Earlier this week I posted a video from mjtanner (The Tanner Twins) on YouTube as J went over the information she had on My Adventures With Green Lantern, a spinoff from My Adventures With Superman featuring Jessica Cruz as the Green Lantern of choice? Why her? I don’t know. There are so many Earth Lanterns at this point I can’t keep track of them all. Why are there so many? It’s not like Earth is lacking in superpowered protectors. Arsenal can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a superhero even without powers. Also, the latest update on Jessica Cruz in the DC Database as of this writing is that she’s a Yellow Lantern. Yeah, we all know why her, but let’s not play that game unless we have to.
Created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, both interestingly on the outs with the mainstream for different reasons, Jessica Cruz started out as the new holder victim of the power ring of Power Ring, the Earth-3 Crime Syndicate villain who died during some event and the ring chose her because of her great fears after seeing her friends killed by mobsters when she was the one to stumbled on them hiding a body. (The mobsters, not her friends.) Long story short, she overcame the ring and her fears, and was rewarded with a Green Lantern ring instead. She’s made a few post comic appearances but this will be her first starring role, though as I’ll get into not her first title role.
I was just going to let J say everything and get on with my life. I have some important things going on. However, I managed to have enough of a lull to run this out after having a discussion on X-Twitter where someone (for lack of a more accurate term) decided to call me out on this. I don’t know if he watched her video but I doubt J or I are the first time he’s come across criticism for My Adventures With Green Lantern or the parent show, which I guess Fandom’s wiki network is calling the Adventureverse. Good enough name as any, I guess. Casting has begun on this show that was announced in February, and I guess Adult Swim will bring this show about, having saved My Adventures With Superman from HBO Max cancellation. I’m going to go over his comments without outing him here, but maybe I can better explain why I’m less interested in this show than I was Superman’s anime-fied take. It would be easier that going by a tweet’s character limit and a back-and-forth that can be hours apart.
His first comment is one that I’ve discussed many of times: that it might be good. Sure it could, but that’s not my point. What little I’ve seen of My Adventures With Superman looks good. They could have made Lois a girlboss who never does anything wrong, but they didn’t. There’s character growth and development (though I still think they rushed too soon into Lois and Clark’s relationship), the humor works, the “Sailor Moon” first outfit change doesn’t bother me because it’s Clark getting a costume from holo-Jor-El for the first time–wait, does that happen any other time Clark switches into Superman? Because then yes, it’s dumb. They all seem like really good character in an “American anime” format.
It also doesn’t feel like Superman.
Yes, there’s the obvious: Lois is a near-tomboy Korean girl, Jimmy is black (again) and so is Perry White (also again), Ron Troupe is a woman now, Steve and Cat…fit for the show’s style, while Clark and his parents are the only ones I can see fits into their multiversal continuity molds, more than what Zack Snyder did with them. You also have angry Supergirl because the New 52 ruined her forever apparently, Steel wearing not so much armor as a mech suit, and WHY THE $#%#%#$ IS DEATHSTROKE THE #$%#$%$ TERMINATOR A PRETTY BOY!!!!! I hear Livewire is a complete makeover as well. Vickie Vale shows up as a TV news reporter and she looks more like Lois Lane than Lois Lane! I could go on (I recently saw Mxyzptlk’s design and persona…which was a choice they made) but I think you get the point. And this is just from the occasional clips showing up in my YouTube feed because Superman, watching only the first episode, and what I’ve heard others say. It looks like a good show…but it doesn’t look like Superman. It looks like the Kents were isekaied into an anime world and I’m just not here for that.
What we know thus far about My Adventures With Green Lantern appears to be more of the same. We don’t have any art yet that I’m aware of, but given what it’s spinning off from, I’m expecting more quasi-anime stylings in both story and art. As for what we know about the characters, Nexus Point News has information on the cast of characters awaiting their voices:
As reported by Knight Edge Media last week, a character description for Jessica states she will be 14-15 in the series who had a normal upbringing playing softball and hanging out with her friends Kyle and Nikki until everyone around her hits puberty and she faces bullying. The series picks up when Jessica begins high school and is described as chronically anxious, a trait that’s core to her comic counterpart.
I don’t expect her to have her full origin, since it involves mobsters, evil rings, and things that would take too long to get into even in a proper adaptation. Different media have different needs. The guy I was talking to on X-Twitter even pointed out this is line with her character, though I guess her condition comes more from the bullies…which admittedly I can relate to. On the other hand, like I just stated, they got Clark right, too. His powers first manifest when he wants to help a woman whose car is about to have a major crash, activated by his desire to help. That is very much Clark, though his awkwardness seems to be less of an act and more just Clark being Clark, unable to control his superstrength, which is kind of off. So is the costume, but the war over the trunks continues. Clark’s changes would be easy to overlook if not for the rest of his world also undergoing changes. And here we go again with de-aging (or in Jimmy’s case, aging up since he’s supposed to be younger than Clark and a seasoned Lois). I have my issues with the show, as I’ve gone over before, but this is about Jessica, not Clark.
I’ll have to see her in action, but there comes the fact that I’m not as familiar with Jessica as I am other members of the Corp or extended cast. I’m more judgemental of Superman because I know that character. I grew up with him and his world. He’s my favorite superhero. I will be harsher to My Adventures With Superman more than I will My Adventures With Green Lantern, but even I know a bunch of the info we’ve gotten doesn’t sound right. For example:
Sources tell Nexus Point News that Kyle and Nikki are confirmed to be Kyle Rayner and Nikki Jones, respectively. Other characters confirmed to appear are Alex DeWitt and Kilowog. Details and the direction of Kyle’s character are currently under wraps but he will serve as a love interest to Jessica. The series will be set in Coast City and the students will be attending Hal Jordan High School. The status of Hal Jordan in this universe is currently unknown. Similar to My Adventures with Superman’s Sailor Moon-esque transformation, the influence will carry over to this series with Jessica sporting a Sailor Moon inspired costume. The Green Lanterns in this iteration are described as peace-keeping warrior monks rather than cops, similar to the Green Lantern who appeared in My Adventures with Superman.
I don’t know which GL showed up in that version of Metropolis. It’s not one of the clips we’ve gotten. The peace-keeping warrior monks I already know is inaccurate, unless you’re talking about the future Green Lantern of Batman Beyond but he was a monk chosen to be Green Lantern rather than the Lanterns being monks. The present day DCAU stories went the space cop route, with Kyle being the latest recruit. Hal seems to be getting the shaft on TV shows lately. He’s a “blink and you’ll miss it” reference when Kyle smashes into a plane in his Superman: The Animated Series appearance, didn’t show up at all in the rest of the DCAU, and usually gets replaced with John Stewart or Guy Gardner outside of his solo animated and live-action movies. I know he showed up in the first DC Super Hero Girls before Jessica showed up in that show as a background character. Coast City is Hal’s school and Kyle was never Jessica’s love interest.
J also called out the lack of Simon Baz, whose story is tied to Jessica’s since the two teamed up. Just lose the ski mask and light construct gun (way to not avoid racial stereotypes by putting the new black Green Lantern in a ski mask and carrying a gun, DC) and he’s be fine. The DC Database doesn’t mention if they hooked up but their story arc about being forced to work together and becoming teammates would make for a great story. Then you get into the rest of the cast, and…
Nikki is described as an overly confident, goth high schooler who doesn’t care for the approval of others. Nikki is Jessica’s lifelong best friend and protective of her, sometimes overly protective. Nikki is likely an adaptation of Nicki Jones from the comics who becomes the new Jade as part of Lex Luthor’s Infinity Inc. Nicki Jones first appeared in 52 #29 in 2007 and was created by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, and Chris Batista.
Why change her name? Also, another Geoff Johns creation. He’s making bank off of this one, though not as much since he’s sharing with more people. Also…
That is not a goth. I don’t just mean that’s not a stereotypical goth. I mean I don’t see this girl as any kind of goth, and you know they’re going for goth stereotype because Hollywood. That’s not even new for “modern audiences”. Stereotypes are just easier to explain to the audience…which I would say are kids given the original target audience, but since it airs on Adult Swim since Williams Street rescued Superman and will be making Green Lantern despite it airing on Cartoon Network and being available on HBO Max and the Adult Swim app, site, and probably Sling preview section, kids may not see this. Will that affect the content of this show? It didn’t for the last one to my knowledge.
Alex DeWitt is described as the popular girl of the school. She’s a softball star and the daughter of politicians. Alex first appeared in Green Lantern (1990) #48 in 1994 and was created by Ron Marz and Bill Willingham. She’s known in the comics as Kyle Rayner’s first love interest and the victim of the infamous “fridging” issue where she’s brutally murdered by Major Force.
And this is the one that actually upset me. When Kyle was first introduced as Hal’s replacement, I didn’t care. Hal Jordan was the Green Lantern I knew from Superfriends and the Filmation shows. I didn’t care about some other Lantern. I got one of Kyle’s stories in one of those grouped bagged deals and he since became my favorite Green Lantern due to his illustration and geekier natures allowing him to use the ring in ways no other Lantern does. He has great imagination, but what really sold me was seeing Kyle and Alex interact. I expected some fascinating stories…and then they killed her off because someone thought Kyle needed a dark backstory. It was the 90s and everyone wanted to be grimdark Batman for some reason. Lucky for me I didn’t find out about that until after because I would have rejected Kyle then and there if not for later stories with the original Jade, the daughter of Alan Scott (which is not the version inspiring goth Nikki). So seeing her described this way and my knowledge of anime and high school tropes immediately assuming she’s going to be the “mean girl” that Jessica has to win Kyle from makes me immediately hate this. I hope I’m wrong, but I know these shows way too well.
Kilowog, like the other Green Lanterns, is described as a warrior monk and the last surviving Green Lantern. Kilowog served with pride and an incident in the past involving him resulted in the collapse of the Green Lanterns. Kilowog serves as a mentor to Jessica. Kilowog first appeared in Green Lantern Corps (1986) #201 and was created by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton. Kilowog is the last surviving member of his race and lost his planet during Crisis on Infinite Earths and was initially created to be one of the lanterns who joins Hal and John on Earth when the Corps were no longer bound by sectors. Kilowog is best known for serving as the Green Lanterns’ drill instructor and Hal’s mentor.
Not happy about “Kilowog destroyed the Corp” and now being Jessica’s mentor. Yeah, he was everyone’s mentor after Sinestro went evil, but ruining the Corp? Not a fan. Also, being a “warrior monk” makes me think he won’t be calling anyone a poozer and not being inspired by Marine drill instructors because that wouldn’t work for the Chinese inspiration it sounds like they’re going for (an interesting choice given that Jessica is Hispanic). I want Kilowog to be Sergeant Hartman, not Kwai Chang Caine.
I know what this show is going to be from a general point of view. It’s spinning off from a show that got a lot of things wrong, and it appears to be following the same mindset: Jessica Cruz gets isekaied into an anime world with a bunch of namesakes of people she knows (except for Alex because the character dies long before Jessica was created). It might be a great show on it’s own, but like My Adventures With Superman might have been better served as an original concept free from DC branding…except they may well be continuing the tradition of using famous branding to push the show they really want to make with little to no concern about the source material. Find a character that vaguely matches up and you “win”. This rarely ends well. Again, quality of work does not equal quality of adaptation. I’ve seen good adaptations that were terrible stories or did things to the characters that shouldn’t have been, and I’ve seen good stories that are terrible adaptations, including my all time favorite movie so I get the draw. So no, I’m not looking especially forward to this. It might be good, but it’s not what I’m looking for, so I’m going to pass.
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