Lanterns Proves the DCU Has Finally Figured Out What “Comic Accurate” Really Means

Lanterns is the latest entry in the DCU. It’s especially important for it to be great after the failure of Supergirl at the box office (although I think it was a pretty great movie) and so far, the consensus has been that fans and critics alike are enjoying the show. It stars Hal Jordan and trainee Green Lantern John Stewart as they investigate a possible alien-involved murder in the heartland of America. At first glance, the show doesn’t at all feel like what a Green Lantern adaptation should be; it feels like a prestige detective drama with a cynical older detective and an eager, skilled young rookie. Plenty of people were decrying the series before it started, but speaking as someone who has loved Hal Jordan since I was playing with Kenner Super Powers figures in the early ’80s, I’m happy to say that all the naysayers are wrong. Lanterns is fantastic and a big reason for that is the way it approaches comic accuracy.

Comic accuracy has been something that we’ve talked about for years, but especially since the rise of the MCU. Once upon a time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was praised for its comic accuracy, leading to the deaths of the Fox X-Men and Fantastic Four movies and Sony partially handing the Spider-Man back to Marvel Studios in the mid ’10s. It became the cudgel by which we destroyed the Zack Snyder’s DCEU – although his fans always claimed comic accuracy because of certain scenes adapted directly from the course material. Honestly, it’s mostly come to mean something that looks like a comic or uses an idea in a similar way, but it’s more than that. Lanterns was said to be comic inaccurate after its trailers, but the first episode reveals that not only is that not true but the DCU has finally cracked the code of successfully bringing heroes out of the comics.

The Hal Jordan of Lanterns Captured the Comic Version Beautifully

There have been some fantastic Green Lantern stories and Hal Jordan has been the key to many of them. The character was introduced in 1959’s Showcase #22, three years after the debut of Barry Allen brought the Flash back to readers, bringing Green Lantern back to four-color adventures. Jordan was a very different character from original Lantern Alan Scott, re-molding the Green Lantern legacy in his image. Hal was a test pilot, arrogant and fearless, always ready with a witty remark and a cocksure smile. He was the hot shot and it made him perfect as an intergalactic police man.

Hal, as a character, is the epitome of someone who knows they’re going to win. He’s a likable enough person once you get to know him, but from the outside, before he lets you in, he’s the most infuriating person you can imagine. We don’t get to see that side of Hal very much anymore, because most of the characters we see him around have been in his orbit for a while, but if you go back to stories like “Secret Origin” or “Emerald Dawn”, you’ll get that arrogant, somewhat insufferable Hal Jordan. This is the version of the character that Lanterns brings to the screen and it works perfectly.

The Hal Jordan of Lanterns has been doing this for decades and has gotten tired of the whole rigmarole. He doesn’t have to prove himself anymore – he’s followed his gut to saving the universe many times over the years. He can seem gruff and arrogant from the outside, but that’s mostly because he already has figured everything out and is waiting for everyone else to catch up. He’s a fighter pilot; he has to be able to figure out what an enemy is going to do next to make the right maneuvers. This is exactly who Hal Jordan in the comics is as well, we just usually get to see him in a world where everyone already knows to shut up and trust his gut. We get to see moments of the Hal we know from the comics shine through in the show at times, a smile here or a look there, and it helps cement how comic accurate this show is.

Comic accuracy is more than whining about not wearing the costume or that there’s not enough green, it’s about capturing the characters from the page and putting them on the screen in a way that makes sense. Lanterns doesn’t look like something from the legendary Geoff Johns run or any of those Silver Age sci-fi classics that forged the character’s legend. However, more importantly, it feels like those books. One of the things that I love the most about comics is that they are often an exercise in repackaging old stories in new ways. It’s all about balancing the old with the new. Oftentimes, a creative team will come on a book with a new vision for the character, but that vision is based around who and what the character and their world are. Lanterns does that; it’s a new vision of what a Green Lantern story can be and the reason it works so well is because it understands the characters and their world and putting them into this new story, instead of changing them to fit the story.

The DCU Has Learned a Lesson the MCU Never Has

The MCU got a lot of praise for being comic accurate, but speaking as some who has read Marvel Comics since 1991, I want to say something that might shock you – it was never all that comic accurate, other than the costumes. The problem was you could feel the disrespect for the source material if you read comics. The MCU would adapt stories, but they never felt like the comics, leaving out the parts that made them special. It was a problem that basically drove me away from their movies and it’s one of the reasons I love Lanterns so much. This is what comic accurate really looks like – a story that knows who the characters are and puts them into its world. This feels like a comic I would read in a way no MCU production ever has.

Green Lantern has changed comic history numerous times and it looks like Lanterns is following in those footsteps by taking comic accuracy to new places. The best comics are able to take these characters and place them in all-new situations that are made more interesting by who they are as characters. That’s the joy of superhero books; seeing these icons through different lens, in new situations. Lanterns is delivering that brilliantly, a live-action Green Lantern comic that already has many fans hooked.

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