SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!
Yah, yah, context and all that. Still, the juxtaposition in "The Wedding Special" of Black Canary -- who has already been the victim of sexual violence, mind you -- allowing herself the vulnerability of being sexy for her mate only to have him inexplicably go crazy and try to kill her in their honeymoon bed makes me ill.
For DC to play off this wedding as some light-hearted, almost "chick flick" event in books like "The Wedding Planner" and then to present the cliche "sex and death" gambit just ruins the whole experience for me.
And what now for Black Canary & Green Arrow?
1) It was really Green Arrow (for whatever reason) and now he's dead.
2) It was really Green Arrow and he lives but it turns out he wasn't in his right mind when he agreed to the wedding.
3) It wasn't Green Arrow but some sort of Skrullian dupe -- and the real Ollie never consented to the marriage in the first place. <-------most likely
Feh. I think sometimes actually making a happy ending work takes more writing skill.
*sigh* When will you learn, DC, when will you learn...
ReplyDeleteyeah, L-A-M-E.
ReplyDeleteit was so rough for me to read through this book, because i love all the amanda conner art! CONFLICTED EMOTIONS D:
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't very well written, and as you say at odds not only with how the book was marketed but also 95 percent of the comic itself. Kind of a WTF ending, but not done in a way that makes one want to read the new series. (And as the webmaster of a very large Robin Hood site, I am usually very interested in Green Arrow stories.)
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that Ollie was in his right mind when he proposed, etc. And that he was probably brainwashed by some telepath in the Legion of Doom. Of course, I suppose as the solicits for GA/Black Canary talk about rescuing someone who's been kidnapped, I would bet he's been switched around the time of the wedding.
If Green Arrow was killed, then it's one of the worst written comic deaths ever. (I don't expect a big Barry Allen-style death for characters, just well-written death scenes.)
But I doubt he's been killed. So, it's both stupid and inconsequential.
Allen
Haven't read the issue yet, so I can't comment on it. HOWEVER, I saw that Allen had posted and felt compelled to point something out:
ReplyDeleteAllen says he's the webmaster of a very large Robin Hood site, but he doesn't mention that it is one of the best, if not the best on the web. Go check out boldoutlaw.com and see if I'm not telling the truth!
PDS
First of all; what a crappy way to go. Secondly, why is it when comic book artists draw some woman in a skimpy outfit, they draw them with fakes? I thought they went to art school...
ReplyDeleteThis is the first superhero wedding I was ever old enough to care about, and everything about it has sucked, sucked, sucked.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this issue was VERY forced and lame, but I LOVED LOVED LOVED Amanda Conner's art!
ReplyDeleteI am keeping my fingers crossed that it is a "page flipper" cliff-hanger; I don't think they'll back-pedal as much as you seem to think. I'm guessing that, since the new series has Black Canary & Conner-Green-Arrow on the cover that issue #1 is going to be breaking into Deathstroke's lair to rescue the damsel-in-distress Ollie. That is my call. I'm not going to cry foul yet.
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of Daffy Duck: "deathpicable!"
ReplyDeleteSo...er...wait, they get married, and then Ollie maybe dies?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a super-big fan of the idea of the Arrow/Canary wedding in the first place, but why even bring it up as an in-continuity story if you're not going to follow through with it, at least for a little while?
-M
(Haven't read the issue yet- hasn't reached my neck of the woods)
ReplyDeleteBut, in saying that... does this whole thing strike anyone else as lazy? First, exit Sin, then, no happy wedding for you- I guess its a lot harder to craft stories that could potentially have a core of familial love than "Oh My Gosh! We Have To Go Respond To The CRISIS!"
I mean, I was on board for this arc 'cos I thought "Cool, BC/GA will be trying to work as a couple with an adoptive kid and it will be touching and resonant with an emotional truth we can all share."
Bleh. Maybe I should go pick up that new X-Force book instead. I mean, if any lineup can reflect the breadth of emotional honesty I was hoping for with the upcoming BC/GA stuff, then its Team Stabby!
The "exit Sin, stage left" thing is rubbish. "If we kill that little girl, the fans are going to go all waa-waa-Stephanie-Brown on us again. So lets just...send her...to a farm! To live on a farm, yeah...."
ReplyDelete"who has already been the victim of sexual violence, mind you"
ReplyDelete....was she, though? I hear this said a lot, and yet I'm sure I've seen the writer state many times that there was no sexual violence in....argh....what was it called? That story where she gets kidnapped.
Also, the *only* way she could stop him from stabbing her in the head was put an arrow through his neck?
I don't buy that for any number of reasons.
Thanks, Paul. And can I praise again your Robyn of Sherwood series?
ReplyDeleteI think DC squanders a lot of storytelling opportunities. Ollie as mayor was an interesting idea, but I think they only scratched the surface there.
Speaking of the Grell run, am I correct in thinking that Ollie's reputation as cheating philanderer got its start when a woman had sex with him will he was unconscious? Kind of weird -- and it seemed to start a trend with DC heroes.
Allen
Oh yeah, what Dean said. I read through that and thought to myself I have to track down whatever else Amanda Conner has drawn.
ReplyDeleteWell, Black Canary was supposed to have been "sexually mutilated" in The Longbow Hunters. Her torture was such that she was rendered sterile. While there was no rape, it was implied there was a sexual component to her torture. Which, when you're 12 and reading this stuff, pretty much makes you hair stand on end because you've never heard anything like it before. Though I suppose that's why Longbow Hunters got the Mature Readers label.
ReplyDeleteHere's a vintage 1988 Canadian news story from CBC's Digital Archives. It features a kid bothered by the torture scene in Longbow Hunters.
ReplyDeletehttp://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-2352-13688/arts_entertainment/canadian_comics/clip12
I think the ending is kind of soft. I mean, maybe Green Arrow is a great sportman and a genius archer but Black Canary, as we saw in Birds Of Prey, is a really talented martial arts expert who has improved a lot in the last year. I can't believe she couldn't stop Ollie without killing him.
ReplyDeleteAbout the art, Amanda Conner does a weak work. I saw another comics drawn by her and this is miles and miles away from them. Maybe she hasn't the proper time to do justice to her skills.
Well, sorry for my english. I just want to give my opinion about one of the most disappointing comics from the DC Mess that someone is orchestrating from the high spheres.