‘Lanterns’: The Live Action Redemption for Green Lantern

Before we get into HBO’s Lanterns series, let’s address the (construct) elephant in the room. In 2011, We were introduced to Hal Jordan via Ryan Reynolds in the live action Green Lantern movie and I was seated. My very first tattoo was the Green Lantern insignia (this shit meant something to me, baby). We were all seated, we just didn’t know it was a front row seat to a box office bomb that turned the Green Lantern superhero into a punchline. The movie was supposed to put respect on the Green Lantern’s name, not destroy it. Bring light to the DC Universe, not leave it in darkness. It’s been 15 years of jokes, 15 years of ridicule, 15 years of disrespect on the Green Lantern fans have had to suffer. Never mind a groundbreaking comic book run in 2005. The stigma of the Green Lantern movie was a spot that couldn’t be removed, until now. HBO green lit the Lanterns live action tv adaptation of the Green Lantern franchise. The show debuted on August 16th, after it aired, everyone that ever joked on the Green Lanterns was realizing ain’t shit funny now. The series starts off with with Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) in 1996 giving a first time ever heart felt superhero television interview, where we see an unmasked Hal Jordan stating his name for the world to know as a young John Stewart (Cairo Cash Lee) watches the tv along with his brothers, nervously anticipating the return of their marine father, the senior John Stewart (J. Alphonse Nicholson). Hal Jordan speaks of what being a Green…