GOOD THING: It's hard to narrow it down to one thing, but - after eliminating any points involving snide comments about Judd Winick and certain members of the Arrow Family having been restored to their basic levels of competence and ability (Connor Hawke is back! Yay!), I would have to say the best thing about this issue is that J. T. Krul has a good handle on the characters and the history of the Green Arrow family.
BAD THING: That being said, there is still some uncertainty as to just how much of the mythos Krul is or is not declaring null and void and what points he may be confused on. Does he honestly think Ollie had a willing sexual relationship with Shado? Does he really think Ollie ever had lustful intentions for Mia? Does he take the gods-awful reboot of Ollie's relationship with Connor presented in Green Arrow/Black Canary as gospel truth even while rejecting Connor's lost talents, memories and personalities? Or is all of this Black Lantern trickery?
Sadly, at this point a case could be made for Ollie's cries of "No!" at the actions of his zombie counterpart to be either fear that the truth is finally coming out or horror at the depths to which this monster will try to manipulate his family.
The Final Verdict: Cautiously optimistic. True, the artwork is laughable at points (it looks like they started drawing Dinah from the breasts outward in some panels) and I'm still not sure just how much of the Black Lantern "lies" Krul truly intended to be real lies. Still, this is the first Green Arrow book in the last few years that didn't leave me ranting and screaming. Take that for what you will, given how notoriously picky I am. I don't know much about art but I know what i hate. And I don't hate this. Parts of it, in fact, I love.
Sadly,I don't think it did reject Connor's lost coolness - he was throwing shuriken, after all, not arrows, and a lot of what he said could have been regained in the monastery (that's where he's been, right? Why didn't he bring Sin back?)
ReplyDeleteBut I'm choosing to take everything Black Lantern Ollie said as a lie. For a start, he didn't tell Dinah that Shado raped him. He didn't even know until after Dinah that he and Shado even had sex.
I just wish people would stop drawing Dinah in her Mom's gravity-defying costume. It looks stupid.
Sadly,I don't think it did reject Connor's lost coolness - he was throwing shuriken, after all, not arrows, and a lot of what he said could have been regained in the monastery (that's where he's been, right? Why didn't he bring Sin back?)
ReplyDelete... I can't believe I missed the shurkien. I was just amazed he was in costume fighting at all after what Winick did to him.
But I'm choosing to take everything Black Lantern Ollie said as a lie. For a start, he didn't tell Dinah that Shado raped him. He didn't even know until after Dinah that he and Shado even had sex.
... that's a very good point, actually. The way it's stated here, it makes it seem like the BL is totally playing on Dinah's fear that there was something more there. And one of the things that always bugged me about Grell's run is that Dinah never told Ollie about having found this out or even knowing it. He found out on his own.
I just wish people would stop drawing Dinah in her Mom's gravity-defying costume. It looks stupid.
It CAN look stupid. Here, it DOES look stupid. But it can look awesome when it's being drawn by an artist who has some idea of how fabrics work and how double-stick tape is NOT standard equipment for superheroines.
No, you're right, it doesn't always look stupid. When the back is higher than the bra-line, it doesn't look like it should fall down and is indeed, very sexy.
ReplyDeleteBut it's Dinah's mother's costume, and she hasn't worn it (outside of sex games) for a very long time indeed. Dinah's character historical progression has been tied to her costume choices, so it'd be nice to get some consistency.
Double-stick tape isn't standard equipment? Somedays its a requirement. I think all heroines wear it frankly for their own sanity. ;) Who wants to end up on Godfrey for a wardrobe malfunction.
ReplyDeletebut yeah I'm going to go with the playing on the fear thing.. talk about a doozy