“In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power...
Green Lantern’s light!”
They’ve done it again. Well, there’s no Ryan Reynolds but this will do. The DCU introduced us to Guy Gardner Green Lantern in 2025’s Superman with Nathan Fillion taking on the bowl cut.
Guy is sort of my Green Lantern, after being curious about crossing the street in my early comic days jumping from spinner rack slots of Captain America and G.I. Joe over to the less familiar world of DC. Of course I loved Batman! And Superman too, but the rest of that world? I had not one clue.
On a flier, I picked up Emerald Dawn II drawn by one of my favorite Joe artists, M.D. “Doc” Bright. Rest in peace, Doc! I didn’t even know what Emerald Dawn was all about! I learned of Oa and the test pilot Hal Jordan and his cool ringy-dingy then.
Skipping an entire mini-series, jumping into a new universe (no, not that one) just to learn about DC Comics? Yes. I did that. No regrets, either. Blackest Night hit right around when we started podcasting and I started getting back into comics again. That was one of the best-executed crossover events I’ve ever read to this day.
Like all good dealers or maybe like a man in a trench coat with watches hanging down from the inside pockets, the spinner rack that the podcast gents and I shared offered more DC after my third-eye charging lantern was opened. I followed M.D. enough to score a Deadman page of his when I finally found one (the Joe pages remain out of my price range), but I also started small with a little Detective Comics, a Justice League International issue that had the infamous Batman v. Gardner “One Punch!” panel. I learned what separated the Avengers from the Justice League. Avengers West Coast? Justice League International? I had no idea what I was literally even doing.
And I think that’s kinda the point. I mean, look at me, I’m hooked now, using my no-Wi-Fi-laundromat time to catch up with downloaded comics in my apps from both companies. And, actually no, it hasn’t even occurred to me to bring an actual book there. Interesting. Maybe I’ll look into that.
DCU record since Gunn:
Superman - wonderful.
The Penguin - Sopranos-level crime drama.
Peacemaker - fun and Cena is amazing.
Creature Commandos (and Harley, Kite Man etc. even if not in the Gunn-verse are really great) - very entertaining.
Supergirl - had some problems let’s say. Not bad, not great. Fairly high bar even adjusting for Lobo-flation.
Future of James Gunn and Peter Safran heading DC Studios? Look, Up In The Sky! Megacorporation takeover could put an end to it all very quickly, either by fickle financial decisions or they tear down the structure like oh-so-much the West Wing.
A Green Lantern cop buddy drama on HBO? I’ll take it. And no, I don’t think you need to have seen the 2011 Reynolds movie to watch it. Or anything else for that matter.
Showrunners: Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King
Stars: Kyle Chandler 💍, Aaron Pierre 💍, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Nathan Fillion 💍
As far as opening episodes go, this one hits. We start with a flashback to a young John Stewart sneaking in an interview with a fully suited Hal on TV in 1996. His military Dad comes home, asks about the Lantern, and then takes him out back for a trust exercise. The younger John Stewart puts an apple on his head and Dad shoots it. Pretty intense! I’m too dumb to know why A) he’s not allowed to watch this interview with his brothers B) Why Dad cares about Hal C) what the heck he’s doing shooting an apple off his son’s head. Didn’t they hear what happened on Rust?
Jump to 2016 and Hal, in casual clothes, picks up an older John for training. Hal is the keeper of the ring, and the Oans have picked John as his successor to protect Sector 2814 (Earth’s sector) when Hal is dead!
The back-and-forth between them is older brother but also very Daddy. John, a disciplined son of an army man. He’s disciplined and fearless. I guess the apple thing starts to come clear.
John only reluctantly takes the ring to save himself as Hal pops out to get some tacos and the car jumps off a cliff! The ring protects John (in bubble wrap) as a construct, and he meets up at the taco place.
Hal is well-known to everyone; Green Lantern is famous in this world. He’s begged for selfies and a young girl asks why he doesn’t wear the suit anymore. He says he only wears it on special occasions! In my mind, straight-up hitting on this mom! What constructs can be made in the privacy of the bedroom?
I won’t go through scene-by-scene except for the opening. Let’s get a Ferris Aircraft view from above. Tom King is famous in comics for his twists that give a fresh take on established characters like Rorschach, Mister Miracle, Vision, and so many more. Damon Lindelof has been twisting minds with Lost and his social commentary look at Watchmen for HBO. Chris Mundy is known for Ozark and his True Detective: Night Country. Another great creator to take on Lanterns—these guys are real Old Gods of pop culture who create the exact kind of stories I like to get into. I’ve yet to see Ozark, by the way. I hear good things!
True Detective: Night Country
·
February 2, 2024
A short piece today on culture. Or, more pointedly, ‘Capital C’ culture. And a little bit of Free Speech.
Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald of Boardwalk Empire fame and so much more) runs the law in Sheridan County. Any relation to Batwoman Kate Kane? Probably not, but we can dream. Most of the episode takes place in Nebraska with heavy flavors of Fargo and that Yellowstone spinoff Marshals—I’m basically just waiting for Stacey to look at the screen and ask, “When are they moving the cows around?”
Waylon Sanders (Chris Coy) turns out to be an alien in the interrogation room with Hal after a great comic book scene that I could see on the page. That’s my superhero adaptation litmus test. I’ve mentioned it before. I don’t want to see it in every scene, but the best comic adaptations I can imagine seeing on the page. Great dialogue that can only happen between a Lantern and an alien disguised as a truck driver.
There is one of my favorite guest stars so far, Jason Ritter as Billy Macon, Kerry Kane’s husband. Macon’s dad, Will, is running a militia on a ranch (Yellowstone, anyone?) to protect the town from an alien invasion. When the Lanterns get invited to dinner, that is revealed. John seems skeptical. But also, when Hal was getting into a bar fight, John inadvertently slept with Will’s wife! A one-night stand that will have consequences! Vegetarian consequences! Stewart is a vegetarian who opts for a tofu steak while the ‘men’ (and women! and women!) eat the meat.
Lanterns does introduce something that may or may not be in the comics, and based on the final scenes of the episode, may continue the buddy-cop theme through the series. I’m calling it The Ziggy Ring. Also, no Guy Gardner (yet). I’m sure we’ll get there. Maybe Robert Pattinson can break the timestream and punch Nathan Fillion in the mouth? Just…once?
Because Green Lantern does have a wee bit of convoluted history in the comics (one that I think I would score a B+ in a Final Crisis trivia night), I am going to pair this with the Official Lanterns podcast from DC. The Peacemaker ones were fun, and episode one with the showrunners was entertaining and has a bonus message from James Gunn.
In all, giving this debut a solid A. Interested in seeing it wrap up or twist around like Watchmen for HBO or something like a Tom King Black Label book. Night Country certainly had the mystery and drama of a cop show with supernatural elements. Placing this in the new DCU where secret identities aren’t so much of a thing and heroes are treated as celebrities is a cool idea. Booster Gold movie, anyone?
Definitely sticking with it. And maybe I’ll write more about this show later. Maybe I won’t! Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see it. At least I will wrap up the season if I don’t go episode by episode. I did do you the favor of not spoiling the big thing. But this is the internet. Someone else did it already. What can you do? My hands are clean!
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