miércoles, 6 de julio de 2016

Some thoughts about Green Arrow #2

Green Arrow is dead, or is he?

Emiko has betrayed Oliver and he's left for dead with his reputation ruined by his enemies. However, this might be the right opportunity to strike back.

Yeah, is pretty obvious that he wasn't going to die and I feel like I've been reading this kind of story for a while now.

The whole premise of "Green Arrow has an experience near to death" has literally been used to death and I know that this is mostly implemented to make him stronger than ever but considering that this also occurred during Jeff Lemire's run a while ago, you can't help but start feeling a sense of repetition. Especially since this only took a few pages and it was quickly resolved with very little to explore about it.

However, believe it or not the cliche story is not what made me dislike this so much.

No, the biggest problem is, and as you would expect from Ben Percy, the narration. The multiple narration boxes are suffocating and the fact that they mostly contain purple prose makes it even worse, is so unnatural, so unrealistic, so impossible that it just breaks the flow of the story.

Oh, but apparently narration boxes are not enough for Percy because he also thinks he needs the characters to express what they feel out loud!

There are several scenes where the members of the cast start talking to themselves which makes me believe that this is either a hint that everyone is starting to get crazy or poor writing (most likely the latter). Is just something that completely makes you forget that there might be some decent elements here and there.

Which are the decent elements? Well, John Diggle is back and he mostly acts in character aside from the fact that he hates Ollie now but the forced lines he starts delivering make the segment difficult to stomach. I should add that I'm not a fan about how much of an asshole Fyff can be now considering that he's ready to abandon Ollie now that he doesn't have any money.

Otto Schmidt's artwork on the other hand is pretty appealing with a creative style that makes interesting layouts but he can make the pacing a bit jumpy (then again, that might be also Percy's fault).

Yeaaaaah, no, this is still not working and I have no hope at this point.

2 comentarios:

  1. I would love Ed Brubaker to write GA, and turn it into a gritty pulp-noir action book. Since he did DD The Devil in Cell Block D, I'd love to see Brubaker do an adaptation of Escape from Supermax.

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Well, I'm not a big fan of Brubaker but he would at least bring better writing.

      I would prefer to have someone like Garth Ennis whose complex characterization and social commentary are usually on-point.

      Borrar