Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

I'm back! And reading! And maybe even blogging! No promises!

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Some Thoughts on Mayordom

I was thinking randomly about that old Wizard Quiz, pre OYL, where they mentioned four options to become mayor of their cities: Bruce, Dick, Wally or Ollie. (If I recall correctly) I remember being thrown by that question, as I couldn't really see ANY of them as a Mayor.

But least of all Ollie.

Don't get me wrong, he's a smart guy and clearly charming. But well, tact and restraint never seemed his strong suit. And his identity is only slightly more secret than "I need a cup of coffee-Oops, a JLA Meeting!-Let me transform in this shop" Kyle Rayner at a time when metahumans seem just a bit distrusted. I mean, dude, he doesn't even shave!

Of course Green Arrow isn't a metahuman, but I'd be surprised if the common populace knew that. Fancy costume + skills few can manage + crime-fighting = Meta in most folk's head I'd reckon.

And he's certainly not tactful. Ollie's debate tactic seems to be ranting and raving with the occasional nazi/fascist/dictatorship comparison. Okay, the former mostly during the old Road Trip days, but still...you can't tell me that the man's first televised debate would be anything but an unmitigated disaster.

Tactless, brutally honest and undiplomatic...he seems like the most unlikely candidate for public office.

I suppose in a weird way, he reminds me of this guy. I was surprised at that election result too. :-)

And I have to admit, it's definitely been an interesting story so far. :-) Now if only they'd address Connor, Mia and/or Roy...

posted by kalinara @ 6:01 AM  

10 Comments:

  • At July 30, 2006 8:36 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'm just wondering where this secret identity suddenly sprang from - leaving aside the way he died for a while, Mia worked out his ID after meeting GA when she was in one hell of a situation, and not really in a position to pay attention, and then meeting Ollie for thirty seconds. What's the line? 'this stays a secret' 'yeah, between you, me, and anyone with half a brain and one eye open'. He and Dinah didn't have secret identies in Seattle (didn't they talk to their therapist about crime-fighting?), Dinah still doesn't, and didn't they have a fight with the Riddler in a crowded restaraunt, out of costume, that was reported on TV?

    He does seem a bit of a Jesse Ventura type. And he did come to power after a big crisis of large bits of Star getting blown up, and an unpopular wall (wtf?) getting built, so a charming, handsome man with a long history of philanthropy and entertaining outspokeness 'just wanting to do right by his city, goshdarnit' could, I'd think, sweep the board. It's not the first time he's had the idea to become mayor, and GA has a history of being angry with the politicians of Star, who he tends to shoot at rather more than other city-based heroes. But how long will it be before ' Hey look, Mayor Queen's ranting again!' becomes 'Oh god, Mayor Queen's ranting again..."

    Also, I have been rather peevish at the lack of the rest of the arrowclan, but Connor's getting his own mini, Mia has shown up, and Roy'll be in GL soon, so at least they're all still breathing.

     

  • At July 30, 2006 11:21 AM, Blogger ShellyS said…

    Ollie was my first choice for the Mayor teaser because he at least ran for office once before and I have no idea if it's been retconned out. None of the others has shown that kind of interest in working from within the system.

    Given NYC has had a mayor or two not known for tact, I never thought this was much of a problem. One of them, Rudy Guiliani, has even been touted as a Presidential candidate. Now there's a thought. President Ollie. heh

     

  • At July 30, 2006 1:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Well, Nightwing did become a cop at one point, but that seems to have been glossed over. I can't say I mind though. It always seemed like a lame idea.

    But Ollie as mayor works well for me.

     

  • At July 30, 2006 4:47 PM, Blogger Centurion said…

    Mia finally returned as of the most recent issue of Green Arrow. She pops in at the last moment and saves Ollie when things looks bad.

    As for the others, nothing yet from what I know...

     

  • At July 30, 2006 6:23 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    papervolcano: *nod* It makes sense when I think about it, but it still surprised me.

    And you've got a good point about the secret identity, though. But then, maybe Quiver addressed that and I just forgot. :-)

    shelly: That's true, I'd forgotten he'd run for office before. :-)

    President Ollie is a strange thought!

    anon: I liked the cop thing. :-)

    centurion: Ooo, *finally*, I let myself get behind. :-)

     

  • At July 30, 2006 9:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I've always thought that Ollie's identity is an open secret, in the meta community at the very least, but Ollie being Ollie he doesn't realise this.

    Ollie becoming Mayor, for me, felt a little too much like Winick yelling 'Ex Machina is a great idea, why didn't we think of it first!?' but I'm glad to hear Mia's finally back.

     

  • At July 30, 2006 9:22 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Guy expressed surprise to find out Ollie was Green Arrow. But then again, this was when Guy was nice. And I've never heard anyone say "Son-of-a-gun!" and mean it. So you're probably right. :-P

     

  • At July 31, 2006 9:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    papervolcano and kalinara -

    Re: Oliver Queen's Secret ID.

    Short version: It's all the fault of Brad Meltzer and Judd Winick and DC Editorial - the former two for not caring enough to do their homework and the later for not smacking them down whenever they mess up continuity in a major way.

    Winick, I think, does not care to do any research on the characters he writes, based on his past comments. Meltzer cares but prefers the characters as they were pre-Crisis and just ignores the more modern stories out of personal preference.

    Long Version: No, Ollie didn't have a secret identity for a LONG time. At least, not until Winick started acting like he did and Brad Meltzer did the same in Identity Crisis.

    You wanna talk surrealism? Oliver Queen, who had the worst kept secret identity for years lectures Wally West -who functioned for years without a secret identity before Uncle Hal the Spectre warped reality so it was a secret again - about the importance of masks in protecting your loved ones.

    After Grell started the gag about how the cops knew who Ollie was because the same blonde guy with that beard kept showing up at crime scenes out of costume, his secret identity was outed to the world when Ollie was accused of Treason and had to go on the run.

    When Ollie died, his real name was run on the front page of the Daily Planet in an obituary. I believe this was also reflected in Quiver.

    Then, Ollie DID act like he still had a secret identity, but that was the "hollow" Ollie who lacked the memories and experiences of Ollie immediately after the Hard Traveling Heroes days. After Ollie's new body was reunited with his old soul, it seemed that Ollie abandoned all pretense of a secret identity.

    Indeed, later in Smith's run, his stopping a burglary with Black Canary in their civies was being discussed on Regis and Kelly like any other piece of celebrity gossip.

    This was muddied a bit in Brad Meltzer's "Archers Guest" when Ollie went on a mission to reclaim items that could expose his secret identity. While this was later revealed to be a flimsy excuse to cover what he was really looking for, you'd think Roy Harper would have known that Ollie had a public ID, as estranged as they had been.

    And Judd? In his stories, not only has Ollie still got a secret identity - nobody in Star City is the least bit suspicious that Ollie has had his house blown up twice in totally unrelated incidents. Even in the DCU where "act of supervillain" is probably an option on most standard insurance plans, that is beyond belief.

    And yes - I wish Judd would use the supporting cast the book had rather than giving us two token African Americans including one who is also a Jew!

    Let's see Brian Vaughn and Ex Machina top that! :)



    Centurion - there was a brief mention of Connor being with Mia and them both being okay on an island somewhere in the first OYL issue of Teen Titans. Trust Geoff Johns to succeed where Winick failed.

     

  • At August 01, 2006 3:43 PM, Blogger ShellyS said…

    The upcoming arc for Green Arrow is supposed to address the missing year, from Ollie almost dying pre-OYL to now, which should fill in what Connor and Mia were doing. No mention there of Roy.

    Roy will be in the October Green Lantern, but the solicit refers to him by his civilian name, not Arsenal, so I'm wondering what changes Roy's undergone. They've been either very secretive about him or just haven't done much and didn't think anyone would care.

    As for writers doing their homework re: secret IDs and all, I gave up understanding all that long ago, a few years after I got back to comics because I couldn't keep track of all the retconning that went on during my 10-year, mostly boycott. I get a headache just thinking about some of that stuff.

     

  • At August 01, 2006 7:51 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    starman: Wow...that's very complicated. :-)

    shelly: Ooo, sounds interesting! I can't wait.

    Missing ten yeahs of comics is like missing a decade of soaps I think. When you come back you're impossbly lost, but can slip back in pretty easy if you don't try to figure out what you misses.

     

Post a Comment

<< Home