After Damon Lindelof (the show’s co-creator and executive producer) jokingly explained to the comedy podcast “Lovett or Leave It” (a live iteration of the podcast) in 2024 why the Green Lantern show at HBO Max was called “Lanterns,” stripping away the “Green” from the title, calling the Green element “stupid.” Veteran comic book writer Grant Morrison, who has tackled the character after a longstanding career within the comics community, shared a biting response to the older comments made by Lindelof on his 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’? You don’t hand ‘CSI‘ scripts to patronising writers who condemn forensics experts and their haircuts as ‘stupid,’ so why hire people who are ashamed and in denial about the comic book material they’ve been assigned to develop? Why don’t they turn down jobs they’re not suited for? It’s not like he needs the money, and Lindelof has proven that he can come up with his own ideas. What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway? Does Lindelof imagine it makes him seem less nerdy? It’s a bit too late for that, so what’s it all about? The only people who give a f*** about the ‘Lanterns’ TV series are Green Lantern fans. Why alienate them at the start? That feels more like ‘stupid,'” Morrison posted.
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Lindelof, who has previously waded in the waters of the world of Alan Moore with his acclaimed “Watchmen” sequel series, has responded to Morrison’s criticisms of his ribbing podcast appearance above with his own social media post on Instagram.
“I have upset Grant Morrison, which means I have now pissed off MOST of the brilliant British/Scottish comics writers that I grew up idolizing. To quote the bard (Otis Redding), this is nobody’s fault but mine. I made a dumb joke on a comedy podcast. I’m not going to bob and weave about context. The joke was dumb, the fandom is not. I owe them an explanation and a genuine reflection of my actual feelings. The very first time I appeared on a Comic-Con panel was for the ‘Lost’ pilot, back in the summer of 2004. I wore my favorite T-shirt as I had long grown out of my favorite underoos, those being the uniform of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814. For a quiet, uncoordinated kid, there was nothing cooler than a hero whose superpower was his imagination. And green is not stupid, it is my lifelong favorite color, and I have a questionnaire that I filled out in third grade to prove it. Green is f***ing awesome. More importantly, it would be a betrayal to everyone I worked for and alongside to say anything other than I was absolutely honored to be a part of the team that manifested the incredible construct that is Lanterns… because it was. I was sloppy and careless with my words, ironic considering I care so much about Hal, John, and the entire Corps. I can and will do better to be worthy of the oath…until then, I’ll let the show speak for itself, and I can’t wait for you all to hear what it has to say.”
It certainly sounds like a sequence of errors here, Lindelof making a joke that some, like Morrison, took a little too personally or didn’t find funny, and ultimately, there wasn’t any malice intended.
With all that said, “Lanterns” is set to arrive this August, and we already have learned that HBO Max series star Aaron Pierre (who plays John Stewart) will be reprising his DCU role in James Gunn‘s “Man of Tomorrow” (a superhero team-up sequel to “Superman“). We’ll see if the show and next DCU event movie help to rebrand the Green Lantern IP with a modern audience after the Martin Campbell-directed feature film starring Ryan Reynolds ended up a bit of a messy superhero romp.
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