Lanterns' drunk Hal Jordan is straight out of the comic fans buried in 1989

Let’s talk about Lanterns and the absolutely infamous version of Hal Jordan it’s chosen to run with. Fans have been a bit vocal (understatement of the year) about the show’s take on the first human Green Lantern, played by Kyle Chandler. DC die-hards will clock it straight away—this isn’t the test pilot poster-boy Hal from Saturday morning telly. No, this one’s a proper mess, and as it turns out, that’s actually pretty close to how he turned up in the comics…at least, in one era everyone would rather forget.

Lanterns introduced Hal Jordan as a jaded veteran Green Lantern, ordered into retirement in the very first episode and made to mentor his replacement, John Stewart.

Grumpy mentor syndrome

The setup for the series is clear enough: Chandler’s Hal is an old hand with the Green Lantern Corps, patrolling Earth’s corners since 1986. Suddenly, the big bosses (the Guardians, if you’re counting) put him on forced retirement watch and saddle him with training up John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), a US Marine sniper who's all regulation, no nonsense. Hal? Not pleased—not about being replaced, not about Stewart, not about anything, really. The classic 'cop about to lose his badge’ routine, with more space rings and less donuts.

By episode two—‘Trust Fall’, for the scoreboard—Hal’s even more fed up. He takes petty swipes at the authorities, pulls some truly daft moves like nicking alien corpses from a morgue, and the show hints strongly at a drinking habit spiralling out of control.

Not everyone’s thrilled by this angle. Former Green Lantern writer Grant Morrison even piped up with a mixed bag of praise and eye-rolling, saying they thought Chandler turned in a strong performance, but:

‘[he] wasn’t any Hal Jordan I recognized. Willpower and booze don’t mix for a start.’

Which is rather ironic, honestly—considering Morrison's famous for digging deep into DC arcana. Because there was a time Hal looked exactly like the bloke on screen…much to everyone’s disgust.

The comic book car crash

Quick trip back through Comic Book History 101. After Crisis on Infinite Earths wrapped in 1986, DC mashed all its multiverses into one tidy timeline. But Green Lantern’s lore sat in flux another few years, until 1989’s Emerald Dawn and its 1991 follow-up, Emerald Dawn II. This is where Hal Jordan’s rep takes a nosedive. No longer the confident, unflappable hero—he’s now jobless, freshly dumped by Carol Ferris, and basically a walking disaster.

• Emerald Dawn kicks off with Hal getting the sack from his test pilot gig and drowning his sorrows so impressively he crashes his car driving under the influence.
• Once he nabs the power ring, his first response is not saving the world, but bottling it and trying to dodge the responsibility completely.
• By Emerald Dawn II, Hal’s actually serving prison time for the drink-driving fiasco while the Guardians still expect regular Green Lantern training sessions for him.

Most Lantern fans saw this take as a serious wrong turn. Before this, writers had broken Hal out of the old, goody-two-shoes routine, sure. But even then, he was clumsy, bad with appointments and cash—never just a self-pitying shambles.

The Hal of Emerald Dawn and its sequel is, frankly, an unsympathetic brat, half the time moaning about how rough he’s got it. Strikes a familiar note if you’ve watched Chandler swanning around in Lanterns—whether it’s a knowing homage or just very unlucky.

Hal Jordan’s least popular comic book incarnation was locked up for drink driving, lost his job, and spent most of his early days as Green Lantern trying to squirm out of responsibility.