By Christopher Ryan

The Lanterns season finale aired. The writers’ room’s intentions are now out there for all to see. No more “wait and see” or “please reserve judgment until the finale.” We’re here now and those entrusted with DC characters who fans have loved for multiple decades have done what they’ve done.

What did they accomplish?

They managed to misuse all three Lanterns in one season.

And they only used three. That’s three-for-three fumbles of valuable DC IP.

No matter what TV viewers think they saw, longtime comic fans know the true nature of these characters.

Allow me to correct the Lanterns writers’ room sins:

They had a Manhunter who somehow impregnated a woman to make another Manhunter, potentially sparking a Manhunter infiltration on Earth. Look at what that did to Antaan’s planet. That’s enough story right there to do a True Detective/Lanterns story without abusing canon and beloved characters.

They failed us.

Hal isn’t a jerk from a suicidal family addicted to the ring who is better off dead. He didn’t cost a lot of lives “for selfish reasons” as the writers’ room made him say; he confronted a Manhunter who used a space laser to blow apart Rushvillle, killing many while Hal did his best to protect those people who hated him. Any argument that Rushville was peaceful until Hal showed up is ignorant of the Manhunter legacy. Ignoring their history because you have a different agenda doesn’t change canon. All “Hal’s horrible sins” in this show do not belong to Hal, they were created by the writers’ room and were forced upon Hal in a lazy and unnecessary attempt to make John more heroic.

They failed.

Guy Gardner isn’t a one-note buffoon Guardians ass-kisser who is afraid of John Stewart and his uncharged ring. Reducing Guy to a clown abuses yet another hero, another long-successful DC IP in the name of making John Stewart look better. It didn’t.

They failed.

And John Stewart isn’t a bizarrely abused child who grows up to take the ring and lantern but refuse to join the GL Corps, limiting his immense power to Earth as if that wouldn’t launch a Lanterns War. John Stewart’s is a much better, stronger, fiercer hero than that. Let’s be clear: John Stewart never needed any of the writers’ room over-the-top melodrama and character assassination because he is already an incredible hero.

The writers’ room diminished him. They failed him.

And they failed us.

But wait, there’s more.

Leaving Sinestro chained to a chair on a dead planet while a Manhunter might know about him? Abuse of another valuable DC IP.

They even failed a villain!

Having Police Chief Kerry engage in an affair with Hal, the guy Rushville blames for all their woes? The guy who never quits when his gut tells him something is wrong? While she’s trying to protect her Manhunter son? Absolutely, unforgivably ridiculous.

They failed her too. And she’s their creation.

Tom “Hal Killer” King, et al., have a lot to answer for. To fans. To DC. And to DC’s owners. The charges? IP abuse.

And these writers and producers are going to get more chances to ruin characters, including Mister Miracle and Big Barda?

That’s insane.