How HBO’s Lanterns Brought Back the Craziest Silver Age Green Lantern Power

When diving into the rich, cosmic lore of DC Comics, few franchises carry as much baggage—or as much wondrous potential—as the Green Lantern Corps. With HBO’s new prestige drama Lanterns finally hitting screens, fans are getting a gritty, grounded take on the space-faring police force. Yet, even in a gritty detective story set largely on Earth, the series couldn’t resist dipping its toes back into the delightfully absurd comic book history that defined the character. In a standout moment from the season premiere, John Stewart finds himself navigating the exhausting shadow of his mentor, Hal Jordan, only to earn a rare smirk of approval by coining a remarkably catchy term for a deeply obscure comic book ability: the Hal-o-Gram.

For the uninitiated, this clever nod bypasses the traditional comic terminology of an ‘Energy Twin,’ a largely forgotten power from the Silver Age that allowed Corps members to project fully functional duplicates of themselves. While modern adaptations usually streamline the rings into high-tech laser cannons and protective sci-fi shields, the source material has always been a chaotic sandbox of imagination. Throughout decades of publication, Green Lantern rings have been used to do everything from radically altering a user’s physical age to reading minds, opening spatial portals, and projecting bizarre illusions. By embracing these idiosyncratic abilities rather than sweeping them under the rug, Lanterns proves it understands the DNA of what makes these characters endure.

The Legacy of Silver Age Weirdness

It is easy to write off these eccentric powers as relics of a bygone era of comic book writing, sitting comfortably alongside Superman’s wildly specific super-ventriloquism or Batman’s notoriously reliable shark-repellent bat-spray. Yet, these narrative choices are actually baked into the foundational lore of the franchise, stretching all the way back to the Golden Age origins of Alan Scott. By weaving the ‘Energy Twin’—or the affectionately dubbed Hal-o-Gram—into a modern, high-stakes television landscape, the creators are offering a masterclass in how to honor comic book history without alienating mainstream audiences. It strikes the perfect balance between paying homage to the absurdities of the past and forging a compelling, character-driven future for both Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

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