The CW has a new Green Arrow series coming out. I was planning on watching it anyway, but the trailer makes it a priority.
To add to this, they’ve apparently slated Huntress to be a guest star, which could be really good or really bad.
My only complaint is that they are apparently dropping the “Green” from Green Arrow’s name, going with just Arrow. I knew the name of the show, but was hoping it will still be the full name in the series. Maybe it will develop into that. The reason that this matters is that it is indicative of a long-standing problem with DC and their failure to cross-promote their properties. At a time when Batman movies are lighting up to top grossing films charts, the comics are (temporarily) killing off Bruce Wayne. They release a Birds of Prey series, only to give it virtually nothing in common with the comic books.
This isn’t about geek adherence. This is about the fact that they have comic books to sell and they are having a lot of trouble doing it. Advertising is usually quite expensive, but Warner Bros is particularly well positioned to remind people, for one second before every movie, that “Hey, if you like Batman, check out the comic book available at comic stores and bookstores today.” Of course, for this to work, someone has to be able to pick up the comic and not have Bruce Wayne being dead in the middle of some elongated, tortuous storyline. While it would be a mistake to reboot Green Arrow in light of the TV show, it would still be helpful if they had the same name.
Maybe they will do a better job of communicating all of this than I think. History indicates otherwise.
I always thought his being Green Arrow was a mistake; it made him the one who’s not Green Lantern, like if he were Falconman or The Molecule.
Green Lantern is one of the most lamely named comic book characters ever. Change that one!
There is a case to be made that GA has benefited from the association in the overall. If nothing else, it helped him get a co-spotlight in the GL/GA era that he might not have gotten otherwise.
That being said, it’s not the best name. Were it not for decades of history behind it, I’d probably prefer something else. Probably not “Arrow” though.
GL/GA was among the most interesting superhero combos DC ever did.
It was revolutionary, for sure. O’Neill totally stacked the deck so that his worldview could be constantly vindicated, but that’s relatively minor. I wish more would at least try to do what he did. Maybe improve upon it. (To be fair, writers did take his characterization of GA and run with it.)
I think that they were trying to capitalize on the Robin Hood craze and, given the movie that came out a year or so prior, had a very limited color palate to choose from. But, yeah, both Green Lantern *AND* Green Hornet predate the Green Arrow. You’d think they might have picked a different adjective.
And now “green” doesn’t sound like a real word anymore.
I think if you were going with color, and Robin Hood, green is the only one that made sense. I think they should have tried to figure something else out, though. The Bowman or something. Or Hawkeye.
Initial reviews seem quite positive. I’ve got this one on my list for the fall.
Sorry, but that looks terrible. It combines the classic CW motif of rich people whose problems I don’t care about with generic angsty superheroing that includes nothing of what makes green arrow cool.
What do you think makes Green Arrow cool?
You may be entirely right. My exposure to CW is… limited. I’m less than thrilled with the apparent romantic plot, but that’s the only thing I saw that I wasn’t sure about.
At this point, what makes Green Arrow cool is his association with The Outsiders. Well, that’s a pre-new-52 coolness thingy… but essentially his job as being Batman’s designated sub-team leader had a lot of really interesting things going on.
There was one exchange where one of the kids asks Ollie “you know how to fly a jet?” and the response was “I had ‘The Arrowplane’ back in the 70’s when I thought I was Batman.”
It’s like they took the Green Arrow from Dark Knight Returns and said “we want to make that storyline possible.”
I’ll admit to knowing GA from cartoon adaptations and team-up books rather than his solo series, so I may be off base a bit.
I like that he’s political. That he’s very much a robin hood character, fighting for the poor (even if he isn’t robbing from the rich exactly). I like that he’s older. Unlike batman & robin, Arrow is old enough to be speedy/red arrow’s dad, and when he died, his grown son took his place. He’s got an awkward relationship with both of them, and that’s something I really enjoy.
Heck, if CW wanted a young person in the role*, they should have just gone with Connor Hawke as green arrow. He’s a pretty cool character in his own right. As it stands, I’ll be skipping this and continuing to bitch about how media conglomeration and network branding means that we get much crappier superhero shows than we otherwise would.**
*And they always want a young person in the role. I once spoke to a TV director who had worked on a show for the network (back while it was still the WB). The main character was 25 or so, and the episode he was working on introduced the character’s parents. The network demanded that those roles be played by people in their late thirties.
**See also, the quite excellent “Spectacular Spider-Man” being cancelled by after marvel aquired disney and being replaced by a half-assed “Ultimate Spider Man” cartoon that’s a better fit for the disney channel.
The main character was 25 or so, and the episode he was working on introduced the character’s parents. The network demanded that those roles be played by people in their late thirties.
Good for them. Teen pregnancy is an important issue.
I think that Connor is a problem simply because he relies on backstory. You can change that (his father was something other than the original GA) but that’s less of a change than Ollie’s age in my view. I agree that I’ve always considered it neat that Ollie doesn’t follow the template (make them 23-25 so that you don’t run into retirement earlier. But I don’t consider that to be essential.
I think the politics is great, even though I disagree with a lot of it, though it mostly needs to be done in a certain context (GA vs GL or GA vs Hawkman) to work, maximally. With Huntress (a character I consider to be fundamentally conservative, though she has gone through a lot of iterations), maybe they will! At the least, I wouldn’t be surprised if “the corrupt” are of a certain bent (big corporations, etc.). We’ll see.
They haven’t actually given him ANY name in the series yet. Plus he IS Green. Frankly calling it or him “Green Arrow” too soon would cause further comparisons to Smallville and cinfusion that it is the same character.
Plus calling it “Arrow” will likely attract some AVENGERS. And HUNGER GAMES fans as well which certainly couldn’t hurt.
I’m more concerned with the depiction being accurate ( Teue to the Mike Grell version) than the name and I’m a HUGE GA fan!
Ray
@EmeraldArcher
Hi Ray, thanks for stopping by.
I wasn’t sure, but he says “I am Arrow” in the trailer. Maybe the press will attach the Green or something.
I’m not sure how closely it can track to the Grell ongoing series since we’re dealing with Oliver at very different points in his career. I have to confess to not yet having read Longbow Hunter, though. I think that may be my next project. That and reading the early stuff from the ongoing.
That was for the Promo. I’ve seen the Pulot twice and it’s not in the show. They can’t have him saying “I’m Green Arrow” in the promo.
In fact he’s I Lu referred to as “Robin Hood” by Paul Blackthorne who apparently comes up with a number of nicknames. I’ve seen the Pilot twice at Comic-Con and am lucky enought to know the DP for the series and should be heading up for a set visit or two shortly 🙂
I don’t think Oliver ever names himself. He’s not a hero he’s a vigilante ala the LongBow Hunters.
Well, if it’s not in the show, that would certainly mute that criticism.
Oops typing too fast on my phone Didn’t mean to say “I’ve seen the pilot twice” um Teice! 😉 sorry
Those shirtless scenes do not look like a man with scar tissue on 20% of his body.