Green Arrow Misses The Target

When I was a teenager/young adult, Green Arrow was one of my favorite comic book series.  I'm sure it was in large part to the tremendous writing on the series from Mike Grell.  In fact, it was so good that it prompted me to write in with compliments (and have my letters published!) a few times.  Although it resided within the DC Universe, its stories stood apart from the rest of Earth One's superheroes.  They were a lot more than just battle sequences, which frequently get boring.  It involved Green Arrow/Oliver Queen's relationship with Dinah Lance/Black Canary, their flower shop Sherwood Florist in Seattle, Dinah's rape, Oliver's infidelity with Shado and the resulting son, etc.

When I started reading comics again in 2007, one of the series I decided to pick up was Green Arrow & Black Canary, to see what was going on with two of my favorite characters.  To my surprise, Oliver Queen wasn't the Green Arrow of the series.  His son Connor Hawke was.  I had never heard of Connor Hawke.  So Ollie had another kid out of wedlock...and it still wasn't with Dinah?  Sheesh.  Apparently, Ollie didn't believe in any form of birth control. 

Fortunately, soon into the Green Arrow & Black Canary series, Ollie returns to claim his rightful title.  I went and bought all of the back issues of wedding issues and specials to see what I missed.  I really liked this new team series.  It was fun and entertaining.  I even liked seeing Connor Hawke and the new Speedy, Mia Dearden, appear regularly.  They made a great foursome.  Then came the introduction of Cupid.  She was an interesting villain/character at first, but when she started appearing in EVERY issue, that's when my interest started to wane. Who was this series about anyway?  Green Arrow and Black Canary...or Cupid?  DC saw declining sales and so changed the focus (and title) of the book to only Green Arrow.  (Even I could have told them it was not because of Black Canary, but because of stupid Cupid.)  That's when Green Arrow started being serious again, with the killing of Prometheus and running off into the magical forest that once was Star City, following the events of Blackest Night.  The new Green Arrow solo series labeled with the Brightest Day banner was interesting, but I missed the fun of the early Green Arrow & Black Canary issues, and I missed seeing Ollie and Dinah together as a couple. 

Then came the infamous New 52 following Flashpoint.  Oliver Queen is now a young man (a boy, if you will).  He has no facial hair and, as far as I know, has never even met Dinah Lance!  [GASP!  The horrors!]  Because I like Green Arrow in concept, I've read the first 24 issues of the latest Green Arrow series (volume 4 of his solo series titles; volume 5 if you include Green Arrow & Black Canary).  I can honestly say that I don't think I've truly enjoyed a single issue.  Like most, though, I didn't attribute my initial dislike to the writing of J.T. Krul at the beginning of the series.  I think he did the best with what he had to work with, which wasn't much.  Following Krul's dismissal, DC turned over the reigns to Ann Nocenti.  That's when I came to discover that Nocenti is one of the worst comic book writers out there.  I realize she's been writing for many, many, many years, but maybe it's time to force her retirement.  Her storytelling is awful; her dialogue is worse.  And now she's dragging down Catwoman and Katana with her.  In fact, the solo Katana series has already been canceled.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Catwoman's sure to be on the chopping block next.  And don't even get me started about the disappointment with The Joker's Daughter #1.  Seriously...WTF was that about anyway?  Another lame reintroduction to another potential star (see: Amethyst). 

So I was thrilled that DC execs finally came to their senses and moved Nocenti off Green Arrow, giving the series to writer Jeff Lemire (Animal Man).  Sadly, the series is still too boring for me, featuring too many battle sequences and not enough characterization and character interaction/relationships.  I miss the days when Oliver Queen was a man (a sexy man at that), when he had a history and relationship with Dinah Lance/Black Canary, had a strong friendship with Hal Jorden/Green Lantern, had a bunch of rugrats from different babymamas, had a sense of humor, was a strong Democrat, and fought for the little people.   Now he's just this dopey boy who used to have a company similar to Apple and runs around with two associates who create his arrows and buzz in his ear.  Even the reintroduction of Count Vertigo was short-lived and lame.  And now, Ollie's just met the Shado of the New 52 Universe who had a child...from his father.  EW.  

So, I'm done.  For the first time in many, many years, Green Arrow is no longer on my monthly pull list.  It was a good run, but I can't stand to see a good character unnecessarily spin out of control, even where Count Vertigo is involved. 

Aqualad: FAIL

It seems that Aqualad just can't catch a break.  

First, there was the original Aqualad from the Teen Titans, Garth, that everyone seemed to make fun of and, basically, found useless.  In an attempt to recreate/reimagine himself, Garth became Tempest.  Unfortunately, Tempest never caught on in popularity either.  To put him (and his legion of non-fans) out of their misery, in the Blackest Night maxi-series, Garth is killed off.  

To revamp the Aqualad name and bring some diversity into the teenage superheroes of the DC Universe (besides the go-to Static), a new Aqualad appears in Brightest Day #10.  He's African-American; sports dreadlocks, a cooler costume, and tats; has better/expanded powers; and has a mystery surrounding him.  At this point, it seems like DC is really going to do something big with an Aqualad. 

Then comes DC's event series Flashpoint...and changes all DC history.  Where is Aqualad?  Is there an Aqualad?  Who knows.  He's not shown in any new issue of the new Aquaman series.  He also doesn't appear in the new Teen Titans series. 

Goodbye, Aqualad.  We hardly knew ye. 

Inside the Outsiders

When Batman and the Outsiders debuted in the 1980s, it quickly became one of my favorite comics to read every month. The concept was brilliant: take a superhero that is well-established and everyone loves, have him leave the Justice League where he's been forever and was a charter member, and then have him start his own superteam with a bunch of misfits and unknowns. Not only did we get more Batman every month (besides his regular self-titled book and Detective Comics), but now we got to become involved with these minor characters that had interesting backgrounds and storylines of their own: Geo-Force, Katana, Halo, Black Lightning, and Metamorpho. The friendship between Katana and Halo was unique in that they had such different personalities, and the tie between the Outsiders' Geo-Force and Teen Titans' Terra was fantastically engineered. Later, the team is joined by the mysterious Looker who stirs things up between the team members, especially between Halo and Katana when she horns in on their friendship by befriending the innocent Halo.

After Batman leaves the team, though, the Outsiders became less interesting to me. Not because of Batman's departure so much as the writing and stories seemed to plummet. Not surprisingly, the book was cancelled soon after. Revivals of the Outsiders were attempted over the years, but never with Batman. In fact, once, Nightwing (from the Teen Titans, and the former Robin) became their leader with a totally new group of Outsiders. I wasn't reading comics during this period, so I can't really comment on the revivals.

However, when DC Comics decided to revive the Batman and the Outsiders concept in 2007, I thought, "Yea!" Sadly, it's been kind of lame, with the worst blow being Batman leaving the team AGAIN, this time because he "died." I continued reading the series, though, because...well, I don't know. I guess I'm a bit nostalgic, and I just felt sorry for them.

Having just read Outsiders 23-25, though, I have to say that they're getting back on track. We begin to see more of their individual personalities and character interactions again. It also doesn't hurt that the events in these issues tie in with DC's crossover Blackest Night event and feature the (dead) Terra coming back to haunt Geo-Force and play with his emotions. These are the Outsiders I know and love.

The prospect of DC Comics' Senior Vice President/Executive Editor Dan Didio taking over the writing duties with the next issue (issue #26) intrigues me, especially since it looks like he's having Superman join the team. This concept harkens back to the days when the original Outsiders were created ("take a superhero that is well-established and everyone loves, have him leave the Justice League where he's been forever and was a charter member, and then have him start his own superteam"). Let's hope he can deliver and make the Outsiders one of my favorites again!

P.S. just please take the Creeper off the roster. He is one of the most annoying characters in the DC Universe. Thank you.

Green Lantern, Interrupted.

I've always liked Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) as a character, but have usually always gotten bored with the stories that writers have presented him with. So throughout the 80s, I was very selective with my Green Lantern comics.

In the past year, I've picked up the Secret Origin storyline (issues 29-35) and started to enjoy that Hal was finally being written with supporting characters other than the multitude of GLs. Of course, I already knew most of this story (being that it was his origin all over again), but I enjoyed it nonetheless. First and foremost, he is an Earth man and should be treated as such, going through the same problems with his personal life that we, as non-metahumans, do. It brings life to the characters. That, to me, makes a really successful comic book.

But then after the Secret Origin storyline was finished, I got bored again. I had to keep checking the cover to make sure I had picked up a copy of Green Lantern and not Green Lantern Corps. What were all the other GLs doing in Hal's comic when they have their own? It was issue after issue... YAWN. I purposely don't buy Green Lantern Corps because I'm only interested in ONE Green Lantern: Hal Jordan. Just like with Star Wars, I'm basically only interested in one Jedi at a time.

Then in Green Lantern came the introduction of Agent Orange who was like a greedy, little kid (more yawns), and, whom, by the way does NOT look like the Gonzo the muppet as mentioned in the comic; he looks like an orange Uncle Deadly. It's not that it's a big deal...but if you're going to make a pop culture reference...please get it right!

Anyway, I'm still buying Green Lantern (at least through the Blackest Night storyline/event). I began reading GL #43 with sheer dread, hoping it wasn't going to be another GL Corps redux. WOW! It wasn't! It was an actual, decent storyline! Sure, there was no GL, but getting the background of the Black Hand was fascinating. That's the kind of storytelling I expect. Thank you...FINALLY. Let's hope the great storytelling continues after Blackest Night so I can continue reading the adventures of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern and not the ENTIRE GL Corps. Can we separate the two since they have their own books? Pretty please???