The first trailer for DC’s Lanterns has generated mixed reactions from fans of the venerable Green Lantern franchise, and one of the character’s biggest name comic writers is joining the chorus of those left unimpressed, as legendary scribe Grant Morrison has weighed in on the side of those who want something less grounded.
Judging by the trailer, Lanterns seemingly eschews much of the Green Lantern’s larger-than-life spacefaring elements for a rural murder mystery. Given that Morrison wrote one of the most psychedelic, star-spanning Green Lantern runs, it’s not so surprising that they’re underwhelmed by the trailer.
“‘Green Lanterns’ is a much more evocative and dramatic title than ‘Lanterns’, (just as ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ is a better movie title than ‘Raise the Lantern’), and anyone who can’t grasp why that is shouldn’t be anywhere near superhero stories,” Morrison writes in their newsletter. “The show might even be good, but how much better could this stuff be if studios were willing to hire the right people for the job instead of phoning their embarrassed friends to water the source material down? Hollywood will die of insularity and inbreeding.”
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Lanterns showrunner Damon Lindelof has offered a bit of tongue-in-cheek explanation for why the name of the show drops the ‘Green’ from the comic, calling the original name “stupid” on the Lovett or Leave It podcast. “It’s called Lanterns, cause we all agreed the ‘Green’ is stupid,” Lindelof quips. “So now it’s just Lanterns.”
The comment has generated quite a bit of controversy among fans left cold by the trailer’s lack of cosmic action. However, it is worth noting that Lindelof seems to be saying this in jest, especially considering he’s wearing a green shirt in the clip.
Nonetheless, Morrison gives a voice to many fans’ frustrations with the bits of Lanterns we’ve seen so far, which have framed the story as a far more down-to-earth, buddy cop style narrative.
“TV writer/producer Damon Lindelof’s comments notwithstanding, the ‘Green’ in ‘Green Lantern(s)’ green is not ‘stupid’. Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’? You don’t hand CSI scripts to patronising writers who condemn forensics experts and their haircuts as ‘stupid’, so why hire people who are ashamed and in denial about the comic book material they’ve been assigned to develop?” Morrison says.
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“Why don’t they turn down jobs they’re not suited for? It’s not like he needs the money, and Lindelof has proven that he can come up with his own ideas. What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway?” they continue. “Does Lindelof imagine it makes him seem less nerdy? It’s a bit too late for that, so what’s it all about? The only people who give a fuck about the Lanterns TV series are Green Lantern fans. Why alienate them at the start? That feels more like ‘stupid’.”
We’ll have to wait and see just how deep Lanterns dives into the larger Green Lantern mythos. While the trailer has very little in the way of what most fans would expect of a Green Lantern adaptation, James Gunn has proved to be unshy about leaning into the concept of the Green Lantern in the larger DCU through Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, who had a key supporting role in Superman.
Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart is now expected to appear in Gunn’s Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, so I’ve got a little faith that Lanterns will ramp up to its more usual style across its episodes. That said, I agree with Morrison that it feels like DC in particular should be well past the idea of distancing its in-universe properties from outright superhero elements.
Shows like Marvel’s Wonder Man and DC’s alt-continuity series Penguin prove that the idea of stripping back the superhero elements on a conceptual level still has legs, but it’s a bit different when it’s a character like Green Lantern who has a well-established setting in space.
Lanterns premieres in August on HBO Max. While we wait, stay up to date on all the upcoming DC movies and shows that are currently in the works.