The Four Color Media Monitor

The Colorado Springs Gazette writes a fluff-coated article about writer J.T Krul's assignment to write about 2 recent victims of character destruction and editorial mandate, Green Arrow and Arsenal:

J.T. Krul hopes to hit the bull’s-eye with a couple of new assignments for DC Comics.

Krul is the new writer on “Green Arrow,” starting with this month’s issue No. 31 and a story arc titled “The Fall of Green Arrow.” He’s also the writer of “Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal,” a four-issue miniseries focusing on Roy Harper, Green Arrow’s former sidekick. The first issue just arrived in comic book shops.

Both “The Fall of Green Arrow” and “The Rise of Arsenal” spin out of “Cry for Justice,” a miniseries that saw shocking changes in the lives of the two archers.

Yeah, right. It's long ceased to be shocking. Now it's just revolting, and with the negative reaction these "changes" received, I think Krul stands to miss the mark in audience reception by miles.

Roy was maimed — his right arm torn off — and his young daughter was killed. Oliver “Green Arrow” Queen, rocked by those events and by a devastating attack on his beloved Star City, tracked down and killed the villain responsible, Prometheus.

And he’s not done: Green Arrow is after another bad guy that he blames for the lives lost in Star City.

“I think right now he doesn’t see himself as a hero,” Krul said of the anguished Green Arrow. “I think that he sees he’s doing what needs to be or has to be done, given the circumstances.”

His fellow superheroes don’t view it that way, though — particularly not the Flash, who is as quick to judge as he is quick on his feet.

“They all want to stop him,” Krul said, but the Flash “is a little more black and white about it. He is a police officer at heart.”

And this points to another serious problem coming in the wake of DC's latest ill-advised bloodbath: apparently Prometheus' actions are considered less important than Green Arrow's meting out punishment against him for his evil deeds. It's also very dismaying to see Barry Allen being exploited and shoved into this kind of role, years after his own wife de-facto fell victim to the Reverse-Flash, and Barry finally had to use deadly force to stop Thawne from murdering Fiona Webb.

While Green Arrow is on the hunt — and being hunted at the same time — Roy Harper is embarking on his own dark journey in “The Rise of Arsenal.”

Which would be best avoided too. I'm not sure if he'll return to drug abuse, but it's still likely to be so contrived and forced, it won't have any impact.

Another problem here isn't that these are anguished archers so much as it is a problem of the archers being subjected to angst, something that hurt comics like the X-Men in the 1990s.

Labels: dc comics, Flash, golden calf of death, Justice League of America, msm propaganda, Titans, violence