UPDATE: Grant Morrison has also reviewed the show, and he’s far less sold. His take: Kyle Chandler is playing Doctor McCoy, not Hal Jordan.
Geoff Johns has weighed in on Lanterns, and the writer who built the modern Green Lantern mythology likes what he’s seen so far.
Johns sat down with Rob Liefeld for a two-hour-plus interview on Robservations with Rob Liefeld, posted Monday, and was recorded when only the series premiere had aired.
Johns isn’t involved with the HBO Max show, but when Liefeld asked whether he’d seen it, Johns didn’t hesitate.
“This is a moment you made”
“Yeah, of course I’ll watch it,” Johns said. “I love Damon [Lindelof]. I think Damon’s awesome… I think Damon’s just such a talented writer.”
“I love Lanterns. So I’m excited,” he continued. “I’ve only seen the first episode, obviously, ’cause that’s all that’s out. So that’s all I can kind of go off of, but I’m excited to see it.”
When Liefeld pressed him on what Damon Lindelof is doing with the material, Johns kept it simple: “He’s fantastic.”
Liefeld, though, went further, arguing the series should be acknowledging the man whose run it’s drawing from.
Johns’ 2004 Green Lantern: Rebirth brought back Hal Jordan and the Corps and kicked off a near-decade run that introduced the emotional spectrum, the Sinestro Corps War, and Blackest Night.
“I will, as a fan — I want them to talk about you more, especially in the after[show],” Liefeld said. “I was there, Green Lantern, in the ’90s with the Kyle stuff, with the Ron Marz stuff — it had a moment. But when you came on, this wasn’t having a moment. This was a moment you made.”
Liefeld: Johns made lightning in a bottle
Liefeld pointed to the Lanterns after-show, where the creative team discussed how important it was to get the Green Lantern oath into the pilot.
“They talked about how important it was to get the oath in the pilot, that someone says it, and I was thinking — mofo took the oath, chopped it up, and made it event level. Blackest Night, BAM, biggest event of the year. Oh, and after that? I got Brightest Day for you,” Liefeld said. “Geoff, you took that oath and made each sentence its own spectacular blockbuster event.”
“All due respect to whoever’s doing Green Lantern — and I think everybody out there is trying their best — you didn’t catch lightning in a bottle. You made lightning in a bottle,” he added, noting Johns “made DC a ton of money” by pouring everything he had into building the franchise back up.
“You took a character that was a favorite, re-imagined the character, and made him DC’s biggest character for a decade,” said Liefeld.
Johns, for his part, made clear the franchise still means something to him, and gave his blessing to the writers carrying it now.
“There’s something special about Green Lantern to me still,” Johns said, praising Jeremy Adams’ current run and Morgan Hampton’s work on Green Lantern Corps. “I actually enjoy seeing when people write Saint Walker or Atrocitus… I like seeing what people are gonna do with them. I like that the characters are around.”
“If I have anything that lasts in the legacy of Green Lantern, I hope it’s those characters, ’cause I think they’re really important characters,” he added.
Lanterns airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max, with the eight-episode season running through October 4.
Johns and Liefeld also announced they are teaming for a new Chapel comic book. Johns also discussed how his time at DC and WB led to his new Red Coat movie.
