This article must've been written too soon, too early, and way too sloppy
Published by Avi Green on Sunday, June 24, 2007 at 1:14 PM.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel goes sugary over recent DC developments, but as far as I can tell, it was probably written way too early to really make sense, and there's some really sloppy parts to it in the latter half too:
And continuity climaxes? I've heard it all before, and this fails to impress me any further.
Now, there's a few more thumbnail news bits here, the following one which makes horrific implications that run the risk of framing Oliver Queen in the minds of anyone naive enough to not understand things:
Well that's what that line runs the risk of suggesting, when experts on the history of Green Arrow and Black Canary could tell you that their relationship was far from that. Yes, Ollie wasn't always fair to Dinah, having treated her like a doormat in Justice League of America during the early 1970s; he did act like a man-child there at times, and they did break up at least once too, in late 1992, but while there were times when Ollie was certainly a jerk, he never smacked Dinah around as the above line may suggest. In the Longbow Hunters, it was a gang leader who beat up Dinah, driving Ollie to shoot him dead. But this article doesn't make that clear, and chillingly enough, it comes close to implying, or insinuating, that Ollie committed the rape! If that's what's this article is doing, I am offended as hell. To make it sound as though Ollie and Dinah led an abusive relationship together! That is just sick.
If there was any case of rape involved, it was Ollie who was the victim, of another woman named Shado, the Japanese archer who'd sought vengeance against three scumbags who'd exploited her family in a Japanese internment camp during WW2, because they wanted to steal the valubles the yakuza had entrusted them with. But the way the line was written doesn't make that clear, and instead, it comes a close one to embarrassing Oliver Queen in the eyes of anyone not familiar with his history as a character. Perfectly dreadful. If Ollie really had gone overboard in his relationship with Dinah, it's possible that he'd have ended up as marginalized a character as Hank Pym did when he smacked Janet van Dyne in 1981.
Whether Shado did actually rape Ollie is still debatable (update: in her Wikipedia entry, it does mention this story development, though GA's entry doesn't), though in 1989, when this storyline took place, she admitted her actions with him to Dinah, and defended Ollie by telling Dinah that Ollie had called out her name during his delirium. But the News-Sentinel's ambiguity is really reprehensible, and just shows how poor newspapers can be if they can't hire a true expert, and write and edit the articles expertly either.
Update: I just fixed a typo and then I found that another guy at the Newsarama blog noticed the unclear reference to rape featured in the newspaper article too. He's right, it's very weird.
DC Comics -- the world's largest publisher of monthly comics -- is considering the notion of going weekly.Sounds pretty fluff-coated to me. Already there are signs that Countdown is not doing as well as DiDio must want to think, and the prospects of DC going full-time weekly are a long way off. I'd think twice before temptation.
The company had a successful launch in 2006 with "52," a weekly comic book featuring B-list characters such as Animal Man and Adam Strange. "52's" stories, told in "real time," set stories in the same week the book was released.
Late in the spring of this year, DC released "Countdown," a story also told in real time but starring more popular characters such as Superman and the Justice League.
"I believe in the weekly format. That's why we are doing ('Countdown')," says Dan Didio, executive editor of DC. "It's a strong way of (publishing). It takes full advantage of our distribution system ... We are tempted by that."
Didio says DC is in the planning stages of doing a third weekly series, set for 2008.The news of a possible third weekly is simply horrendous, because it also signals that there could be still more company-wide crossovers to go with it, just like WW3. And as for fans liking the format, I think the success in sales may have had more to do with the writers involved. Not that they'd really ask that though.
That series, however, would come after "Countdown," which is setting up for a large, and possibly continuity changing, climax issue, out next year.
Fans seem to like the format, too. " '52' sold beyond our expectations," Didio says. "'Countdown' is selling a little less than '52,' maybe 10 percent less. But it's doing better than our expectations."
Didio says the audience reading the weekly books is "loyal" because "they go into the stores every week, and there is a destination book for them every week."
And continuity climaxes? I've heard it all before, and this fails to impress me any further.
Now, there's a few more thumbnail news bits here, the following one which makes horrific implications that run the risk of framing Oliver Queen in the minds of anyone naive enough to not understand things:
-- Longtime comic book duo Green Arrow and Black Canary are engaged and will marry in September. "Weddings are a staple in comics," Didio says.What really gets on my nerves here is the confusing and nigh-sleazy mention of rape: why does it seem to me as though this isn't making things clear about who either did or didn't commit the rape they speak? Are they insinuating that Ollie beat up on Dinah?
Their relationship has gone on for 30 years and has endured rape, infidelity and numerous breakups.
Well that's what that line runs the risk of suggesting, when experts on the history of Green Arrow and Black Canary could tell you that their relationship was far from that. Yes, Ollie wasn't always fair to Dinah, having treated her like a doormat in Justice League of America during the early 1970s; he did act like a man-child there at times, and they did break up at least once too, in late 1992, but while there were times when Ollie was certainly a jerk, he never smacked Dinah around as the above line may suggest. In the Longbow Hunters, it was a gang leader who beat up Dinah, driving Ollie to shoot him dead. But this article doesn't make that clear, and chillingly enough, it comes close to implying, or insinuating, that Ollie committed the rape! If that's what's this article is doing, I am offended as hell. To make it sound as though Ollie and Dinah led an abusive relationship together! That is just sick.
If there was any case of rape involved, it was Ollie who was the victim, of another woman named Shado, the Japanese archer who'd sought vengeance against three scumbags who'd exploited her family in a Japanese internment camp during WW2, because they wanted to steal the valubles the yakuza had entrusted them with. But the way the line was written doesn't make that clear, and instead, it comes a close one to embarrassing Oliver Queen in the eyes of anyone not familiar with his history as a character. Perfectly dreadful. If Ollie really had gone overboard in his relationship with Dinah, it's possible that he'd have ended up as marginalized a character as Hank Pym did when he smacked Janet van Dyne in 1981.Whether Shado did actually rape Ollie is still debatable (update: in her Wikipedia entry, it does mention this story development, though GA's entry doesn't), though in 1989, when this storyline took place, she admitted her actions with him to Dinah, and defended Ollie by telling Dinah that Ollie had called out her name during his delirium. But the News-Sentinel's ambiguity is really reprehensible, and just shows how poor newspapers can be if they can't hire a true expert, and write and edit the articles expertly either.
-- The Flash comic, re-launched last year, will be canceled with issue No. 13 later this summer. A new Flash series will replace it, starting with issue No. 1 and featuring a new Flash.If it hadn't been for horrible developments that took place this past week, this might've been funny, as the series is supposed to be continued from where volume 2 left off with issue #231 to #232, and there's really no new Flash coming up. Instead, it just has me shaking my head in sadness, because of how unfunny the details behind all this are.
Update: I just fixed a typo and then I found that another guy at the Newsarama blog noticed the unclear reference to rape featured in the newspaper article too. He's right, it's very weird.
Labels: dc comics, msm propaganda
