The James Gunn-shepherded transmedia shared narrative known as the DC Universe hopes to relaunch DC Comics’ library of characters to the world in a way that is more warmly received than the Zack Snyder-led DC Extended Universe. We’ve already gotten three distinct shows, all on HBO: Dean Lorey’s Creature Commandos, an adult animation series; James Gunn’s Peacemaker, a superhero action-comedy series starring John Cena; and now, Lanterns, a superhero show about the Green Lanterns presented as a grounded buddy-cop neo-Western detective drama. To make a super-grounded, HBO prestige television version of the brightly colored space crime-fighters, the network and DC Studios turned to a fascinating trio, or corps, of writers in the hope that somehow something could be made that could satiate DC die-hards and the non-comic book savvy, HBO faithful alike. They enlisted renowned comic book writer Tom King, Ozark‘s Chris Mundy, and, finally, Damon Lindelof, one of television writing’s biggest names given his work on Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen. The first season of the show, which just ended last weekend, was in many respects a success, but there were a couple of hiccups related to structure, consequences, and groundedness. Those hiccups did not ruin its chances of being a contender for a place in the pantheon of great superhero storytelling on television, even if this is not quite as well-written as Watchmen (as a sidenote, I’ll add that I also hold The Penguin in high regard). But the hiccups, as I put it, in the second half of the season are frustrating, and they keep this series from immediately securing a place in the aforementioned pantheon.
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