At NYCC today it was announced that Larfleeze, the twisted orange Lantern would be part of a new ongoing series written by Keith Giffen entitled “Threshold.” Starring a plethora of sci-fi DCU heroes and and villains including Blue Beetle, Omega Man, Star Hawkins and a new Green Lantern named Jediah Caul, “Threshold” aims to bring together all of the sci-fi community into one big book. In an interview, Keith had this to say about his approach to “Threshold.”
“I’m approaching it with the same mindset that I approached Annihilation, in that I’m saying, “Look at the all these great characters out there, and nobody’s doing anything interesting with them. Let’s see how much we can shake things up and have fun with this. Of course, instead of doing it with Marvel’s space characters, now I’ve got the fantastic DC characters to work with, like the Omega Men, Star Hawkins, Blue Beetle, Space Ranger, the original Starfire and a whole lot more great characters to mess around with. And people can look for appearances by almost any DC science fiction character.”
A big focus of the story will be on the new Green Lantern. “Our main character is a Green Lantern. Jediah Caul was a deep undercover Green Lantern operating out of the Tenedrian Dominion, until he got exposed. His back-story is told in the New Guardians Annual. And I’ll tell you right now, as Green Lanterns go, Jediah Caul makes Guy Gardner look like a really nice guy, an upstanding citizen. So yeah, these characters and concepts will bump up against the New Guardians characters in the Annual. So it’s a New Guardians story, but it will introduce readers to this concept. And then it spins out of the Annual and the last issue of Blue Beetle. We’re trying to make Threshold a success and get as many eyes on this new ongoing series as possible.”
The book will feature two stories: The Hunted and Larfleeze. “The book’s 30 pages long. The lead feature will be called “The Hunted” and is 20 pages. But the other 10 pages are going to focus on Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern. Geoff Johns was more than happy to see Larfleeze get some solo adventures. And we’ve got Scott Kolins on the art, which has been terrific. We’re setting it (The Hunted) in a brand new section of the cosmos called the Tenedrian Dominion, an area ruled by Lady Styx. And Lady Styx is not that insect thing from 52. We’re completely rethinking her. Lady Styx has been involved in wars and conquests, and the two wars we know of are both stalled. Way back in the days when the Guardians had the Manhunters, the Guardians and Lady Styx signed a mutual non-aggression pact because they realized, if we go to war, we’ll destroy one another. So they’ve just been snarling at one another. The other front is a stalled front with The Reach, from Blue Beetle. Lady Styx’s space bumps right up against The Reach’s space, which means a lot of the Blue Beetle’s mythos will be coming into Threshold as well.
But most of the story will surround the No. 1 form of entertainment in the Tenedrian Cosmos. In “The Hunted,” our main Green Lantern character is dropped into a game that is NFL popular throughout this entire star system. Basically, you are released and given a grace period to do what you can. And then anyone that wants to hunt you by any means possible can. It’s like being dropped into the middle of Central Park and being told, in 24 hours, anybody in New York that wants to hunt you can.”
Needless to say, as a huge Guardians of the Galaxy and Larfleeze fan, I am ecstatic for this book to come out. Look for more in 2013!
