Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 13 - Spectre Of The Gun

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here. 



Plot

Tensions continue to build in The Bunker in the wake of Rory Regan's departure. Things get worse when an attack on Star City Hall reminds Rene Ramirez of the family he lost and why he became a vigilante. Meanwhile, Oliver works to identify the attacker and realizes that this may be a job for Mayor Oliver Queen to solve rather than The Green Arrow.


Influences

The comics of John Ostrander (particularly Batman: Seduction Of The Gun) and the Green Arrow comics of Elliot S! Maggin (particularly What Can One Man Do?). Oliver Queen dealing with the political and social ramifications of an act of injustice fit neatly into the oeuvre of both writers.


Goofs

After two hours of trying to find specific numbers matching the statistics quoted by various characters in this episode, I decided not to bother. It's a different universe so the statistics regarding the ineffectiveness of federal assault rifle bans or the odds of a black man dying of gun violence could be entirely different than in our reality. I apologize for those who came here looking for sources regarding this debate but you're probably better off checking a news site than a comic book and TV review blog for that sort of thing.


Performances

Much like how we didn't realize how much we missed Paul Blackthorne until last week's episode, this episode makes us remember how awesome Willa Holland is as Thea Queen in all her snarky glory.

Juliana Harkavy continues to impress as Dinah Drake. Her scene with Diggle here is a brief one but it's impressive how she and David Ramsey have built a strong relationship between the two on the basis of a few brief scenes over the last two episodes.

Stephen Amell rarely gets to show strength to Oliver Queen's character outside of his Green Arrow persona. (And yes, there IS a difference between the two.) This episode shows us something of the Oliver Queen from the comics in Amell's performance - the rebel with a cause imagined by Dennis O'Neil who tried to be a man of peace yet found himself utilizing violence more often than he liked.

While giving surprisingly little to do given all the subplots in this episode, the flashbacks to Wild Dog's past give the character some much needed development and Rick Gonzalez does a damn good job showing Rene Ramirez before tragedy changed him.


Artistry

The opening pre-logo scene, showing the shooter assembling his arsenal is well-shot and effectively blocked with quick fades to black and sinister music.

The sequence with the active shooter is shockingly grim and realistic, with none of the over-the-top elements that occasionally filter into the larger-than-life fights on this show. This one is all the more powerful for how sedately it is directed and shot.

The flashbacks to Rene's past seem to have a semi-sepia filter that put a subtle brown-red hue over the scenes. These scenes also seem to be more dimly lit - a stylistic choice that makes the scenes stand out all the more compared to the scenes set in the present.

The script for this episode is one of Marc Guggenheim's strongest. He doesn't suggest any easy answers while tackling a serious issue in the proud Green Arrow tradition and presents a wide range of viewpoints and arguments without taking any sides beyond the general idea that we must do something regardless of where we fall on the freedom vs. security spectrum.


Trivia

The episode opens with a warning that this episode was rated TV-14 LV for mature themes, language and violence, which may not be suitable for all audiences members. While most Arrow episodes are rated TV-14, this warning was presumably added due to the realism of the active shooter scene.

Coincidentally - given this episode's message regarding responsible gun ownership - it aired on the same day that the US Senate voted to repeal a law that made it illegal to sell guns to people with a history of mental illness.

This episode shares its title with an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. The plot of the Star Trek episode involved the members of a diplomatic away team being forced into a psychic illusion of Tombstone, Arizona pulled from Captain Kirk's mind.

This episode reveals that Adrian Chase is a married man with a wife named Doris. In the original Vigilante comics, Doris Chase was the name of Adrian Chase's wife, whose death (along with those of his children) spurred his taking on the identity of Vigilante.

Rene and Curtis quibble over the use of the terms "gun control" vs. "gun violence"  and "assault weapon" vs. "rifle". These are frequent points of terminology conflict in real world debates on the issues of guns and gun safety.

When describing the one apartment she liked that she looked at, Dinah mentions that it had a backyard garden. In the comics, Dinah Drake loved flowers and was a florist by trade.


Technobabble

The pistol that Rene carries for personal protection in his civilian identity is a 9 mm.

The gunman's primary weapon was an AR-15 firing 5.66 NATO rounds.


Dialogue Triumphs

Ollie: A lot to catch up on.
Thea: Yeah. Like you and Susan Williams?
(Ollie stops dead in his track, his expression suddenly dead humorless.)
Thea: People talk, Ollie. And uh, some people vomit a little.

(Rene moves to his bedroom closet and begins punching numbers into a digital gun safe.)
Laura: Woah. What do you think you're doing?
Rene: Stadium's in The Glades, babe. In like the worst part of the worst part of town.
(Laura scoffs.)
Rene: I brought it with me the last time I took Zoe-
Laura: So you're admitting you broke the rule?
Rene: Kinda what I do, babe.
Laura: The only reason I agreed to let you keep that thing in the house is because you said we needed it for home protection.
Rene: Right, but-
Laura:As in, stays in the home. Now, hurry up. You guys are going to be late.
Rene: I thought we were going as a family?
Laura:(sighs) I have a headache.
Rene: Oh yeah?
(Laura nods, as he looks at her suspiciously.)
Rene: You taking something stronger than aspirin for that headache?
Laura: You got something you want to say to me, Rene?
Rene: I guess I do. (pauses) Are you using again?
(Gunshots fire as we dissolve back to the present, where Rene is hiding behind a column, pistol in his hands.)

Thea: (To Rene) What were you doing with a gun in here?
Rene: Judging by how I tagged the guy? I've got to go with saving people's lives.

Curtis: This is military grade hardware!
John: AR-15 assault weapon. It fires 5.56 NATO rounds.
Curtis: It's an M16! It is -literally- the same gun as an M16!
Felicity: Seems like some of Tobias Church's ordanance got into the wrong hand... wronger hands.
Dinah: Not necessarily. It's an AR-15. It's available on the open market. (shrugs) In fact, it's the most popular gun in America.
Curtis: (sarcastically) The Land of The Free and Home of The Incredibly Stupid.
Felicity: We are not having this conversation, now or ever, guys.

Quentin: Listen, I've been police most of my adult life.  I should have been able to spot that guy 1000 yards out.
Rene: Don't go there man, alright? What happened wasn't your fault.
Quentin: I heard you got a few shots off.
Rene: Yeah and I would have put him down, too, if he wasn't wearing body armor.
Quentin: Listen - weren't you dishonorably discharged?
Rene: (deadpan) Not for my aim, hoss.
Quentin: My point is it's illegal for someone such as yourself to carry a firearm.
Rene: But it's pretty easy to buy one, though.
Quentin: (scoffs) Wow.

Curtis: I don't have any problem with your right to bear arms so long as it doesn't interfere with my right to - you know? - live!
Rene: Are you kidding me?! Look at what we do, man! Our whole life is violence!
Curtis: I'm not talking about what we do to protect the city! I'm talking about the fact that, as a black man, I am three times more likely to be killed by a gun than you!
Quentin: He's got a point, Rene.
Rene: Seriously?! You were a cop, man!
Quentin: Yeah. And cops would kinda like it if there were less people out there with guns.
Dinah: Not this cop. I mean, people have a right to protect themselves.

(Vigilante guns down the gangster Green Arrow was questioning.)
Green Arrow: (drawing an arrow) Don't. Move.
Vigilante: I'm doing you a favor! One less criminal on the streets!
Green Arrow: Cold-blooded murder! You're the criminal!
Vigilante: I'm you! The only difference between us is I use a more efficient weapon!

Councilwoman: Yes, I'm against any registry that gives the government the opportunity to keep tabs on specific sectors of the population.
Oliver: The DMV keeps a list of driver's licenses.
Councilwoman: It's not a constitutional right to drive a car, Mr. Mayor. You know, people such as yourself oppose limitations on things like abortion, freedom of speech. Why is the Second Amendment somehow less important in your eyes than the other nine in The Bill of Rights?
Oliver: Because people are dying, Councilwoman! Right here in this building! And there are limitations on abortion and freedom of speech. (pauses) Both my parents are dead. My friend Tommy was a... he was one of the 503 killed in The Undertaking. Laurel Lance was my friend. Nobody respects the rights of someone to protect themselves and the people that they care for more than me. But everything in life comes with limitations. Everything.
Councilwoman: Why are you telling me this?
Oliver: Because you and I are going to sit in this office until we figure out a reasonable set of limitations that respects everyone's rights.

Dinah: You know? Just forget it. It's so stupid.
John: Dinah, I work with Oliver Queen. Please try me.

Curtis: We used to talk about things as a society, you know? We'd debate and we would argue and we would still respect each other after.
Felicity: Yeah. Somewhere along the line that just became...
Curtis: Rude? Yeah. It became impolitic to talk politics.  I can't help but wondering that maybe that's why our country is the way it is today.

Rene: Guns save lives. Period.
Curtis: You just want to think that.
Rene: No, that's what I know. Because if I'd had my gun, my wife would still be alive.

Oliver: Don't do this.
Edlund: Get back!
Oliver: You had another chance to shoot me at City Hall. You didn't do it. Because you need me to enact the Star City Gun Registry. I mean, that's what all this is about, right? You want to punish the city because we failed to protect your family.
(Oliver is slowly moving forward as he speaks. The SWAT teams run into the hall and surround them but Oliver motions them back. One they've stopped, he continues moving.)
Oliver: Mr. Edlund... I - I checked. The man who killed your family? He accquired those guns illegally. There's nothing that we could have done. No - no - no registry would have helped us protect them.
Edlund: I know. I was supposed to protect them. Isn't that a man's job? To protect his family? Isn't that why we have guns?! My wife and daughters were innocent!
Oliver:  I can understand why you're angry-
Edlund: We're all angry! We're all so angry... all the time. So why shouldn't I use this?! Why shouldn't I kill everyone?! Put us all out of our damn misery?!
Oliver:  Mr. Edlund... that's not your call to make. Yeah, I mean, people are angry. And we're hurting. And we're lashing out. And I can understand that it feels like it's getting worse every day. But what you're doing is not the answer! The people that you hurt? The seven people that are dead? My friend... they were innocent too.
(Edlund starts to sob.)
Edlund:You're right.
(Edlund puts his pistol to his own head.)
Edlund:And I deserve to be punished.
Oliver:  Hey, Hey, Hey... Look, James. You've got to think about your wife and your daughters.
Edlund: (sobbing) I -AM- thinking about them!
Oliver:  I know that you want this pain to go away. And I know that you want to be with your family again. But if you want them to live on? It has to be through you. That's the only way.
(Edlund starts to sway erratically.)
Oliver:  James.  Give me the gun.  Please?
(Edlund hands Oliver the gun. Oliver steps out of the way as the SWAT team moves in, cuff Edlund and pull him away. Oliver is left alone in the hospital hallway, a gun in his hand.)


Continuity

Dinah can hold her own in a fight against John, when he is armed with escrima sticks and she has a bo staff.

Dinah's first undercover assignment as a cop was infiltrating a gang called The Pilgrims. It was here she learned how to use a bo staff.

As of this episode, Dinah is living inside the old HIVE base in Star City - the same place John lived during his time on the run.

Felicity tracks Claybourne's mistress (aka probably Prometheus' mother) to Illinois using information from The Pandora Cache.

Rene Ramirez is officially hired on as the Deputy Mayor's Assistant.

The gunman has a bag with a Forefather Repairs logo on it.

The first result of the gunman's attack is five dead and 24 wounded, with 8 of the wounded in critical condition. DA Adrian Chase is one of the wounded.

Rene's pistol is a 9 mm.

The gunman's primary weapon was an AR-15 - a commercially available semi-automatic rifle.

The gunman was skilled enough to avoid the security cameras until he had a mask on, has no prior record (or removed his fingerprints from the record) and apparently bought a workman's jumpsuit on-line so he could get into the building with a work bag unnoticed.

Rene' and his wife, Laura, grew up in The Glades together. Laura was a drug addict. We don't hear what Rene did in the past but Laura says he has no room to judge her for being an addict. He says that for all he's done he's never done drugs.

Two of the wounded in critical condition die on the operating table. We are told they were Kyle in commerce and Paula in accounting.

Ollie suspects there will be another attack because if this was meant to be a one-time thing, the attacker wouldn't have bothered concealing his identity or have fled the scene of the crime.

AR-15's are the weapon of choice for the Bertinelli crime family. Over 90% of their hits in the previous year used one.

There are no national gun registration databases in the DCTVU.

Felicity identifies the shooter as a 44 year old systems analyst with no prior criminal record named James Edlund. He was the married father of two daughters - 9 and 11 - until the Crosspoint Mall Shooting 16 months earlier, when his entire family was killed.

The death tally of The Crosspoint Mall Shooting was 18 dead, 12 injured with one of them living as a quadriplegic.

Edlund was a vocal proponent of a proposed local gun control ordinance called the SCGR - Star City Gun Registry. The previous city leadership stopped it from passing.

Rene lost his wife after her drug dealer took her hostage at gun point in their home. While he was able to retrieve his gun and shoot the drug dealer, his wife died after the drug dealer's gun hit the floor and went off. His daughter Zoe was then taken away from him and put into foster care, with Rene being denied any visitation rights due to his home being an "unsafe environment".

It is revealed that Rene was inspired to become a vigilante after seeing a news report about The Green Arrow killing Damien Darhk. He took the hockey mask and jersey that he wore to take his daughter to hockey games as his costume.

The Star City hockey franchise is The Dogs.

Curtis offers to have a lawyer friend help Rene get back custody of his daughter.

Dinah moves into a studio apartment with a garden in the backyard and applies to join the SCPD.

The City Council passes the Star City Firearms Freedom Act.


The Winick Factor

While the episode does offer a variety of viewpoints on the issue of gun safety and how to best go about ensuring it (i.e. government action vs. personal responsibility), it is somewhat problematic on paper that the character most openly in favor of strong gun regulations is a gay man (thus encouraging the stereotype that only "weak" people could support strict measures to curb gun violence) and that character who is the most vocal in being against gun regulations is a former military man with a criminal background and anger issues who is depicted as being irresponsible in how he handled his firearms (thus encouraging the belief that anyone against gun regulations is a criminal, a lunatic or an idiot.)


The Bottom Line

It's surprising that it took Arrow this long to do a political story. It's even more surprising that it was done so well and in a way that didn't offer easy solutions or was entirely one-sided. More like this, please!

I Believe In Heroes - A Statement of Rebellion

“I don’t like heroes. I don’t like the concept of heroes. The concept of heroes is never great.” - Donald Trump

No three sentences have ever disgusted me so much as these.

To not like heroes or the concept of heroes is to deny the best of humanity.

To not like the concept of heroes is to deny the concept of empowerment.

To not like heroes, one must be a villain.

I like heroes. I believe in heroes. I try to be heroic.

I think most people are like me. They like heroes. They want to be heroic.

Someone once said that the really great make you feel that you too can become great.

That’s as good a definition of hero worship as any I’ve seen.

Someone also said the greatest trick The Devil ever pulled was making people think he didn’t exist.

I say the greatest trick The Devil ever tried to pull was making people think heroes didn’t exist.

That is what the villains tell us. That anyone who looks like a hero Is either a liar or a fool.

They say there are no heroes. And that is the biggest lie of all.

Heroes exist. They are closer than you think. They’re all around us.

They are there inside you all, waiting to come out.

The villains want you to be silent. Be loud.

The villains want you to be afraid. Be brave.

The villains want you to be hateful. Be loving.

The villains want you to feel helpless. Be hopeful.

Be the hero they know you can be.

The Tithe #2 & #3 - A Review

Through my own fault I missed the second issue of The Tithe after greatly enjoying the first issue. Now that I'm caught up, I can happily say that I'm still enjoying this series and am quite happy to hear it has been extended past its original four-issue order. That, and I sincerely want Matt Hawkins to take over writing Green Arrow, as this whole series tackles moral complexity and current events with far greater skill than anything I've seen in recent memory that tried to uphold the Dennis O'Neil ideal of the outlaw hero.


The second issue delves into the background of the four members of the hacktivist group Samaritan. Samantha the hacker is a true idealist, out to expose those who use organized religion as a means to power and wealth. Kyle is in it to pay the debts his brother Mike owes to Mexican gangsters. And Mike and Rachel? Well, they're just in it for the kicks.

This dynamic adds another level to the drama unfolding between the forces of law and outlaw in the third issue. And the question of who is right and who is wrong has never been muddier. However murky their motives, Samaritan are doing good work but in a bad way. By contrast, the lawmen chasing after them seem to be indirectly covering-up crimes they should be exposing.


The artwork by Rahsan Ekedal remains brilliant.  The action of the story flows well from panel to panel. And everything looks a little stronger in these two issues thanks to a more vibrant palette provided by Mike Spicer.

The Tithe #1 - A Review

For the past several months, a hacktivist group known as Samaritan had been robbing mega-churches' bank accounts and donating the money to small, local charities. Now, with their latest heist, they've stepped up their game, robbing the churches physically while leaving behind evidence of the church leaders' moral and legal misdeeds. Two FBI agents - one a company man and devout Baptist and the other a white-hat hacker who doesn't believe in much of anything - have been assigned to the case, charged to bring down Samaritan at any cost. But whose cause is the righteous one?


Matt Hawkins' conceit for this series couldn't be more timely. Hawkins makes his own religious and political leanings clear enough in his afterword to this first issue but the story itself is not quite so clear as to where our sympathies should lie, save that they should not rest with the money-changers who have taken over the temples. Both FBI agents - the skeptic and the believer - are presented as men concerned with doing their jobs and following the law, even if they disagree upon Samaritan's ultimate goals and the means used to achieve those ends.

Even Samaritan itself is not entirely presented as a positive entity, with some members being presented as good people trying to fight corruption but others shown as being scornful of religion in general and not just corrupt churches. It's an unexpected bit of moral complexity in what I thought was going to be a simple modern-day Robin Hood story. I hope we'll continue to see this level of writing in the issues to come.


The artwork by Rashan Ekedal serves the story well. Ekedal's style is streamlined but effective, managing a nice balance between complex line work in the close-ups and simplicity in its far shots. And the colors by Bill Farmer are well suited to their respective scenes.

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On Terry Deary and The Modern Library

SOURCE: Libraries 'have had their day', says Horrible Histories author

Terry Deary - author of the Horrible Histories series of children's books has declared that libraries are "no longer relevant" in the modern world.  Claiming that he was " not attacking libraries" but rather "attacking the concept behind libraries", Deary went on to justify library closings by claiming they are putting the book shops and publishers out of business by giving away a product for free.

"...we've got this idea that we've got an entitlement to read books for free, at the expense of authors, publishers and council tax payers."


"The libraries are doing nothing for the book industry. They give nothing back, whereas bookshops are selling the book, and the author and the publisher get paid, which is as it should be. What other entertainment do we expect to get for free?"

I'm not quite sure where to start with how horribly out of date and inaccurate Deary's views are.  But since I was asked for my opinion on this matter, I'll try and walk through this.


1. Public library books are a privilege, not an entitlement 

Most public libraries collect most, if not all, of their funding through local taxes.  By paying taxes in your locality, you support the library and earn the right to use it.  Most libraries are strict about making sure you live in their locality before letting you partake in certain privileges (i.e. checking out materials, using the computers for an extended period, etc.) so the chances of someone freeloading off the system are virtually nil.

2. Public libraries do more than just check out books

Deary complains that books are the only entertainment people expect to get for free.  Clearly, he's never been on The Pirate Bay, where all manner of games and movies can be downloaded along with book scans.  Ignoring the thieves, Deary's view of libraries is antiquated.  Libraries do not just loan out books.  They loan out all manner of materials, including music CDs, audiobooks, magazines and yes, even movies like Roald Dahl's Matilda, which Deary name-dropped in his example of a movie people would pay money to see in a theater and then expect to get for free from a library.  Ironic considering that Matilda is about a library-loving girl who is happier reading than watching TV.  And that's ignoring the value libraries have as a cultural and educational center, offering free classes, technical resources and after-school programming among other services. 

3. Public libraries boost book sales 
 
There's been countless studies that have proven what most library users will tell you - being able to give new authors a try through checking out library books has led to them buying more books.  A 2011 Library Journal study confirmed this. Amazon also confirmed that their ebook sales went up after they started making their ebooks available for libraries to loan out. 

4. Public libraries make books accessible to people who couldn't buy them in the first place.

Deary seems to have fixated on one group of people being library users - the thrifty sorts who won't pay for what they can get for free.  Ignoring my first point for the moment (i.e. these people have paid for the privilege of using the library), Deary forgets another important category of library patrons - those who can't afford their own books. 

Be it the economically disadvantaged or children and teenagers whose parents won't buy them books for one reason or another (Parents like Harry Woodworm from Matilda are sadly real, I'm sad to say) there's a lot of people who depend on the library for reading material that aren't costing the book shops, the publishers or Mr. Deary one red cent because they don't have any money for them to take.   



In conclusion, Deary's views on libraries are as set in the past as his Horrible Histories books.  The fact of the matter is that everyone profits from the existence of public libraries, from the kid at the story time to the publishing executive.  Libraries do far more than give away books and even if they didn't there's no evidence that they are hurting book-sellers and authors.  Indeed, the reverse seems to be the case.   
 

Off Target: Green Arrow (Vol. 2) #89

I've skipped ahead in Cross Roads again to cover a story that is as topical today as it is stupid.  The comic we're about to go through is an anti-gun story.  Please note that this is an entirely different thing than being a pro-gun control story.

Without going too deeply into my own personal beliefs on the subject, I do believe the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution does grant citizens the right of gun ownership.  However, I also believe that a tremendous amount of personal responsibility should go along with gun ownership and that the state should take steps to see that gun owners are routinely tested and regulated on a level similar to what is required of people who drive a car.  Licensing.  Testing.  Regular independent inspection.  All that.   

This comic lacks such distinction or subtlety.  In this story, guns are bad and that's it. End of conversation.  There is no argument or discussion of the many cases in which private citizen gun ownership has proved beneficial to society.  And as offensive as this all might be to gun hawks, this comic is just as offensive to those who favor sensible gun control as it suggests that anyone who wants gun control must want the complete destruction of every gun everywhere and that there is no middle ground.

All that being said, let's get into Green Arrow #89 and get ready to be annoyed! 



The Unseen Shooter returns and still can't aim worth crap.
We open in the middle of the action as Green Arrow - newly arrived in Gotham City - has stumbled across a group of five men running out of a gun shop after closing time.  Sorely annoyed about his lot in life of late, Ollie decides to vent his frustration on the would-be robbers.  As usual, Ollie is so lost in his own thoughts that he doesn't notice someone sneaking up behind him. But hold off on your drinks for a moment, Green Arrow Drinking Game players - Ollie is not knocked unconscious with a blow to the head!  This time, he is tasered. 
 


New Rule: Ollie is tasered or otherwise electrocuted - Take 2 Sips.
When Ollie wakes up, he's in the back of the robber's van.  The robbers are tending to their wounds and explain that they brought Green Arrow with them on their boss's orders.  And who is their boss, you might ask?  Why it's none other than obscure Batman villain, occasional anti-hero and star of his own ill-advised solo series back in the 1990s...Anarky!

Quick Explanation.  Anarky was a character created by Batman writer Alan Grant and artist Norm Breyfogle, based on Grant's own philosophical beliefs.  After learning of the evils of the world through a pen-pal, privileged preteen prodigy Lonnie Machin became inspired to rebuild society from the ground up as the superhero Anarky.  Lonnie is a master hacker, a brilliant engineer and the very model of a modern Marty Stu.  Anarky was meant to explore the ideals of anarchism through superheroics but came off instead as the annoying younger brother of V from V for Vendetta.


And while I'm asking questions, why the hell do you have a giraffe's neck?
For those who have to know, the reason his costume has that ridiculous giraffe's neck is to disguise his height and make him look like adult.  No.  Really.  That is what that child prodigy engineer decided would fool people into thinking he wasn't just some kid in a costume.  See why Anarky didn't get much exposure after 1999? 

Anarky quickly introduces his crew to Green Arrow explaining that these men are far from merry and that all of them had their lives changed by gun violence.  In no particular order, their ranks include...

* a paramedic whose invalid mother was shot by a burglar after he failed to find anything worth stealing in her apartment.

* a teenager whose younger sister was paralyzed after getting caught in the crossfire of a gang shoot-out.

* a soldier whose wife died after a drunk man with a gun broke into their home and thought he'd walked in on his wife cheating on him.

* a young man who played with his dad's gun, after he took it out of where it was locked up, took the bullets from where they were separately locked up and accidentally killed his brother.

* the son of a gun shop owner, whose father was killed by a man with a semi-automatic rifle, despite being armed himself.


The thieving, ill-defined, poorly drawn good guys.

Even if you're pro-gun control, Anarky's argument is complete bullshit.  All of these stories are tragic but despite the common link of a gun being involved, all of these stories are also born out of human stupidity, corruption and the contrivance of the author. 

* Most burglars don't carry guns because doing so risks a heavier sentence.

* Gangs are involved in crimes other than attempted murder and are just as dangerous to a community for those reasons but Anarky isn't doing anything to bring those criminals to justice.  Indeed, he's formed his own gang to pursue his own goals!    

* A man's inability to control his drinking was just as much the reason for the soldier's wife dying as the drunk man's owning a gun but Anarky doesn't suggest robbing liquor stores and destroying the product. 

* The young man playing with the gun, retrieving it from where his dad hid it and the bullets from the OTHER place his dad hid the bullets, is just an idiot.  An idiot who is still able to overcome his father's sensible precautions for keeping his gun away from his children... but still an idiot. 

* The gun shop owner who was killed despite being armed himself is purely a contrivance to neutralize the old joke about how the easiest way to commit suicide is to rob a gun shop.  In real life, most of the incidents where this happens do not end well for the robber.

Green Arrow agrees that their motives are noble but points out that robbing gun shops and stealing guns from gang members doesn't do anything to address the root of the problem.  Anarky agrees and their vehicle conveniently stops as they arrive at... "the root of the problem".
    
Surely no one will question a teenager being a night-shift employee at a gun factory!
Ollie then proceeds to outline precisely why Anarky is a short-sighted, impatient idiot and points out that the company will just rebuild the factory.  Ollie fails to point out all the problems that will be caused by people being put out of work by the factory closing.  He also doesn't ask why Anarky bothers robbing the gun shops when he knows it's ultimately pointless, much less while in route to "the big plan".  

Still, I have to give Kevin Dooley credit for portraying Ollie as having a brain in this moment yet being sympathetic to Anarky's cause while still recognizing that he is wrong for all the right reasons.  Ollie may be a rebel at heart but he's a good man first and foremost.  He puts the Good in Chaotic Good.  He's also, unlike Anarky, not a complete idiot.


This is too stupid even for me.  And I fought a super-model murdering Jenny Craig wannabe!
Ollie walks off, leaving Anarky and his gang to their work  The gang begins to spread plastic explosives (we're told later they're Semtex but they're drawn like bundles of dynamite) around the plant.  At the same time, Anarky - apparently thinking that phone calls are an impersonal way of conducting terrorist activities - confronts the factory foreman in person to demand that he evacuate the building immediately.  He also quotes more statistics.



Listen, brother.  Nearly 40% of all accidents represent nearly half of all accidents!
I'm not going to bother refuting every single point on this page.  Suffice it to say, there have been arguments over whether or not the Second Amendment suggests an inherent right to own a gun for years and - to the best of my research ability - at the time this comic was written no court decisions had ever been made at the federal level one way or the other.  And yes, guns are responsible for accidental deaths and injuries second only to cars... so why not regulate them as intensely as cars rather than getting rid of them outright? 

The factory is evacuated and Anarky and his followers retreat to a safe distance.  Anarky notes that they have to be quick about triggering the explosion because they don't want to set their explosives off after the police arrive on the scene, noting that they are victims of society too and that there must be no innocent deaths.  Well, apart from all the families that will starve to death because you're about to put thousands of people out of work.  But hey - at least they won't suffer a quick death at the hands of a gun!

There's just one little hitch in the plan.  Somehow - the trigger on the explosives isn't working.  For all his genius, Anarky apparently can't build a simple bomb properly.  An anarchist who stinks at blowing things up - oh the irony!  But lo - help is on the horizon! 

Rereading my contract.  Looks like I'm stuck here for 11 more issues.
Yes, Ollie returned.  Why?  Oh, you're not going to believe this...


It's time to make my bow stand for something again. Even if it's something I disagree with!  ...

So... you're about to commit multiple felonies to make your heroic identity mean something again, even though you don't agree with what you're doing in the first place?  Ollie, did you get hit in the head again while you were off-panel?

The sequence which follows is even more ridiculous.  After breaking through the police barricade in Anarky's van, Ollie starts shooting out the factory windows with ordinary arrows.  That is not the ridiculous part.  He then gets on top of the speeding van, while being fired on by the police officers.  This also is not the ridiculous part.

Are you ready for the ridiculous part?  Because this next sequence is so unbelievable it requires special theme music.  Click the link and read on.



I have not altered these images in any way.  Oliver Queen just triggered a factory explosion by shooting a fire arrow through a broken window.  Just think about that.  Somehow, he was able to hit a small target without any way of seeing it or knowing where it was, save possibly through the description of Anarky's gang. 

That would be awesome if it weren't so stupid! 

Ignoring that the police were almost certainly caught in the explosion and probably killed by the shrapnel of the factory blowing up, plastic explosives do not work that way!  Indeed, the main benefit to plastic explosives is that they are more resistant to accidentally going off.  Heck, Mythbusters devoted a segment to showing how C4 could be used as a cooking fuel without triggering an explosion.

The issue ends with Ollie in a local diner, responding to one man discussing his Second Amendment rights with all the reasoned discussion you might expect from this story so far.  That is to say, none at all.



Remember kids: guns are evil. That's why I kill people with a bow!
This comic sucks!  Not just in terms of its' politics but also in terms of its' artistry or lack thereof.  The pencils by artist Michael Netzer are sloppy.  The inking by Rob Leigh soaks too many details in shadow.  And the actions of the characters are driven by the story.  There's not once bit of subtlety in this comic.  It demonizes gun owners directly and gun-control advocates indirectly by suggesting that getting rid of all guns everywhere is the ultimate goal - a suggestion which is as untrue and prejudicial as suggesting that all gun advocates want to arm preschoolers.

Next time  - something equally offensive but far less political.

Follow-Up To "How Liberalism Started The Comic Book Industry"

It seems the gentleman who wrote the column I spoke about in yesterday's critique is/was a published comic book writer. This is the cover to one of his books.

Nice... conservative costumes there. What with the thong and the up-skirt shot and a wee bit of nippleage on the woman with the impossible spine? Seriously! The lines for her butt and her right thigh don't line up!

How Liberalism Started The Comic Book Industry: A Rebuttal.

SOURCE: How Liberalism May Be Hurting Comic Book Sales

I was sent this article, written by a gentleman who believes that the reason the comic book industry is in such dire financial straits is because the writings of liberal writers are driving off conservative readers. Specifically, he cites the following stories.

1. Brightest Day #5, where Aquaman spoke about the dangers of deep-water drilling while combating an oil-spill.

2. Brightest Day #7, where Hawk smashes a jukebox because it is playing a Dixie Chicks song.

3. An issue of Birds of Prey, where Black Canary makes a comment on how unsafe SUVs are.

4. An issue of Alpha Flight, where a superheroine/cop dismisses complaints about her oppressing voters by ticketing him for parking in front of a fire hydrant while voting, saying “Please, sir. We’re Canadian.”

5. The Paradise Lost episode of Justice League, where Superman made disparaging remarks about Capitalism after Wonder Woman compared a shopping mall interior to an Amazon temple. (“Yes, for those who worship their credit cards.”)


To this, I would like to say the following:

1. It is silly to criticize Aquaman for being outspokenly against things that risk polluting the oceans for much the same reason it would be silly to criticize Batman for being outspokenly in favor of mandatory gun registration.

2. I've read the issue in question and Hank says nothing about precisely why the sound of Dixie Chicks music made him break a jukebox. Maybe he was offended because the Dixie Chicks are a group of outspoken liberal women, as Mr. Wagner suggests? Or maybe Hank is a man of taste who doesn't like modern music? Lord knows I've felt like destroying the radio every time I've heard Nickleback. In any case, there is a precedent in many other comics for Hawk losing control of his temper in high-stress situations, independent of his political beliefs. And seeing the woman that he's somewhat conflicted over (Hank and Dawn's relationship is complicated, to put it mildly) growing closer to Deadman while leaving him on his own probably qualifies as a high-stress situation.

3. While I don't know the safety statistics about SUVs compared to other vehicle types off-hand, I would dare say we can take Black Canary at her word. Nobody knows safety like a woman who routinely rides a motorcycle at highway speeds without a helmet or properly padded clothing.

4. I'm not an expert on either Canadian traffic regulations, but I do not believe the rule of law allows for exceptions. Not even in Canada. While one might be forgiven for speeding when taking a pregnant woman or a severely injured person to the hospital, voting is not an emergency situation. Impeding the ability of firemen to do their job, on the other hand, very well could be.

5. There is a world of difference between Capitalism and Consumerism and Superman is clearly decrying the later in this instance. Shopping malls, for the most part, are devoted toward the sale of non-essential goods. And while capitalism does cover the sale of all goods, I'm fairly sure that Pa Kent would have taught his son early on about the difference between the things we want and the things we need. In fact, I dare say that Superman's message here could be interpreted as a conservative one - decrying people buying things they can't afford and don't really need on credit.


All that being said, I still can't get behind the idea that a liberal bias is the sole cause of plummeting comic book sales. While I know a lot of people - myself included - who quit reading Spider-Man after The Powers That Be decided to destroy Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson, I believe that decision had less to do with Marvel spitting upon the sanctity of marriage and more to do with the reasons behind breaking up the marriage being phenomenally stupid. But I digress. My point is that I can't believe a sudden outspoken liberal bias is responsible for driving away conservative readers... because the American comic book industry has always been dominated by outspoken liberals.

Mr. Wagner himself noted Superman's original roots as a socialist champion of the working class - roots he recently returned to in Grant Morrison's Action Comics. But it goes much deeper than that. Most of the founding fathers of American comics fought were fairly progressive fellows.

* Granting that he originally drew the character in an offensive Sambo-style, Will Eisner did create the sidekick character of Ebony White for The Spirit in order to depict a heroic African-American. Eisner also drew Sheena: Queen of the Jungle - the first comic book to headline a female superhero.

* Joe Simon and Jack Kirby depicted Captain America fighting Nazis well-before the USA got involved in World War II. In fact, the duo had to be given police protection due to repeated death-threats by Nazi sympathizers.

* William Moulton Marston was a prominent feminist philosopher, who was brought into the comic book industry after he wrote a column about the great educational potential of comic books while criticizing how male heroes dominated the superhero genre. Publisher Max Gaines took the column to heart and hired Marston to create a character. Wonder Woman was the result.

* Stan Lee depicted student-protesters in a positive-light during his run on Amazing Spider-Man. And we can't forget that The Man was almost singlehandedly responsible for destroying The Comics Code Authority by - ironically enough - publishing an anti-drug comic.

And that's just the ones I know off the top of my head. I'm sure many of you can think of other examples of how liberal the founding fathers of American Comic books were. Feel free to give some examples in the comments below.

Small Ironies - Frank Miller and Occupy Wall Street.

SOURCE: FrankMillerInk.com - Anarchy

Now, I personally find the assertion that anti-American terrorists would take joy out of American citizens expressing their Constitutional right to free speech to be ludicrously ill-informed. Particularly as the main target of their protests is the corporate interests whose actions made The World Trade Center a target for those terrorists in the first place. But last I checked, this is a free country and Frank Miller is just as free to speak his mind as the Occupiers.

But I am free to speak my mind as well. As are all of my friends.

Friends like W. J. Walton of The Escapist.com, who noted the irony of a man who made his living in the comic book industry playing the "parent's basement' card.

Friends like Roy Buckingham of Sassycast, who noted the irony of a man who became famous writing stories about idealistic outsiders trying to fight the systematic corruption of government, big business and the military is now telling idealists to shut up, get a job or put on a uniform.

Mr. Miller, incidentally, has never served in any branch of the American Armed Forces.

And me? Well, I find it ironic that the character who Frank Miller is most famous for writing - when you get right down to it - lives in his momma's basement, doesn't have a real job and... well, I think I'll let Mr. Miller's work speak for itself.

A Real Cry For Justice: Help The Cheerleader Who Refused To Cheer For Her Rapist

SOURCE: Help the Cheerleader Who Refused To Cheer Her Rapist!

This girl was raped at the age of 16 by the star player for her high school basketball team. She reported him to the authorities. He plead guilty to a lesser misdemeanor assault charge and was let go with a suspended sentence. The school made their support clear, refusing to even consider booting the athlete from the team while the matter was under investigation.

She had to deal with constant harassment from her fellow students and the community after. The administration’s way of coping with this treatment was to suggest she avoid the cafeteria and not go to Homecoming. Her rape counselor encouraged her to continue all the activities she did before the rape... to refused to act like she had done something wrong.

So she stayed on the cheerleading squad - an activity she loved. She went to the games and cheered for the entire team, but when it came time to cheer her rapist’s name individually as he shot a free throw, she simply crossed her arms and stayed silent. She was summarily, and publicly, kicked off the squad.

The girl and her parents sued school officials and the district, arguing that she was being punished for exercising her right to free expression. But the Federal Appeals court that ruled against her did not see it that way, and in a cruel twist ordered that she and her parents reimburse the district for more than $45,000 in legal fees for what they called a frivolous suit. And the Supreme Court refused to even hear the appeal of that ruling.

I don't usually get political on here or plug specific causes. But I don't want to live in a world where a convicted rapist is allowed to stay in a normal public school, having the time of his life and probably getting more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime to go play ball for some college while the girl he raped is stuck footing the legal bills for the district that just wanted her to keep her mouth shut unless she was shouting "Go Team!"

So please... click the above link. Give a dollar. Give more if you can.

We can't change what happened but we can keep this girl and her parents for having to pay blood money for standing up for justice.

All You Need To Know About The Neil Gaiman Speaking Fee Controversy

1. Last year, Neil Gaiman was asked to speak at the Stillwater Public Library in Stillwater, Minnesota. The library had received several thousand dollars through a grant from The Legacy Fund - a Minnesota state program designed to, among other things, encourage the arts. The grant money was intended to bring several big-name authors to speak at their library. As is typical with this kind of grant, the money could not be spent on anything else and they were desperate to find another author who could speak within a certain point of time, lest the money disappear into the ether and the library face criticism for not spending all of their allocated funds.

2. Mr. Gaiman, ever a champion of public libraries, agreed to appear for $40,000. The actual amount he got after taxes was $33,600. Gaiman donated all of this money to two separate charities - one doing social work, the other library/book based.

3. This is, it should be noted, much lower than Mr. Gaiman's standard speaking fee. He does not do many public speaking events and what few he does are usually done for free at library conferences, charity fundraisers and other public libraries.

4. Mr. Gaiman became a target for the editorial board of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, who wrote an article citing Mr. Gaiman's speaking fee as the height of government waste perpetuated by The Legacy Fund - all while demanding to know why this sort of money wasn't being spent on a much more sensible $800 million dollar football stadium.

5. Today, Mr. Gaiman once again became the target of conservative forces in Minnesota - specifically Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean, who said that Gaiman, "who I hate," was a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota."

6. No one is sure just where the $45,000 number came from since the original price Gaiman was quoted was $40,000.

7. Apparently called out on his language by his own mother, Rep. Dean apologized later for calling Gaiman a "pencil-necked little weasel" but said that his comments on his being a thief still stood. He further commented that "I'm sure he has a lot of fans but also a lot of those fans would agree that he's extremely financially successful," Dean said. "He could probably donate a few hours of his time for some kids who follow him and like his books."

8. With this, Rep. Dean made it blatantly clear that he did not know the first thing about Neil Gaiman as a writer or a person.

9. As has been noted before, Mr. Gaiman worked below his usual rate in order to help out a library that was in a jam. He then donated his speaking fee in order to do further good.

10. As has also been noted before, Mr. Gaiman is unusually generous with his time as a public speaker and is famed for his kindness in doing what he can with his celebrity to help First Amendment causes and public libraries... free of charge.

11. Despite the clear implication that Mr. Gaiman - as an author beloved by children - is somehow unworthy of being paid a fair rate for his time, Rep. Dean once again shows his ignorance. While Gaiman is perhaps best known to the public as a Newbery Award winner, this is but ONE of the many honors that he has earned in his time as a writer. Mr. Gaiman is a polyglot among authors, unlimited by form and genre. He writes picture books, fairy tales, storybooks, young adult literature, science-fiction, urban fantasy and graphic novels with equal ease and to equal acclaim. Among his other honors are The Hugo Award, The Eisner Award and The World Fantasy Award.

12. Rep. Dean has made himself at least one enemy today. I don't mean Neil Gaiman, who I don't believe to have a mean-spirited bone in his body. I mean every single librarian, graphic novel fan and lover of good literature who Rep. Matt Dean just insulted by suggesting that our favorite author wasn't worth $45,000... let alone the $33,600 he actually received. And I predict that come election time, whoever chooses to take to the political field of battle against Rep. Dean will find their war chest bolstered by several million contributions.

Rise of Arsenal Wins Award For Accurate Depiction of Drug Addiction. There's No (Cry For ) JUSTICE!

SOURCE: 'Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal' Wins Award For Accurate Depiction of Substance Abuse.

The comic where a strung-out one-armed heroin addict manages to beat six hobos up using a dead cat as a weapon? Seriously?!

There are no words...

Truth, Justice and the Canadian Way!

Something that just occurred to me.

With all the ruckus over Superman renouncing his American citizenship, has anyone pointed out that one of Superman's co-creators - Joe Shuster - was Canadian and that the great American city of Metropolis was based on his hometown of Toronto?

Just a thought.

Trump Demands Proof Obama Is Not Superman

NEW HAMPSHIRE - Billionaire mogul and Reality TV star Donald Trump has made waves in recent months, issuing demands for President Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate. Trump, a potential candidate for President in 2012, issued these demands, saying that President Obama must directly answer charges that he is not truly an American Citizen and thus ineligible to serve as President of the United States.

Earlier today at a White House news briefing, President Obama did just that, in a move that was described by White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer as "a bold move that will settle this non-issue once and for all" as well as "any charges that President Obama does not have the best interests of America at heart."

Also earlier today, DC Comics - publisher of periodicals featuring such popular characters and Batman - released the 900th issue of the popular Action Comics title. This comic book featured a story in which Superman - long held up as the defender of Truth, Justice and The American Way, renounced his American citizenship in the face of charges that he wasn't representing the interests of America properly.

Barack Obama, himself a long-time comic fan, was heralded by many as a Superman come to save an endangered America when elected to The Presidency in 2008. Many would hold that these two events occurring on the same day, within hours of one another is an amusing and coincidence and nothing more.

Donald Trump says otherwise.

"The American Comic Book industry has been a well known hide away for liberals, Communists and other anti-American thinkers for many years," Trump asserted in a prepared statement from his corporate jet in New Hampshire. "For years, they have tried to corrupt American children with tales full of half-truths and misleading allegories. And yet, they occasionally will let the truth slip out, as they did in one comic which proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is a real Superman and that it is Barack Obama!"

Trump went on to demand that President Obama prove that not only was he not born on the distant planet Krypton but that he also submit to a test to prove that he is faster than a speeding bullet, before being escorted away into a waiting ambulance.

UPDATE: Sarah Palin is expected to call a press conference later this afternoon, to demand answers as to why President Obama did not spin the earth backwards in order to stop the 9-11 attacks. We will report more on this story as events warrant.

Comic Awards Completely Meaningless. Also, There Is No God.

What makes me say that? The fact that The Rise Of Arsenal was nominated for the Prism award for "outstanding accomplishments in the accurate depiction of substance abuse and mental health disorders: prevention, treatment and recovery..."

SOURCE: Justice League: Rise Of Arsenal Nominated For Prism Awards

I'll remind you that this is the comic in which recovering heroin addict Roy Harper falls off the wagon in record time, proves unable to get it up after he attempts to rape the supervillain assassin Cheshire and winds up suffering hallucinations where he is talking to his first drug dealer and his dead daughter and winds up beating a gang of drug-dealers up using a dead cat as a weapon. Or protecting the dead cat that he thinks is his dead daughter - it's really not clear in the artwork.

The point is that this is the biggest joke since James Robinson got nominated for a Best Writer Eisner Award for Justice League: Cry For Justice and that to call this comic an "accurate depiction" of anything other than a terrible story is a mockery of all that is good and decent.

So yeah... comic awards are totally meaningless. Just like the awards for everything else. Big shocker, right?

Help Fight Child Sex Slavery At The Super Bowl

Because this is happening in my home town and because I'm always up for exposing the indifference of politicians to basic human rights violations...

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/ask_the_super_bowl_host_committee_to_stand_up_and_protect_children

New Low For Conservatives in USA, As Racist Half-Wits Protest MuslimBatman of Paris

SOURCE:Racists Totally Freak Out Over Muslim 'Batman of Paris'

This article at Comics Alliance says everything I need to say about this and more. But I do love how the same people who have promoted the "cheese-eating surrender monkey" stereotype of The French for years are now screaming bloody murder about how insulting it is to proud traditions of The French Army to have one of France's representatives in the League of Batmen to be a black Muslim and master of parkour.

Barack The Barbarian #1

Be Warned! If ye be a liberal lacking a sense of humor regarding portrayals of Our President or are a conservative who thinks Sarah Palin is a viable candidate for any public office, you might just want to keep on walking past this review.

It is a little known fact that Barack Obama is a comic book fan. It is an even lesser known fact that his favorite book is Conan The Barbarian. I have seen some liberals deride this book - and a rash of other books depicting the new American President - as disrespectful.




While I think that argument could be won in the case of... oh say, President Obama's inclusion in an Army of Darkness parody poster or even an official Army of Darkness story, I think that My President would get a kick out of seeing himself depicted as a mighty warrior, ridden into a city of thieves, ready to wear the crown upon a weary brow.

I'd be lying if I said that this book was a great piece of subtle political satire akin to the writings of Voltaire, Swift or Twain. What I can say is that this is easily the best parody of Conan the Barbarian to be presented in comic form written since the early issues of Cerebus.





Most of the jokes are on par with the Mad Magazine movie parodies and political commentaries of old. It is however, a remarkably subdued parody of Robert E. Howard's Tower of the Elephant, with Barack Obama as Conan, Dick Cheney as the dark priest Yara and Hillary Clinton as the thief Taurus, who partners with a younger hero the better to circumvent the dangers before them.

It is a brilliant conceit on a metatextual level, with the pun equating the Republican Party to the evils of the Elephant Tower a brilliant one. To say nothing of Washington D.C. substituting for Arejun, City of Thieves. And all of this is conveyed within the frame-story of a storyteller in a post-historic future, telling children of the days of high adventure...




No, this book is not subtle. It is, however, as hilarious as any book with Dick Cheney wearing the headdress of the Thulsa Doom on the cover should be. And that, for my money, is enough.

I should note, however, that those concerned about this being a fair and balanced portrayal of the previous election should not worry. Much respect and honor is paid to John McCain (aka The Old Warrior) and there is a joke aimed squarely at the liberal side of the aisle, regarding how the amazons supporting Hillary abandon her after Hillary orders them to follow Barack's orders as if they were her own.

In fact, the only real people in the book who is made to look foolish are Sarah Palin and George W. Bush. And I suspect that's only because... well, they took all the other easy jokes so why not those jokes too? But in all seriousness, Larry Hama (yes, THAT Larry Hama) did a good job of creating a political parody that most Americans can enjoy.

I wish I could say that the same care went into the art but honestly, the pencils by Christopher Schons are a bit uneven, with caricatures and proportions varying wildly. The inks are also a bit too thick at times, with far-shots being too heavily shadowed.

Still, for those who are bold and looking for a good laugh, I can think of few books that can offer such a thing so freely.

By Crom, This Looks Awesome!

SOURCE: Barack The Barbarian Comic To Be Published

As I've noted before, our President is a comic fan. And he is particularly fond of Conan The Barbarian. So it is no small wonder that someone has elected to do this; a satire depicting Obama as a warrior who would be king by his own hands, as he faces many enemies such as a wolf-skin clad amazon from the northlands and the treacherous warlord Chainknee.

I'll spare you the alternate covers depicting Sarah Palin in a fur bikini and Obama going into battle against a Valkyrie-cup clad Ann Coulter and give you this one.

You can keep your cheesecake of shrill, annoying Republican wenches. I shall have the cover depicting Dick Cheney in James Earl Jones' Thulsa Doom headdress!