Here is a colored version of this two-page spread from GREEN ARROW #1:
Here is a colored version of this two-page spread from GREEN ARROW #1:
I can guess why. The changes made to Oliver and Dinah's status quos by Grell and Gold just to make the kind of book they wanted to make were, in the grand scheme of things including their character histories, a major (and anomalous) detour. Not only were they a constant source of friction between the creators and the fans (all but removing both from interacting with the rest of the DCU with very few exceptions, having them only deal with non-costumed/non-super-villainous threats, switching out Ollie's trick arrows with real arrowheads and using them to shoot people producing red-colored bloody wounds....and that's not even getting to everything done to Dinah to reduce her to being merely Ollie's supporting cast/love interest), but when Grell & Gold finally left the characters and book it took several years of work rehabbing them just to properly reintegrate them into the DCU.) The more time has passed since this era, the more it seems that it gets ignored as much as possible.
Great analysis of the Longbow Hunter years. Had it not been for Grell's excellent artwork (was not a big fan of his Legion work, but he improved a great deal by the 80s), I don't even think that book would have been as well received. Yes, it was well-written, but it was also a hard pill to swallow. I hated how he pulled Black Canary out of Justice League -- like she had to be GA's girlfriend -- and couldn't have a career of her own -- and then crippled her. But that was largely a period of deconstructing heroes - and it did work for a time.
Yeah on the one hand LBH made Ollie relevant at DC. On the other, it (mostly) isolated him, changed his character, and was incredibly disrespectful to Dinah.
You could see a dash of LBH in the early CW Arrow series; thankfully not too much though.
One thing about the LBH years, especially when it became a regular series, is that people often forget Grell was often only writing it and not doing the art. I don't have the series in long boxes anymore so I can't do a meticulous search, but a decent chunk of the first couple of years or so was drawn by, of all people, Dan Jurgens.
Another thing to remember is that the Grell years were during the late 80-early 90's, which was the height of the AIDS scare and all the "be monogamous and/or always wear a condom" propaganda. Which isn't to complain about that because it was good advice, but here was Grell showing us a monogamous (let's not get into what Shado did to Ollie) relationship between two grown-ups that were sexually active, yet not willing to get married...which flew in the face of a lot of long-time, dating-back-to-Silver/Bronze-Age fans' expectations and more conservative values. And given that there were still a lot of people with, shall we say, dubious ideas about how HIV was transmitted especially via sexual activity, there was a lot of fan pushback on his depiction of their relationship. (Then again, there was arguably even more pushback on Grell's desire to not use any trick arrows at all during this period, as well.)
The art looks amazing on this. So excited.
I loved Grell and the LBH series. Have every issue.
"Life is too short so love the one you got cause you might get run over or you might get shot" - Sublime
Okay this is a pretty funny dig at Arrow from the Scooby-Doo Team-Up comic
https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/co...really_subpar/
Making fun of Arrow's overuse of Batman villains at the expense of Ollie's actual rogues gallery
Dan actually only drew fifteen issues starting with #13 and running 13, 14, 17, 18, 21-24, 27-30, 33, 34 and the 2nd annual. Ed Hannigan and Dick Giordano were the artists for the first issues up to 38 (Randy DuBurke and Paris Cullins jumped in for 7 and 8 respectively, still inked by Giordano though.) Denys Cowan did a few issues sporadically but the bulk of the remaining issues up to 80 were drawn by Rick Hoberg (with a few other random issues drawn by others. Grell only did the covers (after Hannigan and Giordano left) and writing for the series up to issue 80.
Finally went up for digital preorder on Amazon, hooray!
"It's fun and it's cool, so that's all that matters. It's what comics are for, Duh."
Words to live by.