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Where Are the Couples Today?
Of the 3600 space sectors patrolled by the Corps, Earth is in Sector 2814, where it is primarily guarded by Hal Jordan, but also by Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and a whole lot of other humans. The main bad guy looks like the Devil and/or David Niven and is called Sinestro. Other Lanterns include a squirrel, a mathematical equation, and a cannibal. Also, Hal Jordan went crazy one time and committed cosmic genocide, he dated a 13-year-old for a while, and, worst of all, was once played by Ryan Reynolds in a movie.
That’s a lot to swallow, at least for anyone not all the way bought in. But comic book fans are mostly bought in (Garth Ennis, who came up with the character “Dogwelder” as a bet to make a name dumber than Green Lantern, doesn’t count because he hates all superheroes who aren’t Superman). While the Green Lantern series struggled in sales from the 60s through the 80s, becoming a backup in The Flash for a while and later becoming a book co-led by Green Arrow, it has been a consistent favorite with multiple spin-offs since 1990. Green Lantern is a foundational concept in the DC Universe, something no respectable adaptation of the universe can go without.
In Mainstream Light…
But for everyone else, Green Lantern is a bit of a tough sell. Sure, mass audiences can accept that getting exposed to radiation gives you spider-powers or the ability to turn into a green monster instead of cancer, and sure, we can accept that an alien with nearly unlimited power would care for other people because he was raised in Kansas, but all of those properties have long existed in the wider imagination. They’re baked into our pop culture. Outside of the hippy song “Sunshine Superman” and Justice League cartoons, Green Lantern can’t say the same.
Thus, the team behind Lanterns is faced with an unenviable dilemma. How can they take a concept that has resonated with so many comic book fans for so long and make it appeal to mass audiences, audiences who don’t want to pour through dense lore in order to understand the main story?
Lanterns appears to be borrowing a page from other adaptations, hiring good-looking and well-known stars to play the part, and—as the MCU taught us—keeping those handsome mugs as unobscured as possible. But it also appears to be going even further, stripping all things green from the costumes, settings, and even the title.
No Weirdness Will Be in Sight
Whether or not it will work remains to be seen, but the whole Lanterns debacle underscores a truth that comic book fans must face. Our favorite hobby is weird. Our favorite characters are weird. And in many cases, that weirdness is exactly what we love about them.
