Five Reasons Oliver Queen Is Awesome

Despite the popularity of the show Arrow, fans of Oliver Queen still get a lot of guff about our favorite hero being a half-hearted Batman rip-off.  While it may be true that Green Arrow spent a goodly portion of The Silver Age following in Bruce Wayne's footsteps, later comics turned Oliver Queen into his own man.

So what is it that separates Oliver Queen from all of the other billionaire playboy superheroes and all of the other archery-based superheroes?  Besides epic facial hair, of course.  Well, the man said it best himself in JLA #123.

"...I can't leap tall buildings in a single bound and I don't wear any fancy power rings. Hell, I'm not even the world's second greatest detective, whatever THAT means. But I am a guy with a hell of a lot of chatzpah. And that's got to count for something in a crisis, right?"

More than anything, Oliver Queen is defined by that word - chatzpah.  Call it guts, nerve, boldness, balls or just plain audacity if you want to use a ten-dollar word.  Oliver Queen is a man who will say the unthinkable, attempt the impossible and just plain refuse to back down no matter how badly the deck is stacked against him.

To that end, I've put together a list of five deeds that I think exemplify Green Arrow's awesomeness.  And to make it fair, I've eliminated all of the stories where he dies a heroic death in the name of his principals.  Because that is its own Top Five list.


5. Oliver Queen - The One Man Justice League. 



As Seen In: The Dark Knight Returns & The Dark Knight Strikes Back

I'll admit this one is implied more than it is stated.  But the facts are there on the page.  For those who haven't read The Dark Knight Returns, it's a classic Batman story set in an alternate future where superheroes were made illegal in the United States and a middle-aged Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement to become Batman one last time.  The sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, is not as well regarded but it continues the story of DKR and shows what happened to all of the other Justice League members.

Apart from Superman, Green Arrow is the only Justice League member who appears in The Dark Knight Returns.  We don't get the full details of his story but we do get enough to paint a vivid picture.  Oliver Queen was in prison for a while, escaping five years previously.  He spent that time on the run, striking against the corrupt American government as best he could from overseas.  And at some point before Ollie was imprisoned, Superman was responsible for him losing an arm.

The Dark Knight Strikes Back reveals the fates of the other JLA members.  Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel joined Superman in working for the American government, which we find out is secretly being run by Lex Luthor and Brainiac.  The rest of the team either went into hiding in remote locations or were captured and imprisoned by Luthor and Brainiac.

Logically, that means that for a time, both before being imprisoned and afterward, Oliver Queen was The Justice League.  He was the one hero who didn't back down or give up or agree to fade into the shadows in a world that was going to Hell.  And he did that while single-handedly facing two of the world's most dangerous villains and three of the most powerful superheroes on the planet.

And when I say single-handedly, I mean that in the literal sense as well.  Yet despite that disadvantage, he could still use a bow with Olympic-level accuracy.  Even though he had to pull the bow-string back with his teeth!


4. Oliver Queen Holds His Own Against The Forces Of Apokolips.



As Seen In: Final Crisis #4

At the time of this story, Black Canary was the leader of The Justice League.  And as Apokolips once-again tried to invade the Earth in the name of Darkseid, The JLA Watchtower was attacked.  Knowing the importance his wife held in planning a retaliation against the invaders, Oliver Queen stayed behind to hold off the pursuit as the rest of the team teleported to safety.  

One man with a quiver full of arrows against a horde of soldiers with the strength and endurance of Superman, riding giant hunting hounds and a few brainwashed superheroes as well?  Doesn't sound like much of a fight.  And it isn't.  Ollie tears them apart.

He brings down the hounds and the soldiers with them.  And if Ollie hadn't stopped to try and talk some sense into a brainwashed Black Lightning, he might well have won.  But he didn't and one good shock to the system was all it took to bring Oliver Queen down long enough for a mind-control helmet to be slapped down on his head.

This battle would rank higher, but this fight was a loss for Oliver Queen.  And yet it was a victory, because Ollie did accomplish his goal of buying enough time to let the love of his life and the rest of his teammates get to safety.  And while the villains may have technically won the fight,  it was a hard-won victory that shouldn't have been nearly as difficult as Oliver Queen made it.


3. Oliver Queen Overcomes The Black Mercy



As Seen In: Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #8

Created by Alan Moore for his Superman story For The Man Who Has Everything, The Black Mercy is a sentient alien plant with telepathic abilities.  Parasitic in nature, the plant latches on to a host, to whom it broadcasts a hallucination of an ideal life.  The host slowly wastes away, blissfully unaware that its body is being sucked dry by The Black Mercy in the real world as their every fantasy is seemingly brought to life.

So how strong is a Black Mercy plant?  Strong enough that even Superman couldn't break free of its control without Batman pulling it off of him by force.  And then when it latched on to Batman, Robin had to pull the plant off of Batman for him to be freed of its influence.  Even Hal Jordan was unable to resist the lure of the perfect world that The Black Mercy created for him.

And yet... Oliver Queen did.  He resisted.  He saw through the illusion and dragged himself and Hal back to reality after a single Black Mercy plant latched on to them both.

After the fact, Hal Jordan guessed that the plant had chosen to focus on him since his will was stronger and that instead of giving Ollie a vision of what really would be his ideal world, it had given him what Hal thought would be Ollie's perfect world within the context of Hal's perfect life.  Fine and dandy.  Except that does nothing to explain why Hal Jordan thought to set-up Oliver with Connor Hawke's mom (a woman Ollie hadn't seen in decades and whom Hal had never met) and why there was no place for Dinah Lance or Roy Harper in Ollie's "perfect life".

I think Hal is kidding himself.  I think the truth is that The Black Mercy may be strong enough to cloud the mind of Superman, subvert the fortitude of Batman and even overcome the willpower of a Green Lantern.  But that's nothing compared to Oliver Queen's ability to question everything around him.


2. Oliver Queen Resists Poison Ivy



As Seen In: Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow

Dennis O'Neil earned his place in comics as a living legend with his work in the 1970s on both Batman and Green Arrow.  It was he who developed Green Arrow into the modern-day Robin Hood we know and love and turned Batman into a Dark Knight Detective once more.  He teamed the heroes together in The Brave and The Bold and a few more times besides!  And yet, I think O'Neil's 1992 graphic novel The Poison Tomorrow may be the best thing he ever did with both of these heroes together.

The Poison Tomorrow sees Batman and Green Arrow joining forces after they discover they are working the same case from different angles, with Oliver Queen racing time to save Black Canary's life.  The trail leads from a diseased scientist to Poison Ivy and a plot to use toxic baby food to make a fortune selling an antidote.  In the exciting climax of the story, Batman moves to stop the first shipment of the tainted food as Green Arrow retrieves the antidote from Poison Ivy, who is currently hiding out in a housing development that was built on a toxic landfill!

To his credit, Ollie does try to go in protected.  But he didn't count on how hard it was to draw a bow while wearing a Hazmat suit.  Or on Ivy having a muscle-bound henchman who shared her immunity to toxic waste.  Deciding he can risk the poisoned environment for long enough to hand out a beating, Ollie slips out of the suit and beats down the henchman only to be confronted by Ivy herself.

Ivy, being Ivy, pours on the charm along with the pheromones.  The full "oh my brave hero, let me take care of you" act.  And for a moment, Ollie is tempted.  He's taken a few good lumps from the henchman and he's starting to feel the effects of the toxins around him.  And a little voice tells him he's as good as dead anyway - what harm could one kiss do?  But Oliver Queen's love for Dinah Lance is too strong to be overcome by such cheap tricks.  And with one open-handed strike to the face, Green Arrow shuts Poison Ivy down.

A few years ago, I achieved a modicum of fame for taking Judd Winick to task for his depiction of Oliver Queen as an unrepentant womanizer who cheated on Dinah Lance continually.  This story was largely responsible for my attitude.  Because while a lot of stories show how passionate Oliver Queen is in his love of Dinah Lance, I don't think any story has ever quite so well depicted just how strong that love truly is and how love is a more powerful force than lust any day of the week.  That's why I have nothing but contempt for anyone who tries to sum up Oliver Queen as "a horndog who chases skirts and can't stay faithful".


1. Oliver Queen Walks Out Of Heaven.


As Seen In: Green Arrow (Vol. 2) #10

Oliver Queen was dead.  Astonishingly, to him at least, he went to Heaven.  Or some kind of paradise where he had found the peace that was denied him in life.  As such, when his best friend Hal Jordan (who, at the time, possessed the power of all but one of the Guardians of the Universe) breached the boundaries between worlds to offer him a second chance at life, Oliver Queen turned it down.  But he did agree to let Hal bring him back after a fashion, creating a soulless clone that would possess all of Oliver Queen's memories up to a certain point.

This "hollow Ollie" would go on to reestablish the name of Green Arrow in Star City in Kevin Smith's Quiver and become a target for all manner of supernatural evil.  When that evil threatened Connor Hawke - Oliver Queen's illegitimate son - the hollow Ollie was somehow able to breach the boundaries of Space and Time to deliver his older, wiser self a much-needed dressing down.  That and the knowledge that his son needed him was enough to stir Oliver Queen into action and demand to be returned to Earth.

Oliver Queen defied his enemies.  He defied his friends.  He defied his government and alien invaders.  He overcame a mind-controlling parasite and the most powerful seductress on Earth.  And all of that is awesome.  But for sheer awesomeness, I don't think anything can top Oliver Queen finding the strength of will to walk out of paradise.


Agree?  Disagree?  I await your comments.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 - A Review

On the odd chance that some of you haven't read the original The Dark Knight Returns and don't realize the significance of this particular story being adapted into an animated film, let me sum up.  Frank Miller's original mini-series redefined not only the way most comic readers viewed Batman as a character but the entire superhero genre and comic book medium.  Along with Watchmen, DKR was one of the first mainstream comic books to explore superheroes on a more mature level.  Its' success proved that illustrated literature was a viable medium for sophisticated stories and that such stories could be critical and commercial successes.  Not bad for a story that was written because of Frank Miller's mid-life crisis and his desire to write a story about a Batman who wasn't younger than him. :)



The Dark Knight Returns is set in the not-too-distant future, some ten years after the last reported sighting of The Batman.  Commissioner Gordon is days away from retirement.  Harvey Dent, recipient of some revolutionary new plastic surgery and psychiatric help, has just been released from Arkham Asylum with a clean bill of health.  A new gang called The Mutants holds Gotham City in its' thrall.  And Bruce Wayne - long retired from crime-fighting and resigned to a life of idle leisure - can no longer stand idly by doing nothing.  His return will send shockwaves through society, bringing both praise and condemnation from various media pundits and politicians as well as inspiring a new group of heroes, including Carrie Kelly - a young tween who makes her own Robin costume following her own encounter with The Dark Knight. 

The animation for this movie is top-notch.  I've rarely been disappointed by the animators Warner Brothers chooses and the studio is in fine form this time.  Wisely avoiding aping Frank Miller's grittier art-style completely, the film uses Miller's general designs while utilizing more fluid line-work in the actual construction of the characters.  This creates an effect where the main characters move like in a traditional modern anime but the background characters - usually depicted entirely in shadow, as with The Mutants who are only seen as outlines with red-lit goggles - are more stylized and less detailed, blending in with the darkness.   


Sadly, the film doesn't fare so well in the voice-acting department   Now, let me say that this movie has a lot of great voice actors rounding out it's supporting cast - Frank Welker, Tara Strong, Jim Ward, Maurice LaMarche, Paget Brewster, Grey DeLisle and Dee Bradley Baker all play minor roles and play them well.  Michael McKean does a particularly great turn as Dr. Wolper - the publicity-mad psychiatrist who declares Two Face completely sane while decrying Batman's negative influence on society.  And Maria Canals - Hawkgirl herself - does a fine job as the voice of Commissioner Yindel, Jim Gordon's incoming replacement.

No, the biggest problem with this movie lies with its' stars.  Peter Weller - who plays Batman - doesn't seem to have been given any direction other than to sound like a tired old man.  There is no energy to the portrayal.  He doesn't sound world-weary so much as he seems in desperate need of a nap.  What this role needed was a Clint Eastwood.  What we got was Wilford Brimley talking about life insurance.

Ariel Winter does somewhat better as Carrie Kelly, but only just.  Her performance has energy but far too many of her lines seem to run together without pauses between the sentences.  And not in the usual way that teenage girls sometimes speak in a rush without breathing.  I mean in the way that she says "No!  Don't Die!" as one word.  It's an odd thing, but the most effective scenes with their characters are the action sequences where there is no dialogue.

The script by Bob Goodman is another oddity.  Frank Miller's personal aesthetic is deeply routed in film noir influences and it's odd that the creative team would neglect that element in the script after going through such effort to see it brought into the animation  Goodman stages most of the relevant scenes from the original story and indeed the film opens, as the comic does, with Bruce Wayne risking his life in a high-speed car race.  While this is a cool opening, it isn't clear just how Bruce feels he has little to live for and is desperate for excitement and purpose without his internal monologue and musings on what would make for a good death.  Likewise, we miss out on what is arguably the most powerful scene of the original book -where we first get to see The Batman in action, as Bruce muses that he is nowhere near as tired or pained as he should be. 

   

Is The Dark Knight Returns, Part One worth seeing?  I'll say yes.  Despite some half-hearted voice-acting, it's decently paced and it looks great.  I'd strongly suggest reading the original books first, though.  Assuming you haven't done so already, of course.

Two-Part 'Dark Knight Returns' Anime In The Works

 

SOURCE: Animated Dark Knight Returns Adds RoboCop's Peter Weller And Four More

 

Apparently WB's next DC Comics anime will be a two-part adaptation of the classic Frank Miller story Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.  The following cast has been announced.

 

Batman/Bruce Wayne:  Peter Weller (Robocop, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)

Robin/Carrie Kelly: Ariel Winter (Modern Family)

Two-Face/Harvey Dent: Wade Williams (Prison Break)

Dr. Wolper: Michael McKean (This Is Spinal Tap, Clue)

 

Veteran actor David Selby (the television seriesDark Shadows and Falcon Crest) was also announced as part of the cast, but has yet to be officially tied to a role.  

 

The animation still release thus far do seem to have captured the essence of Frank Miller's style in the 1980s, while still giving everything a more stream-lined appearance typical to Anime in general and the recent Warner Brothers produced DC Comics anime in particular.




No word yet on who will be playing Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth of The Joker but expect the fanboys to have started pestering Mark Hamill about two hours ago. :)

First Picture of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises