Green Arrow (vol.5) #2 (September, 2010)
"Into the Woods"
Writer - J.T. Krul
Penciller - Diogenes Neves
Inker - Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist - Ulises Arreola
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Editor - Adam Schlagman
Cover Price: $2.99
As #BrightestMay winds down... I'm just picking books at random.
There's just not enough time to give as in depth a look at this strange and interesting time in DC Comics in a single month... even one with 31 days! Might as well just have some fun with Ollie!
Well, we did our best... and, most importantly... might have deduced the very issue in which the gears shifted from Brightest Day to The New-52!.
We also got a "like" from Geoff Johns, so there's that...
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We open with a cloaked man wandering Ollie's woods. Not sure if he's been officially named yet, but we'll just go ahead and call him Galahad. He's been drawn here, and knows that the amazing growth of this star-shaped forest is not the work of Mother Nature... Gee, what tipped you off, pal? Elsewhere, Ollie and Hal chat a bit about the White Lantern logo appearing on a tree, and how that might've affected Hal's power ring... also, the former informs the latter that he now resides among the trees.
We briefly shift scenes to check in on "The Queen". We learn from her that Oliver's father Robert is responsible for helping her a great deal. As she watches a pair of Queen Industries helicopters fly off, she vows to do something about his Son.
As the choppers head toward the forest, Ollie show Hal his new digs. Ollie wasn't messing around when he said he was living in the woods. Seems he's got himself quite the neat little set up.
As Ollie starts to guide (the powerless) Hal out of the woods... they find themselves attacked by Queen Industries' Dollar Store Hellfire Club! Even though Jordan is powerless... that doesn't stop him from leaping into battle.
They fight for a bit, with the hard travelin' homeboys having the upper hand, until one of the Hellfires fires a flare into the sky to request back-up from the helicopters hovering above.
Then... Ollie has an idea. If Hal's ring is powerless in the woods, all's they gotsta do is... get Hal outta the woods! Luckily, Ollie's been busy since moving into the forest, and has finagled an interesting little pulley system. Hal grabs on, and is hurled skyward.
Lucky for Hal, this gamble pays off! Green Lantern "deals with" the choppers... assuaging all of my fears by promising them a soft landing.
While Hal nails 'em "up high", Ollie maintains his offense on the low road... triggering another trap, in the form of a large swinging log. The Hellfires get smooshed but good. Ollie interrogates one that hasn't yet been kayoed, and tells him to inform his new boss that Queen name still belongs to him.
After the dust settles, Hal and Ollie say their goodbyes. Ollie then goes for a Tarzan-like rope swing... before falling some distance and landing with a thud. He inspects the rope and finds that it has definitely been tampered with.
If that's not bad enough, Ollie is then... shot in the head?! Well, that escalated quickly!
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Another fun issue!
I really dig the way that Ollie has made this forest his home. It stands to reason that Oliver, as paranoid as he currently is... would rig up booby traps, and survivalist methods to keep him safe. It doesn't matter if he's stranded on an island, or exiled to a strange star-shaped forest... if nothing else, Ollie's a survivor.
Hal being cool charging into battle without a working ring is fits his character. Really don't have any problem with that. I kinda feel like him "dealing with" those helicopters after being repowered was a bit "iffy". It's as though they had to add the dialogue about the "safe landing" after the fact... because the way he was chopper-handling them looked rather dicey.
Not a whole lot more to say about this one though. It was super fun action... with amazing art, and one helluva cliffhanger. I'm always a sucker for a hard-traveling team-up... if you happen to feel the same way, definitely give this a peek. Available digitally if that's you're thing.
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Brightest Day #5 (Early September, 2010)
"Under Pressure"
Writers - Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Artists - Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf & Joe Prado
Inker - Vicente Cifuentes
Colors - Aspen MLT's Peter Steigerwald
Letterer - Rob Clark, Jr.
Assistant Editor - Rex Ogle
Associate Editor - Adam Schlagman
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.99
I'm really not sure what I expected when I initially pitched the #BrightestMay event... to myself. I must've been insane to think that I'd be able to give an issue by issue overview of the entire event in only 31 days!
Well... hopefully by the time May 31 rolls around we'll have at the very least scratched the surface!
And there's always next year... and the year after that... and the year after that.
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We open off the Bermuda Triangle where Aquaman and Mera are checking on the rig that was attacked last issue (feels like it's been years since we read that! We might call that the "The Dark Things" effect). Anyhoo, they find themselves attacked by some very Mera-like water constructs... originating from that new Mera-like mystery woman, Siren!
We shift scenes over to Deadman, Hawk and Dove who are still standing in front of Don Hall's grave. A reluctant Boston Brand finally decides to try and use his White Ring to revivify the dead Dove... and lemme tell ya, the ring ain't entirely happy about it.
Back in the drink, Aquaman and Mera fight off Siren's generic forces... until Mera and Siren lock eyes, at which point Mera insists that she and Aquaman ought to beat a hasty retreat. It would appear that she's got a secret. Mera, that is.
Next we pop over to whereverthehell the Hawks wound up after passing through the portal. They admire all of the floating land masses... kinda looking like a less pretty Zeal from ChronoTrigger. They are able to deduce that only one of these masses appears to be inhabited. They then kiss... and begin to, er... decay a li'l bit?
They are then attacked by a group of Cheetahmen! Thankfully this gang doesn't hop out of a television set. They fight for a bit, until...
Bird beasts join the fray! Looks like our heroes have found themselves in the midst of a beast war!
One of the birds nabs Hawkgirl and manages to deposit her into an electrified cell. Hawkman is embroiled in combat, and more or less helpless to stop the abduction.
Back on Earth, the attempt to raise Don Hall proves to be unsuccessful. You know how it is... he's too "at peace, maaaaaan". Hank ain't convinced... after all, he's heard that line before (and so have we). The trio aren't about to leave well enough alone, however... ya see there's a nearby cadaver that isn't at peace. That would be Dawn Granger's sister (and former Hawk, herself) Holly! The White Ring is still displeased. Ya know, Ring, if you'd be a little less cryptic, ol' Boston might actually do your bidding.
Back in Hawkworld... oh yeah, that place where Hawkman and Hawkgirl went is actually Hawkworld... Hawkman wakes up next to a beast man who... welcomes him to Hawkworld.
We wrap up back by Bermuda, where Mera finally comes clear to Arthur. Ya see, she was originally sent there... to kill him! A revelation that might've carried a bit more "oomph" if Aquaman hadn't just been dead for an extended period of time.
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Well, we're still in vignette-city, but kinduva more focused "suburb".
This time around we only follow three of our story threads... which, if you ask me, is both a good idea, and a bad idea. Good in that, it made this issue feel like something actually, ya know, happened. Bad in that, it might be a few issues time before any of these threads get followed up on. I mean, if you were reading this for Firestorm or Martian Manhunter... you get a whole lotta nothin' here.
That aside, this was a far better issue structurally. Although it still felt somewhat cramped, the bits we do get feel like they get a decent amount of panel-space to "breathe"... or at least stretch their legs some.
Let's talk Aquaman. The "army of underwater baddies" isn't my idea of a good time. I've said it before... it just feels like we've been here too many times before (and since) to get all that excited about. The "twist" at the end? Ehh. I get it, it's hard coming up with a cliffhanger every two weeks.
The Hawkworld bits... almost got me interested in Hawkman? Well, no... that's a lie. This is yet another well-tread trope that we've seen skatey-eight hundred times before. The heroes wind up in the middle of a war... and will ultimately be drafted into it.
The Deadman part might've been the most interesting, if it wasn't so infuriating. The White Ring is a major pain in the ass at this point... we're moderately deep into this thing, and we still don't have the foggiest idea what it wants... because it refuses to tell Deadman what it wants! Maybe next issue will start with it dropping poor ol' Boston into Granny Goodness's shower as a punishment or something. Maybe it'll drop him into a room where the only thing to do is read comics starring the Spectre! Talk about "cruel and unusual".
The "Don Hall is at peace" thing? Talk about "diminishing returns". That whole thing felt so right during Blackest Night... but, now it's kinda spent. It's like if you make the mistake of laughing at a little kid's joke... then the rest of the day they keep trying to retell the same joke to get the same response. It had it's moment... but that moment has passed.
Overall... a pretty middling issue. In fairness, it's taking place during a "middling" portion of this "crossovent". I feel like there's enough forward momentum to recommend this... but maybe not in single-issue format. More and more I feel like this should be read in trade form (hell, that's definitely what they had in mind when they were writing it).
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#JLMay2018:
If you'll allow me the indulgence of switching gears for a moment... May has been a very "thematic" month at the Palatial Christate. Here at the humble blog we are in the throes of #BrightestMay... however, in the podcasting world, we are just wrapping up the crossover event #JLMay2018.
Throughout the month, we along with several of our fellow podcasts have run through the entirety of the Silver Age event from 2000.
Today it all comes to a close with the release of the latest episode of our Cosmic Treadmill, wherein we check out Silver Age: 80 pg. Giant #1.
Definitely check out the rest of JLMay!
- Justice's First Dawn (May 1, 2018) The Silver-Age #1
- Relatively Geeky Presents (May 3, 2018) Episode 12: The Silver Age: Challengers of the Unknown #1
- Coffee & Comics Podcast (May 7, 2018) Episode 22: The Silver Age: Justice League of America #1
- Batgirl to Oracle (May 8, 2018) Episode 157: The Silver Age: Showcase Presents #1
- Super Mates (May 10, 2018) Episode 81: The Silver Age: Teen Titans #1
- The Idol-Head of Diabolu (May 14, 2018) Episode 32: The Silver Age: Dial H for Hero #1
- Longbox Crusade (May 16, 2018) Episode 15: The Silver Age: Flash #1
- Fire & Water Podcast (May 20, 2018) Episode 211: The Silver Age: Secret Files and Origins
- Waiting for Doom (May 20, 2018) The Silver Age: Doom Patrol #1
- The Lanterncast (May 22, 2018) Episode 322: The Silver Age: Green Lantern #1
- Comic Reflections (May 23, 2018) The Silver Age: The Brave and the Bold #1
- Chris and Reggie's Cosmic Treadmill (May 27, 2018) Episode 92: The Silver Age: 80-pg. Giant #1
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Birds of Prey (vol.2) #1 (July, 2010)
"Endrun, Part One of Four: Without Breaking a Few Eggs"
Writer - Gail Simone
Artist - Ed Benes
Colorist - Nei Ruffino
Letterer - Steve Wands
Editor - Janelle Siegel
Cover Price: $2.99
Finally... Birds of Prey. I think with this issue we've covered at least one Brightest Day issue from each "family" of titles.
Now, I wasn't necessarily "saving" the Birds for last... it's just that my comics library is kind of a disaster area. If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll see just how crazy my latest attempt at organization has been!
Anyhoo... let's talk Boyds!
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We open with Black Canary arriving somewhere... very cold (Iceland, I think), for a hostage exchange with a group of nogoodniks. There are strings attached, however. The lead baddie informs her that he'll let the little girl go if her parents will hold a press conference to apologize for messing around in Quarac... oh, and also to publicly kill themselves. Dinah has a different idea.
After calling in Lady Blackhawk... and beating the holy hell out of the baddies, the ladies reconnoiter at a nearby hospital. A live television airs the news of the rescue of Katy... but leaves Dinah's name out of it. Lady Blackhawk is a bit annoyed... but Dinah informs her that she asked not to be mentioned. Their chat is cut short by... a call.
A call from Oracle. She informs the girls that something major has come up... so major that they need to pull the team back together.
On another monitor, Barbara watches another former "Bird"... Huntress! She's in the midst of crackin' skulls in some alley somewhere. As the dust settles, Babs makes contact.
Elsewhere... on the "nice side" of Gotham, we Dove and the resurrected Hawk as they... beat up a bunch of cheerleaders?! No kidding, Hank Hall and Dawn Granger are beating up the "Pep Squad". Ay yai yai. Hawk makes a few cryptic comments about his return... and claims that "God wants a soldier". Because, in case you'd forgotten (like I had!), this is a Brightest Day tie-in!
We jump ahead a few hours to a bar... and it's here that the storytelling kinda gets jumbled. Maybe it's just a case of me being too dense, but it almost feels like some of these panels are out of sequence. Hank is chatting up an old man... and sorta flirting with the (sorta Barbara Gordon-looking) waitress. Meanwhile, Lady Blackhawk enters and starts talking to Dawn... about Hank? Feels like a scene written for television... but stuck in a comic book anyway.
The scene ends with... I think Lady Blackhawk asking if Hawk is gay... then Hawk and Dove deciding to throw their lot in with the Birds? I dunno.
We shift scenes to a Gotham City rooftop, where we finally get our Oracle/Black Canary/Huntress reunion. Unfortunately, their meeting isn't under the best of circumstances. Barbara shares with them that she'd recently received a strange package from a homeless courier. The package included files upon files of information about the hero and villain community... secret identities, people of interest, all that stuff!
What's more, the unknown sender has threatened to kill one of the names on the list every hour from midnight on. And wouldn'tcha know it... the clock is just about to strike.
They speculate on what's about to happen... when they notice a strange canary-esque symbol being shone into the sky. They (Dinah and Helena) follow it and discover a woman threatening... the Penguin!
The Birds get involved... and kinda get their butts kicked. The mystery assassin then jabs a blade into the Penguin's jugular... and dares them to try and save him. This woman is... White Canary (not that we'd know that quite yet).
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Not a bad little "gathering of forces" issue to open up this too-short volume. It's kind of paint by numbers... but, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The oldest tricks are sometimes the best.
Joining each other characters "en media whatever" is a fine way to introduce them... and helps potential "new" readers (ha!) to get a better look at them outside of the "Birds" dynamic.
The premise is a really intriguing one... and a great way to keep these characters "busy" while the rest of Brightest Day can... ya know, happen. Again, the concept of a dossier isn't exactly revolutionary, but it's a lot of fun... and opens up several interesting storytelling possibilities.
I'm not sure how popular an opinion this is, but I've always dug Ed Benes' art. It's clean, and pretty... and, outside of that odd bar-scene the storytelling was clear and easy to follow.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this. Birds of Prey is one of those books which exemplifies just what was being thrown away when The New-52! was foisted upon us. Well worth checking out... and, for your convenience is available digitally.
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Green Arrow (vol.5) #1 (August, 2010)
"Man of the People"
Writer - J.T. Krul
Penciller - Diogenes Neves
Inker - Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist - Ulises Arreola
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Editor - Adam Schlagman
Special Thanks - Geoff Johns
Cover Price: $3.99
And we're back... The Dark Things are behind us, and maybe... just maybe, we can get back to checking out something worth reading.
This run on Green Arrow was one of the first things I saw when I came back to comics after the The Great Chrisession of 2008-2009. It was promoted heavily in the back of many of the books we've already looked at during #BrightestMay... and at first blush, I wasn't sure it was going to be "for me".
The lingering image, which I'll include below, is Ollie shooting off a fella's nose. It's pretty graphic (for comics), and I recall seeing that and just shaking my head. More DC-darkening for the sake of it. Or was it? Curiosity (and a five-dollar bill burning a hole in my pocket) later led to me grabbing this first issue to find out.
It's been nearing on a decade since I read it... let's see how it aged.
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We open in the ravaged Star City. Star City was destroyed during Justice League: Cry for Justice... which, as of this writing, we've only covered the first issue of here at the blog. Since the Brightest Day "happened", the decimated city has been filled in with a lush forest. A forest, in which a woman is currently being chased by some nogoodniks. Lucky for her, it would appear she's got a van dyked guardian angel. And here's the bit with the nose-flesh.
Ollie shows himself... and proceeds to beat the hell out of the rest of the baddies. He checks with the girl to make sure she's okay, and starts walking her out of the woods. It's here that we learn a few things. The Mayor and Police Commissioner of Star City aren't Ollie's biggest fans... which is why he's been "exiled" to the woods. Also, this new forest almost seems "alive"... after getting "turned around" Ollie says that it seems to "change", and although he's combed the entire area... it still surprises him.
They finally make it out of the dark, and we get our first good look at the decimated Star City. It looks pretty bad. I mean, Gotham City was once deemed a "No Man's Land" for far less!
We shift scenes to the top of the Queen Industries tower, where the glad-handers and yes men prepare to meet their new owner, the eccentric Isabel Rochev. We know that she's eccentric because, well... she looks like this. Yikes.
She introduces herself to the board... and ensures them she'll rebuild the "good name" of Queen... referring not to Ollie, but Ollie's father Patrick Queen.
We pop over to a gala event being held elsewhere in the... not so ravaged part of Star City. It's here that we meet Evan Gibson, a reporter for the Star Gazette. He rushes over to the "guests of honor" Mayor Altman and Commissioner Nudocerda and lambastes them for wasting taxpayer money on such a gaudy event when so many Star Citizens are struggling.
Once inside, the Mayor and Commish are alerted to the fact that... gasp... all of the food for the event has been stolen! Outside, Ollie does the Robin Hood thing, giving all the grub to some impoverished children.
The following day we join the Commissioner who is stuck in traffic... well, kinda. He's being held up by a city worker holding up a Stop Sign. An annoyed Nudocerda bursts from his car to confront the civil servant... only to have his throat slashed!
The accompanying officers give chase to the worker... and quickly learn that it was someone wearing a mask, leaving them with more questions than answers. Green Arrow is on a nearby roof watching the entire thing unfold.
He is soon joined on the roof by our new friend, Evan Gibson. They think on who might've killed Nudocerda for a bit... with Ollie suggesting that the Commish had far too many enemies to pick out a single suspect. He's happy it went down this way though... it looks like the Mayor is starting to panic.
Speaking of the Mayor, we rejoin him visiting with "The Queen" at Queen Industries. She presents him with his new security detail... the dollar-store Hellfire Club!
We wrap up with a visit from Hal Jordan. He's decided to check in on this new forest... unfortunately as he closes in, his ring goes kaput... sending him careening to the ground. Lucky for him, he lands right next to his hard-travellin' homeboy.
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I liked this. I liked it a lot, actually.
I want to start by taking a look at how Ollie is presented here. When the New-52! hit, so much of the focus was on "youngifying" all of our favorite heroes. They've all got to be 25 or younger. When it comes to "dating" a hero, I always err on the side of less being more. Just looking at this Oliver... he might be in his late-twenties... or, he might be in his mid-forties. It's immaterial, doesn't get in the way... and it doesn't open up the can of worms where we have to try and "place" things from his past.
I'll admit that I'm a guy who gets tangled up in the minutia and continuity. Probably more than most people who just want to enjoy a good story. That said, I had no problem "reconciling" this Ollie, and as a bonus... I also dug the story!
Let's talk about that story. Ollie's shouldering a lot of the blame for everything that's gone down, and as such has been exiled to the woods by the crooked Commish and Mayor of Star City. It's a really good set-up to illustrate Oliver as a... Man of the People (heyyy, that's the title of this issue!).
The Robin Hood act... which is usually a "too on the nose" pass from me, really worked this time around. It's not every story that revolves around a group of fat-cats ignoring the survivors of a literally destroyed city... so, it works without being too gratuitous. There is also, somewhat surprisingly, no political "hot takes" for such a potentially political story (starring one of the more political characters in DC's pantheon). That's always something I'm going to appreciate. The Mayor is a bad guy... that's all we need to know. It doesn't matter who he voted for in the last election. Granted, for all I can remember... this might all come to roost next issue.
The "Queen"... ehhh. I'm not quite sure how I feel about her. The Cobra Commistress look is kinda cool, but I just can't see that working in the board room. I mean, she looks like something out of that old Passions soap opera... and I think that might be about as seriously as I could take her.
I feel like my only complaint (if you could call it that) is one that isn't exclusive to this book... it's the over the top violence. The "dark Didio DC" has always left me a bit cold. You know when you were like twelve years old... and you thought the fact you were reading things with over the top violence and/or bad words made you "mature"? Then, as an adult, you look back at your twelve year old self... and kinda cringe? That's kinda how I feel about the gorier parts of this issue (and comics in general).
The nose-meat bit... hell, even the Commissioner getting his throat slashed... they were just a bit too much. It's the kind of thing I figure normies (that is, people who don't read comics) picture when they think of comics. And, in this case, damn DC for making them right!
There's also a fair bit of decompression here... but again, that's not Green Arrow's nor J.T. Krul's fault. That's just the way things were/are being done.
Worth mentioning that the art here... is reeeeeeeediculous. Just gorgeous work here from Neves. Everything looks amazing... from the Cobra Commistress's silly mask, to the shattered Star City skyline... just absolutely breathtaking work, that I'd encourage folks to go out of their way to check out.
Overall... I certainly enjoyed this. A really good opening chapter that, decompression accepted, doesn't waste any time getting the story started. Worth a look... available digitally.
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