Kevin Smith (yes, that Kevin Smith): GREEN ARROW- QUIVER

Green Arrow is dead; long live Green Arrow (add that to the growing list of literary allusions I can't quite place--it's Shakespeare ["The King is dead; long live the King!], but I'm not sure which play)! Well, actually, Green Arrow isn't dead, but he was. Only he doesn't know that. Yet. So naturally, he's pretty confused. In short, this isn't your typical comic book storyline, but then again Kevin Smith (I say it again: yes, that Kevin Smith. Clerks, Clerks II, Chasing Amy, Dogma, the works. Also quite a few comic book credits to his name, including a memorable run on Daredevil) isn't your typical comic book writer, although he is a very good one. #1 Difference, Smith knows how to tell a good story (something lost on many contemporary comic writers, which is odd when you consider the graphic novel's recent elevation to a Genre Worthy of Literary Consideration). And tell a good story he does here. I like Green Arrow (as you may recall from an earlier post here), and I liked Quiver. It wasn't necessarily a ground-breaking story, the way the Green Lantern / Green Arrow team-ups of the '60s were, but it was a truly enjoyable story, which to tell the truth is all I'm looking for (Alan Moore aside) from a comic book (a somewhat ironically parenthetical apology for all the parentheses in this post, by the way). There's a lot of talking, I mean a lot of talking, but it's talking that tells a story. And the story is about relationships, and apologies, and learning to admit when you've totally fucked up and taking responsibility for doing so. But it's also about Green Arrow kicking ass, here and there. What more could you ask for? Quiver is a Grade-A piece of work (although I can't say I love the artwork).

Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams: GREEN LANTERN / GREEN ARROW, Vol. I and II

Whoa! Two Dennis O'Neal collections in a row! This is just getting crazy (in truth, I'm just reading a lot of comic books for escapist purposes, because you can't just keep applying for jobs forever. At least, not without some reason for hope. Not that there's no reason for hope, which is why I eventually start again. That, and my addictions to eating / drinking, wearing clothes, and sleeping underneath a roof)! This time around, we've got his complete Green Lantern / Green Arrow run, with art by the inimitable Neal Adams (probably my favorite comic book artist? Tough to say, but the man can really draw...). I loved these books, but then I was already inclined to: Green Lantern was my favorite DC hero--hell, my favorite hero, period--growing up (maybe rivaled by Batman), and Green Arrow's been my favorite since I discovered social democracy (well, at least since I discovered that he discovered social democracy, which confuses the timeline a bit, but you get the point: I've always liked Green Lantern, and now also like Green Arrow. Got it?). Add to that the fact that these were groundbreaking comics (they were, however cheesy they seem now; Speedy on heroin is still a great story, forty years or so later), and, well, they're just great. GL is the straight-laced, law and order sort, GA the rowdier, bawdier believer in freedom, equality and the kind of justice that law and order don't always mete out. So, yeah: these are great stories, not just great comics, and deserve their A+.