talented artists that came before you. Ivan Reis is just bloody amazing.

To finish up, is there anything you can tease fans with for what's to come in The Green Lantern?

Oohhhh that’s tricky. I alluded to it earlier, but I love that each story has a different tone and different setting. Hal is put into some interesting positions, as he always is. He doesn’t always do what we might expect. And Grant has alluded to this, where there is an issue that has a shock ending. We’re fully expecting the screams of, “Hal would never do that!” But there is a reason for it, which is revealed as it goes on.

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Grant has buried lots of hints of characters that are there and not there, and if you’re paying attention you’ll go, “Okay, where did that guy go?” There are nice little revelations all the way along.

The Green Lantern #2, by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp, goes on sale Wednesday, Dec. 5 from DC.