Is That A Batarang In Your Pocket...?
I was talking with Diamondrock about the new Smallville episode. (He's a fan of the show, I'm not so much.)
It was highly entertaining, I have to admit. (And I've always liked the Smallville Lois...of all the TV and Movie Loises I've seen, I think she may be the closest to the actual, current comic version...or at least a teenage version).
It's occurred to me. Smallville's Green Arrow. Is absolutely nothing like the comic book Oliver Queen.
There are no speeches or politics. This guy doesn't seem very idealistic...at least not outside of fighting crime.
Ollie could never keep faithful but his devotion to his love interests was unmistakable. This man appears to be faithful to Lois, but to ultimately see his relationship to her as more of a pleasant distraction with its uses than an actual love relationship.
Ollie was a rebel. This man is a leader, managing the Justice League through resources, experience, competence and force of personality. He's a voice of responsibility and authority.
This man has also spent the past plot arc being set up as an equal but opposite to Clark. Someone with no powers but more skill, a bit more morally ambiguous/shades of grey, but still with his own code of ethics and honor.
And for all the archer motif, his costume's more leather-freak than Robin Hood.
He's definitely one of DC Comics' millionaire playboys. But he's not Oliver Queen.
I'm not sure why Bruce got a bleach job and traded his Batarangs for arrows. But I'm sure he has his reasons...
(So where the hell is Alfred? That's what I want to know...)
It was highly entertaining, I have to admit. (And I've always liked the Smallville Lois...of all the TV and Movie Loises I've seen, I think she may be the closest to the actual, current comic version...or at least a teenage version).
It's occurred to me. Smallville's Green Arrow. Is absolutely nothing like the comic book Oliver Queen.
There are no speeches or politics. This guy doesn't seem very idealistic...at least not outside of fighting crime.
Ollie could never keep faithful but his devotion to his love interests was unmistakable. This man appears to be faithful to Lois, but to ultimately see his relationship to her as more of a pleasant distraction with its uses than an actual love relationship.
Ollie was a rebel. This man is a leader, managing the Justice League through resources, experience, competence and force of personality. He's a voice of responsibility and authority.
This man has also spent the past plot arc being set up as an equal but opposite to Clark. Someone with no powers but more skill, a bit more morally ambiguous/shades of grey, but still with his own code of ethics and honor.
And for all the archer motif, his costume's more leather-freak than Robin Hood.
He's definitely one of DC Comics' millionaire playboys. But he's not Oliver Queen.
I'm not sure why Bruce got a bleach job and traded his Batarangs for arrows. But I'm sure he has his reasons...
(So where the hell is Alfred? That's what I want to know...)
posted by kalinara @ 6:43 AM
11 Comments:
At January 21, 2007 9:32 AM,
Anonymous said…
I have to admit that Lois has the look and personality, but, her cousin, Chloe, has the smarts and analytical skills that Lois does not. If they could meld these two characters together, they'd have a cool Lois.
As for Ollie...SO totally Bruce. That's why I loved and hated the JUSTICE episode. I mean, do I love it because I knew what they were going for or do I hate it because, if I can't have Bruce, it disrupts the mythos, and, therefore, I want nothing.
At January 21, 2007 10:12 AM,
Centurion said…
I told you it was going to be a good episode! I didn't say good in which direction, however, it felt like one of the better ones.
At January 21, 2007 12:45 PM,
Tom Bondurant said…
It kind-of bothers me that Smallville's Green Arrow ("Smollie?") is pretty much Batman -- except, perhaps, for the whole "going out and getting super-powered help" part of his Justice League -- but it's still fun to see. Besides, GA started out as a Batman clone (Arrowcar, Arrowcave, etc.) before losing his fortune and becoming the radical we know today. So it's appopriate, I guess.
And who knows -- maybe his treatment of Lois makes him that much more faithful to Dinah?
At January 21, 2007 3:10 PM,
tavella said…
I'm not sure why Bruce got a bleach job and traded his Batarangs for arrows. But I'm sure he has his reasons...
Those being that Batman is a separate rights package and Smallville can't use him. But I do find it appropriate, since GA was a complete Batman clone when he first arrived in the comics.
At January 21, 2007 4:31 PM,
Rich said…
I like the Smallville Ollie - and I don't think its too much of a stretch given that this is the guy who secretly bankrolled the JLA before he joined them...
I can't help but feel that the Smallville producrs are setting up a Green Arrow spinoff, either.
At January 21, 2007 4:46 PM,
Barry said…
Yeah, the rights issue is the reason. They have wanted a Bruce Wayne episode since the second season, but the powrs that be nixed the idea.
So we get Green Arrow.
I thought the episode ok, but really have never been a strong fan of the show. I think that they could have had a female Justice League member. What Ollie has not encountered anybody but Clark's list of guest comicbook characters?
At January 21, 2007 8:28 PM,
notintheface said…
I would have disagreed with Kalinara more if they didn't have an episode where Ollie was juicing up on a Venom-like substance.
At January 22, 2007 4:58 PM,
Anonymous said…
Shall we just take it as read that I issued my generic Ollie NOT EQUAL TO Unfaithful UNLESS Written Badly statement?
I thought so.
At January 23, 2007 10:06 AM,
Anonymous said…
Millionaire was 20 yrs. ago. Its MULT-BILLionaire now.;)
rich they were going to have Diana until the movie people had a fit.:( and there is a GA mobisode originseries out. :)
There isone big difference between this GA and Bruce, he's far more socialy comfortable and everybody is hth confident these days.
Lois IS smart she just has the misfortune(and overused plot) of getting in over her head.
As for Chloe shes become more a Oracle clone. I'm just waiting for the wheelchair necessatingincident that causes Clark to be more proactive.
At January 24, 2007 6:23 PM,
ComicBookGoddess said…
Well, I don't know. I've been watching Smallville all along, and I disagree. There were several times in previous episodes when I was cheering at the set, going, "THAT'S OLLIE! THEY GOT HIM RIGHT!"
Over the course of the season, they've done a very good job of showing Ollie as a guy with a developed social conscience, who challenges Clark's complacency. Ollie's the one who's not afraid to persue a relationship with a woman, and, as we saw, not afraid to break it off when it just won't work.
I think we're placing him in the Batman role because that is what Bruce does for Clark in the current DCU, that's the role we're used to seeing played by Bruce.
And it's interesting in how it points out how similar Bruce and Ollie are...
At January 25, 2007 1:39 PM,
Anonymous said…
Sin: nod kind of puts the pre brother eye mission coments from IC in a new light
Faverate Ollie characterazation: the masked ball Robin hood my ass that was his original gear.:) And Letting Lois think he missed when he actually shot the TAB off the can. Both were fun winks.
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