tobin_elliott's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Because I'm slowly working my way through Mike Grell's shockingly good Warlord series, I decided to re-read his Green Arrow story, that I hadn't read since its initial three-issue release almost 36 years ago.
And honestly? Yeah, it shows how great Grell is with Warlord.
I'll go on record right now as saying, with some notable exceptions (Alan Moore's Watchmen, Tom King's Mister Miracle, Frank Miller's first Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1), I'm really not a DC fan. And this series, while trying really hard, won't be the one to sway me.
Unlike Grell's work on his creative baby, Warlord, that he conceived, scripted, and drew, he's now playing in the larger DC sandbox with an established history, so it felt slightly more forced, though he took a good angle...Oliver moves cities and because of the physical move, he begins to also question where his life is going and some of the decisions he's made to get him there.
There's also, of course, the shadowy (pun intended) villain of the piece, as well as two plots, both involving people showing up dead.
Grell's trying to make a point with the drug smuggling, money laundering, justice system, and the jaded public that's happy to turn away and ignore all these injustices. He sort of gets there, but not completely successfully.
Then there's the art. With Warlord, I'm constantly struck by Grell's impeccable design and layout sense on page after page. But here, it's somewhat less successful. Once again, Grell used the DC prestige format to experiment with his art as well, combining his excellent pencil and ink linework with coloured pencil sketches and even what appears to be watercolour painting. At the same time, he utilizes a lot of double page spreads that aren't, unfortunately, always obvious—at least to me—which lead to reading, then re-reading the dialogue in the correct order. I will say, though, that the actual art itself is simply stunning.
So, in the end, while I applaud Grell for what he was trying to do, it was only partially successful.
northern_mint's review
1.0
Well, this hasn't aged well. Trigger warning for Sexual Assault
This was written during the height of the war on drugs and it shows. Green Arrow recounts his origin story. If you're familiar with his character you will know his origin is that he became standed on an island and had to fight off a group of bloodthirsty pirates to return home. However, it turns out this was all a lie. Instead of pirates, it was two stoned and unarmed hippies that he threatened with grievous bodily harm so they would take him back to civilization. He doesn't even try to ask them for help. After this, he has these criminals arrested because they were trying to grow some marijuana. For the actions of an ostensibly a liberal hero, it's all so comical.
Several times the comic establishes that crime has never been higher. I'd like to go off on a short tangent here criminals are constantly being shocked that Green Arrow would beat them up. How on earth did they expect him to handle them? With cupcakes and hugs?
The other significant part that really hasn't aged well is that Black Canary is kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Now I am not trying to suggest characters should never be brutalized in fiction but at least it should serve some purpose in the narrative. The authors have not even come close to achieving this goal. Green Arrow kills the men who have committed these heinous crimes and goes back to being a non-lethal hero immediately. Our female lead points out the hypocrisy of his actions and he totally ignores this criticism. The comic takes the stance that this issue has been resolved even though it hasn't been in the slightest.
The comic also drops its narrative focus and picks new ones up willy-nilly. It's incredibly jarring. The comic starts off by relating the dangers of drugs and the mental health issues of Vietnam vets. The Vietnam vet angle is quickly dropped for the horrors of Japanese internment camps . Then at the very end, everything is dropped to insert the Iran-Contra affair into the story. Mike Grell should have just stuck with one because this hodgepodge of unrelated narrative elements doesn't work.
This was written during the height of the war on drugs and it shows. Green Arrow recounts his origin story. If you're familiar with his character you will know his origin is that he became standed on an island and had to fight off a group of bloodthirsty pirates to return home. However, it turns out this was all a lie. Instead of pirates, it was two stoned and unarmed hippies that he threatened with grievous bodily harm so they would take him back to civilization. He doesn't even try to ask them for help. After this, he has these criminals arrested because they were trying to grow some marijuana. For the actions of an ostensibly a liberal hero, it's all so comical.
Several times the comic establishes that crime has never been higher. I'd like to go off on a short tangent here criminals are constantly being shocked that Green Arrow would beat them up. How on earth did they expect him to handle them? With cupcakes and hugs?
The other significant part that really hasn't aged well is that Black Canary is kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Now I am not trying to suggest characters should never be brutalized in fiction but at least it should serve some purpose in the narrative. The authors have not even come close to achieving this goal. Green Arrow kills the men who have committed these heinous crimes and goes back to being a non-lethal hero immediately. Our female lead points out the hypocrisy of his actions and he totally ignores this criticism. The comic takes the stance that this issue has been resolved even though it hasn't been in the slightest.
The comic also drops its narrative focus and picks new ones up willy-nilly. It's incredibly jarring. The comic starts off by relating the dangers of drugs and the mental health issues of Vietnam vets. The Vietnam vet angle is quickly dropped for the horrors of Japanese internment camps . Then at the very end, everything is dropped to insert the Iran-Contra affair into the story. Mike Grell should have just stuck with one because this hodgepodge of unrelated narrative elements doesn't work.
luana420's review
4.0
Once you get past the kinda off-putting violence against sex workers (hey, a comic book with something to prove in 1987), this turns into a pretty cool 80s action movie, with an actual friggin Rocky Mountain First Blood/Cliffhanger style climax.
Ollie is kind of a lame duck protagonist (his only motivation seems to be to want kids, which... okay?) but Shado more than makes up for him in both design and relatability.
I heard that this was a redesign of the character which is VERY FUNNY since you have this scene of a Robin Hood cosplay motherfucker talking to a Death Wish police detective at the hospital soft drink machine. Like, uhh, maybe we shoulda redesigned slightly harder...
Mike Grell's art is truly one of the most awe-inspiring things I've seen in mainstream comics, holy shit. I was gawking practically every page.
Also kinda impressed that this was just a three-issue arc! Thank you, short comics!
So yeah, if you can get past the half-gross/half-eyerolling FILTH OF THE CITY opening, it gets fun! (hope you don't like Black Canary too much)
Ollie is kind of a lame duck protagonist (his only motivation seems to be to want kids, which... okay?) but Shado more than makes up for him in both design and relatability.
I heard that this was a redesign of the character which is VERY FUNNY since you have this scene of a Robin Hood cosplay motherfucker talking to a Death Wish police detective at the hospital soft drink machine. Like, uhh, maybe we shoulda redesigned slightly harder...
Mike Grell's art is truly one of the most awe-inspiring things I've seen in mainstream comics, holy shit. I was gawking practically every page.
Also kinda impressed that this was just a three-issue arc! Thank you, short comics!
So yeah, if you can get past the half-gross/half-eyerolling FILTH OF THE CITY opening, it gets fun! (hope you don't like Black Canary too much)
testpattern's review
2.0
Enjoyably pulpy, but terribly drawn (with the most serious of intentions) and riddled with hamfisted eighties social consciousness.
dumblydore's review
3.0
I love the art—you don't see much of pencil colouring these days, but I really hated how Dinah/Black Canary was brushed aside in typical fridge-fare.
Rating: 2.5/5
Rating: 2.5/5
lyrafay12's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5
lyrafay12's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
subhamroxx's review
4.0
This was really good!
Ollie is 40s and he is retired to Seattle with his gf Dinah but what happens when some Seattle Slasher comes in and starts murdering people and so he has to team up with some cops to track this guy down but then another killer nicknamed "Robin hood killer" comes in and Ollie investigates that only to discover the secrets of the woman Shado and how all this is connected and it deals with corruption and crooked men and whatnot and when things get personal with Dinah, a new side of him emerges.
I loved this story and the introduction of Shado gives it a new feeling and also the artstyle is so good here and just makes you love the whole thing even more. The layouts are crazy and the aesthetics are just brilliant. Some of the best imagery ever. One of the best DC and GA stories easily.
Ollie is 40s and he is retired to Seattle with his gf Dinah but what happens when some Seattle Slasher comes in and starts murdering people and so he has to team up with some cops to track this guy down but then another killer nicknamed "Robin hood killer" comes in and Ollie investigates that only to discover the secrets of the woman Shado and how all this is connected and it deals with corruption and crooked men and whatnot and when things get personal with Dinah, a new side of him emerges.
I loved this story and the introduction of Shado gives it a new feeling and also the artstyle is so good here and just makes you love the whole thing even more. The layouts are crazy and the aesthetics are just brilliant. Some of the best imagery ever. One of the best DC and GA stories easily.
hmt200's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kegriese1's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0