A Review of Arrow.

When thinking of the big two comic book companies (DC and Marvel), the strengths of the respective media empires come to mind. Lately, with all of the super hero content available on screen, one can surmise that Marvel is better at the movie making business and DC knows how to produce television programs. While the Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel were huge successes at the box office, DC seems to only know how to make good movies with only Batman and Superman and Marvel seems to be able to eek out gold using even its B and C-list heroes. However, the opposite can be said concerning television where DC seems to have the upper hand. There has always been a special place in my and many geek’s heart for the DC animated universe (DCAU). Starting with Batman: The Animated Series and terminating with Green Lantern: The Animated Series, the DCAU provided quality programming with superb writing, respect for legendary characters, and nods to the audience.  Marvel does not have this type of presence on the small screen. 

Why bring this up? Well, in addition to animation, DC Comics has been fairly successful adapting its universe into live action television shows as well. Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, The Flash, and Smallville (let’s not bring up the horrible Justice League adaptation that thankfully didn’t make it past the pilot) all were met with various commercial and critical successes. I will say though that I am not as big of fan of the live action shows as I am of the animated programs. The latest series on the list is Smallville which, in my opinion, only had two good seasons (the first two) and left much to be desired. This brings us to the topic of the article, Arrow. 

Due to my experience with Smallville, I was very hesitant on giving Arrow a chance but I would like to report that I was very wrong. This show has been very enjoyable so far with very little weak points over the first season and a half and contains enough inside nods to DC fans that you can’t wait to see who they place into the next episode. 

The first thing about the show that I just love is the atmosphere of the setting. This show could easily fit into the Dark Knight or Man of Steel continuities which I think is a very good idea. DC Comics through the aforementioned movies and Arrow are establishing a screen mood that is very different than the light-hearted, playful tone of the Marvel screen continuity. This is a very important point because it makes it easy for the public to distinguish between projects from the two companies. 

Second, the arc of both the present day adventures of Oliver Queen interspersed with an arc of his island experience provides the audience with two quality stories to follow. Many movies and shows that use flashbacks usually have a weaker story of the two and the audience can’t wait to see the stronger story. However, I have never found myself wanting to find out what happened in each plot while waiting impatiently for the other story arc to continue. 

Another strong point of the show is the opening up of the DC universe to the show and it’s incarnations of many different characters. Green Arrow does not have a strong rogues gallery and many of the villains have been taken from Teen Titans and Batman. We have been able to see versions of Merlyn, Count Vertigo, Brother Blood, Deathstroke, Firefly, the Royal Flush Gang, the Huntress, and many others. However, some of these villains have been the weak point of the show. Firefly was probably the weakest villain with an interesting set up but an anticlimactic end and the Royal Flush was also very weak. 

Lastly, what keeps me invested is the acting with a special nod to Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. His performance is a subtle one where you can see that maturation and change of Queen from an irresponsible playboy to a distant, brooding individual. I like the fact that through his island story line his voice slowly becomes less high-pitched as his experiences grow more and more horrific. Paul Blackthorne as Detective Lance is also a highlight of the show. His character has been through a lot emotionally throughout the series and you feel everything he’s going through. David Ramsey as Diggle and Emily Bett Rickards as Felictiy Smoak put in great performances as well. 

I would definitely recommend this show to anyone who is a comic book fan or just a fan of quality television. Traditionally, I really had not been a big fan of Green Arrow as a character because the superhero has been considered a far leftist in the comics. Don’t believe me? Read Denny O’Neill and Neal Adams’ run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow. However, Arrow does not cover that aspect of the character and has quickly become my favorite show on television. Additionally, the series has led me to read some Green Arrow comics after all. Hopefully, there will be a place for Stephen Amell as Green Arrow in the upcoming Justice League movie.             

Some of My Thoughts About "Man of Steel"

Man of Steel seems to be the Tim Tebow of superhero movies as critics either seem to love the movie or hate it with a passion. Even a number of my favorite online critics think it is a travesty of a film and have urged people not to see it. I would like to count myself in the love it category. This movie, in my opinion, is the Superman movie I have been waiting for. This all goes back to the fact that I am a big fan of all of the DC animated movies that have been released straight to Blu-ray and DVD. What I love about these films are their epic natures. The battle between Darkseid, Superman, and Supergirl at the end of Superman/Batman: Apocalypse or Green Lantern’s solar radiation blocking construct at the end of Justice League: Doom are epic highlights that are rarely seen in the live action portrayals of superheroes. Why bring this up? Man of Steel is epic to a ridiculous degree. 

One thing is for sure, Zack Snyder, David Goyer, and Christopher Nolan know superheroes. The battles at the end of this film between Superman and the Kryptonians under General Zod seem like they are lifted right from the pages of the comics. Trains go flying, city blocks get destroyed, satellites are hurled to the Earth, and jets plummet to the ground. What’s amazing through all of this is that you definitely get a sense of the human toll of it all. There is one scene in particular that really hits him home about the perils of the regular person trapped in one of these epic brawls. This is something I think really puts the movie above The Avengers in that while it seems like a similar amount of damage is being done to New York City, you never get a sense of dread for the people below. This realization of civilian casualties is also very prevalent in The Dark Knight trilogy as well.

A criticism pertaining to these battles is that they don’t stay true to the comics in that Superman would have located the fight to a more secluded area to prevent further loss of human life. Well, apparently they haven’t read too many comics as probably seventy five percent of time, Superman battles in the middle of Metropolis or another population center. Thus, I think the criticism is unfounded. Plus, with the exception of Batman, who is more about outwitting and out thinking his opponents, superhero comics as a whole are about superhuman free-for-alls. Only three times have I ever felt that a live action movie caught the feel of comic book battles. The first time was in Spiderman 2 in the fight between Doctor Octopus and Spiderman. The second time was in The Avengers during the battle in New York City and the third time was in this movie.

   

Another criticism I have heard is that the pacing is off with numerous flashbacks to Superman’s childhood. To knock down this criticism, let me mention my favorite theatrical Batman movie, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. In the geek world, this film is almost universally loved as one of the greatest Batman stories ever put to film. What a lot of people probably don’t realize about the movie is that it is an origin story as much as it is a detective story. Both Man of Steel and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm use the same exact flashback type device with similar pacing to tell each character’s origin. Why it works for the latter movie in many critics’ eyes but not in the former, I just couldn’t tell you. 

One thing I’ve noticed about both fanboys and critics is that they like to hype up certain genre movies to the point that no matter what product is shown, it could never live up to that built-up hype. This is why movies like Iron Man 2 (which was not bad) are so universally panned because if a movie doesn’t live up to its hype, it is the worst film ever. The sad thing is that these same people never learn and build up that hype over and over. Only two genre movies have ever lived up to this hype and those two movies are The Dark Knight and The Avengers.

 

While in my opinion Man of Steel was much better than its hype, I think critics are too attached to Christopher Reeves’ version of the character to give this movie a fair shot. I’ll be honest with you. I have never really cared for his portrayal of Superman. Well, his Superman wasn’t bad, but I just loathe his version of Clark Kent. To me, Reeves’ Clark Kent is so overcompensatingly bumbling that I think it would be very obvious that he is Superman. I much prefer Superman: The Animated Series’ and Lois and Clark’s portrayals of Clark Kent which are much better as you can believe that he actually is an investigative journalist. The jury is still out on Henry Cavill’s Kent as we didn’t see much of him, but hopefully it’s truer to my favorite versions.

My Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Characters: #1

1. Hal Jordan (Green Lantern)

Rewind to about 6 years ago and this number would have probably been a totally different character. Back then, I was not much of a DC comics fan and the Justice League was not my super team of choice. No, I was a huge Spider-Man fan even going so far as enjoying the unfolding of the Clone Saga and reading the heck out of Maximum Carnage, Marvel Knights, New Avengers, and Civil War. All the good will granted from these story lines was not to last for in 2007, the abomination (I am not talking about the Hulk’s villain) that is One More Day hit comic book store shelves. To say this ruined the character of Peter Parker is an understatement. 

For those not initiated, One More Day is a story set after Marvel’s Civil War (I could explain the story, but it is just shorter linking to the Wikipedia page) where Aunt May is shot because Peter Parker revealed his secret identity to the world. All the universe’s most powerful heroes and villains cannot save her; so, enter in Mephisto, Marvel Comics’ embodiment of the devil. Peter, in turn, makes a deal with Mephisto (the devil) to save Aunt May’s life which breaks up Mary Jane and Peter Parker’s marriage. My heroes don’t make deals with the devil, period. Thus, I was no longer a Spider-Man fan similar to thousands of other fans who had felt betrayed after all those years of engrossing oneself in the character. I actually didn’t read comics for a while after that which changed after picking up a copy of Green Lantern: Rebirth written by Geoff Johns.

It is sad to know that Johns’ run on the character is over because reading from Rebirth through the new 52 First Lantern storyline has been a pleasure. I guess it’s time for a little more back story. In the mid-nineties, DC Comics decided that Hal Jordan was not modern or popular enough; so, they initiated Emerald Twilight which turned Hal Jordan into the supervillain Parallax and introduced a new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner. I was never a big fan of Rayner and it seemed comic book fans in general shared my sentiment as the book began to lag in sales and a plan was enacted to bring back Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern proper. The job fell to Johns which culminated in one of the greatest retcons in comic book history and from that point, I just couldn’t stop reading Green Lantern comics. He quickly became my favorite comic book superhero and I converted from Marvel to DC. 

What endures me to the character is that his fight of fear versus will is very close to a Christian’s walk. Fear is our enemy just like it is the main enemy of the Green Lantern Corps. The actual requirement to becoming a Green Lantern is that one must be able to overcome fear. This is also why Batman has not always been a huge fan of Jordan because Hal is not afraid of him. Another thing I like about Green Lantern is that his powers are very unique in that he can make any construct he thinks of with the ring in addition to the standard powers of flight, super strength, and invulnerability. Also, Hal Jordan is a very relatable character for me as he is a guy who likes to “wing it” in many respects. He is most likely a procrastinator and he can be overconfident with the occasional witty line but he won’t stray too far from the right path. Well, unless a cyborg superman and extraterrestrial terrorist come along and destroy his hometown and every in it, that is. 

Best portrayal: War of the Green Lanterns; The Sinestro Corps War 

Favorite moment(s): Hal Jordan straight up kills the evil renegade Guardian, Krona, in epic fashion. The Guardians become scared of this because of their future plans of replacing the Green Lantern Corps and they exile Jordan.

In Rebirth, as Kyler Rayner is having his butt handed to him by Sinestro, Jordan is rejuvenated into his old body from his time as the Spectre and he promptly makes short work of his long-time foe. 

Jordan uses the power of the indigo tribe to trick the ring Sinestro made for him into no longer obeying the commands of Sinestro.

My Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Characters: #4

4. Terry McGinnis (Batman Beyond) 

It is not secret that I am a huge Batman fan and I have been one ever since I was a little kid watching Batman: The Animated Series. Kevin Conroy, in my opinion, is Batman and nobody else in television, film, or video games will ever take his place. As time progressed, Superman received his own show and it was only inevitable that the two heroes would cross paths. As the popularity of these two shows increased and the DC animated universe became intertwined, spinoff series were discussed and greenlit. Enter the first of these series, Batman Beyond. What could have just been a kid show about a young futuristic Batman turned out to be my favorite out of the DC animated universe. Wait, did I say Kevin Conroy is Batman? Oh, sorry, I meant Will Friedle. 

Ok, I am somewhat joking because Kevin Conroy will always be Bruce Wayne’s Batman, but Friedle portrays Terry McGinnis who is my favorite Batman out of them all. But, the original Batman is a classic, why would I like the beyond counterpart better? Well, there are a number of reasons I like Terry McGinnis better than Bruce Wayne. First Bruce Wayne is utterly psychotic. Have you ever read any of Grant Morrison’s run on Batman, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, anyone? Bruce Wayne’s Batman is a man who is just too obsessed with his war on crime that it has clouded and pushed out every other aspect of his life. Terry McGinnis, on the other hand, experiences a tragedy in the death of his father but deals with this death in a much saner manner. While, he does don the Batman suit to carry out vengeance against those who caused the death of his father, his main purpose for being Batman is to make up for past sins. Also, McGinnis is able to still lead a somewhat normal life. He even gets married eventually  which is something Wayne was never able to do.

Second, I like my superheroes with powers and I consider Batman Beyond as a batman with superpowers. His suit provides flight, super strength, and super vulnerability. He is able to take punishment the original could only think of. Last, the dynamic of having two minds behind Batman instead of one makes Batman better in that if Wayne can’t think of something McGinnis can come up with a solution which he does on different occasions. Plus, the entertainment of having the two superb voice actors converse back and forth is great and enjoyable.

Something that got me really interested in the character again is the fact that DC Comics brought Terry McGinnis into the comics proper and even put him into continuity with Damian Wayne behind the computer instead of Bruce Wayne. However, with the death of Damian Wayne, I don’t know what that does to the continuity. I have been enjoying Adam Beechen’s writing in the Batman Beyond Unlimited series which continues the continuity of the animated universe (It is not a kid’s comic by any means, however) and it is my favorite ongoing comic series at this time.   

  

Best portrayal: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

Favorite moment(s): Terry at the behest of Bruce Wayne takes out the Justice League after one of their villains ransacks the mall where Terry’s Mom and Brother are shopping.

As he is chasing after Aquagirl in a water tank in the Fortress of Solitude, hundreds of Starros latch onto Terry to control his mind. With the batsuit, he electrocutes every one of them.  

My Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Characters: #5

5. Galen Marek (Starkiller)

A few years back, I was a huge Star Wars fanatic and I was even one of those rare guys who knew Leia’s cell block number on the Death Star in A New Hope. I read many an Expanded Universe novel (X-Wing series was my favorite) immersing myself in the universe; but, that was before the dark time, before the Empire (prequels). When I first saw the prequel trilogy, I didn’t think it was too bad; however, repeated viewings have shown me the error of my ways. I stopped caring about the Star Wars universe altogether and starting getting back into superhero comics, the Halo series, and Star Trek. In 2008, my outlook on the series changed with the release of a game called Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

The game was one of the best written I have ever played as it really made you care about the story and the characters. It also helped that each character in the game was played by and resembled a real life actor.  The Force Unleashed instantly made me a fan of Sam Witwer, a prolific genre actor, as he portrayed my fifth favorite Sci-Fi character of all time, Galen Marek or better known as Starkiller. Marek also happens to be my favorite character in the whole Star Wars saga. 

Why would a video game character beat out movie and book characters such as Wedge Antilles, Kip Durron, Mace Windu, or Luke Skywalker? Well, as I mentioned before, the writing in the game is superb, but that is only half the story. The Jedi in the movies tend to be very weak with special pathetic focus on those in the prequels as the Sith seem to outsmart them on every turn. In addition, their rules were very strict and were broken by almost everybody. Gelen Marek is a Jedi who just let loose and was extremely powerful and this is what attracted me to the character. 

Marek was a Jedi who had to find his own way to light side of the force because he started out as Darth Vader’s apprentice and ended up founding the Rebel Alliance (I am following the canon story, the good ending).  His history turned out to be beneficial because Galen was able to harness powers from both sides of the force.  Let’s just forget about the sequel. 

Best portrayal: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 

Greatest moment(s): On Raxus Prime, Starkiller takes down a Star Destroyer with the force.

He beats the crap out of Darth Vader in one of the final boss fights of the game.