If you happen to be one of the obsessives who declare themselves fans of a “CU”, of late those letters have had the word “latah” follow them. We already mused yesterday about how modest Disney’s ROI on its MCU has been this year (bearing in mind Sony reaps the majority of the immediate benefits on Spider-Man)–hence why so much cheerleading was deemed necessary for the projects that are as much a year or two out from actually being able to have a material impact on reversing their fortunes. For the DCU that at least for now dominates the hopes of what will still for the time being remain being called Warner Brothers Discovery, their moment of truth is all the more nigh, and all the more necessary given how they has fared so far.
The timeline for what James Gunn and Peter Safran dramatically reimagined two years ago as a seven-pronged “Gods and Monsters” kickoff chapter has been frought with disappointments, beginning with the modestly impactful animated afterthought CREATURE COMMANDOS and then following it up with the tepid HBO MAX series PEACEMAKER last year and the downright theatrical bomb SUPERGIRL that undid much of the favorable vibes and big bucks that her more established and less conflicted cousin achieved last summer. We mused extensively about that as well.
Hence the pressure has been kicked up a few notches on tonight’s HBO launch of LANTERNS, which inherits the platform/network’s most coveted time slot from the latest installment of the GOTU, HOUSE OF THE DRAGONS, which injected a bit more necessary life and audience into that WBD stancheon with last week’s well-received S3 finale. Fortunately, at least the early returns from the tastemakers that would typically yawn at comic book IP have been strong, and the buzz going into tonight for a change getting, if you will, a warm glow from a wider variety of parties than might have been anticipated.
It’s one thing for the likes of NERDIST’s Eric Diaz to rain plaudits as he unsurpisingly did on Friday:
(I)t‘s some pretty great television, anchored by two absolutely stellar performances from actors Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler, as Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan, respectively. While it’s not always perfect as a comic book show, it’s pretty close to perfect as a compelling character drama. And usually, that’s enough.
The early descriptions for Lanterns described it as “True Detective with superheroes,” and it turns out, the description was 100% accurate. Actually, “True Detective with aliens” is a more apt description, as there’s not a ton of actually superheroing in this show, although the characters talk about being heroes a whole lot. The basic plot for Lanterns has veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who has been Earth’s resident Lantern since at least the ’90s, training his backup Lantern, ex-Marine John Stewart. As Jordan trains the much younger Stewart, the two investigate a mystery in the small town of Rushville, Nebraska.
But it’s entirely something else when the ROTTEN TOMATOES Tomatometer registers at an extremely solid 90 per cent and the more discerning Metacritic compliation provides an array of quotables from populist reviewers that include some of these zeitgeisty sites:
SCREEN RANT: All in all, Lanterns is the solo Green Lantern project that DC fans deserve, with exciting action, complex characters, and a gritty, magnetic story.
DECIDER: While Lanterns comes with plenty of nods to the comics, you don’t need to do homework to keep up with what’s going on. It’s a beautifully crafted drama for adults. The performances are gloriously mature and the characters’ relationships are realistically complex.
TV GUIDE: Lanterns is a tough show to fit into any genre. It’s also a deeply compelling, unpredictable series regardless of what you want to call it.
INDIE WIRE: While not as bursting with ideas as Lindelof’s best work or as visually stunning as “True Detective’s” most memorable scenes, “Lanterns” is an exciting synthesis of its creators’ strengths.
And it appears that indeed the involvement of Damon Lindelof, he of such beloved non-comic book prestige shows such as LOST and THE LEFTOVERS, that elevates this above the Mendoza line for both gourmets and gourmands. Even I know enough about the Hal Jordan storylines that date back to the classic 12 cent comic book days, and having someone like Chandler interpret that role as a lion in winter is intruging. 
The Stewart storyline resonates with younger genre afficiandos and is drawing favorable comparisons to how the cooler, hipper Clark Kent was portrayed in SUPERMAN. And Lindelof wisely threw himself on the mercy of the world he is merely visiting with a PR move that was appropriately timed to St. Patrick’s Day, as THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s James Hibberd shared at that time:
Lindelof wrote a heartfelt open letter on Instagram to the Green Lantern fandom community in the wake of a comment he made on a podcast getting some backlash. Our story yesterday gave the detailed version of the (kind of silly) controversy surrounding the Emmy winner’s upcoming HBO series Lanterns, which takes a grounded approach to adapting the Green Lantern Corps comics into a prestige TV show.
But basically: Lindelof was on a podcast a year ago where he explained why the show wasn’t called Green Lantern, and joked, “It’s called Lanterns, because we all agreed that the ‘Green’ was stupid, so now it’s just Lanterns.” Then the show’s teaser trailer was released, which contained a downright scandalous lack of green in its color palette. In fact, it’s rather sordidly beige. Lindelof’s comment was recirculated with some fans growing suspicious that the show wouldn’t be faithful to its source material.
Then, on Sunday, acclaimed Green Lantern comic book writer Grant Morrison weighed in, writing on Substack: “TV writer/producer Damon Lindelof’s comments notwithstanding, the ‘Green’ in ‘Green Lantern(s)’ is not ‘stupid.’ Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’? … What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway? … 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.’” At this point, Lindelof… decided it was best to say something.
What he said –topped off with the cherry of him sporting an old-school Green Lantern cosplay outfit at a 2004 Comic-Con–mattered enough for the core to be forgiving, which gives HBO reason to anticipate that their sorely needed ratings momentum might actually continue even when the NFL season starts.
These days, that arguably matters way more to the HBO brass than yet another show capable of gathering hardware. And bringing a few of those still reeling from the stench that SUPERGIRL left with them back into the DCU may just give those that could eventually inherit it enough reason to continue to consider it a viable and necessary strategy in delivering the volume and quality that David Ellison seems to be mission-statementing his way toward overpromising any New York Times reader or saber-rattling Attorney General he’s flagrantly and flailingly seeking out.
So I’ll be giving Jordan and Stewart a chance I otherwise might not have been inclined to allow in the first place. Maybe you should as well. We all know it’s not easy being green.
Until next time…