Things I Have Read This (and Last) Week: Green Arrow #31 Is OK, The Evil Batmen of Red Death and Murder Machine are Delightful, I Don't Know How I Feel About Evil Jor-El

For various reasons I was unable to post last week so here are my reviews of things I have gotten caught up on over the last couple of weeks:

GREEN ARROW #31

Hard-Traveling Hero has been a fun ride with Ollie travelling the country, hooking up along the way with various members of the Justice League, proving his worth to them after years of being largely looked down upon by the rest of the superhero community. I personally found him lecturing Batman on the fact that there are really no good billionaires highly enjoyable. That said, the final issue kind of fizzled for me. Maybe because I thought there'd be some kind of resolution to the entire Ninth Circle issue and there wasn't (and unfortunately that arc will take a pause for a bit due to Dark Nights: Metal tie-ins), but I felt like the long-promised reunion of Green Arrow/Green Lantern took a backseat and lacked any kind of heartfelt interaction between the two, or even a nod to their shared past (if they even still have one in this current canon). Ollie punched a skeletor looking dude in the face on a space station and then that was about it. Overall meh conclusion to a pretty good arc. I did enjoy the reaction of each Justice League member when Ollie (who has spent years trying to redeem himself in their eyes) turns around and declines their offer of membership, though.

ACTION COMICS #987

If you're Extremely Online, like I am, you'll probably have seen this issue as the one that led to full conservative diapers because Superman saves some migrant workers from a gun-toting redneck. For that alone my review is positive, because abso-fuckin-lutely do we need Superman as a guardian of the marginalized and oppressed now more than ever (not to mention how hilarious it is that people think Superman, a literal undocumented alien created by two Jewish guys upset about the rise of fascism, should be some kind of xenophobic right wing icon).

The other big news in this issue though, is that we are finally given the identity of the mysterious Mr. Oz character who has been hiding in the shadows since the start of rebirth. Turns out he's Jor-El, who somehow survived the destruction of Krypton, who has decided that Earth is a shithole and he was wrong to send his son here and he's going to kill us all to rid Kal of the burden of defending us.

Oh boy. I have thoughts here, folks. Like most people my first reaction was "HOW DARE THEY SULLY THE NAME OF PATRIARCH OF THE HOUSE OF EL." Making Superman's father a genocidal dick is a bold move here, and one that can go horribly wrong. However, well, let's break down my initial objections to it and why they might be wrong:

Green Arrow: Rebirth is Almost the Perfect Green Arrow Book

I have always found Green Arrow to be one of the more intriguing characters in the DC Universe. Even the most charitable interpretation of the character's origin can't avoid the fact that he was originally just an archery themed Batman rip-off replete with billionaire secret identity, Arrowcave and uncomfortably young sidekick (this is no knock on the character really, considering Batman himself started as a Shadow rip-off). Given that he was just a less popular Batman, and that the decline in comics sales after WWII meant even Batman himself was struggling to stay popular, it's not surprising that Green Arrow sort of shunted off into the background of the universe, appearing in the occasional team-up comic or B-story. Pretty much since that time it has never seemed like DC has really known what to do with the guy.

Almost every comic book hero is open to interpretation an has a personality dictated entirely by the writer at the time (lord knows one only needs to watch any random sampling of Batman movies to get that), but Green Arrow in particular has been re-invented more times than I can count. The 70s saw him lose his fortune and be re-invented as a radical leftist, fighting on behalf of the disenfranchised in the team up series Green Arrow/Green Lantern. After the characters popularity waned once more the late 80s/early 90s saw him reintroduced in the prestige graphic novel The Longbow Hunters where he was re-envisioned again as a hardcore vigilante unafraid to use lethal force, most often pitted against serial killers and drug dealers. While he still fought largely on behalf of the disenfranchised, his politics were less vocal. The New 52 version of the character (which I particularly loathed) was a young, wise-cracking, tech-savvy owner of a tech company who relied heavily on quips and gadgets, like a bow-wielding Tony Stark. When fans rejected that version of the character he was later re-written by Andrew Kreisberg, one of the writers of the Arrow tv show, to be more like the scowly low-rent Batman Ollie is on the CW every week.

These constant re-imaginings of the character are not unique to Green Arrow, but he is generally hit more than others. Unlike Batman, who in every interpretation is based out of Gotham, has Alfred, has Gotham City, has the same origin story, etc, Green Arrow is sometime in Seattle, sometimes in Star City, sometimes a killer and sometimes not, is a poor anarchist or a billionaire playboy. His supporting cast changes constantly, with the New 52 even removing his 30 year old relationship with Black Canary. All of this leaves the question of Oliver Queen really is and what should the character stand for?