Looking To The Stars: An Open Letter to DC Comics…

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To Dan Dido, The Powers That Be at DC Comics or any fanboy who can bring this to their attention;

Is this how I’m repaid? After months of declaring that Marvel Comics is creatively bankrupt and how out of the Big Two, you have easily won the 2005 Cross-Over Wars in a horse-race against House of M, you go and do this. It wasn’t that big a deal when it was just Judd Winick doing it; I can ignore everything he writes easily enough. But then, this week, you had to drag Geoff Johns into perpetuating the lie.

So I have to ask; are you TRYING to make me stop reading Green Lantern or Green Arrow related titles completely?

Green Lantern #7 & #8 could have been a great two-part story. Building off two historically important stories (Alan Moore’s For The Man Who Has Everything and the destruction of Coast City from The Death of Superman) this was set up as an epic scene worthy of the first modern Hal Jordan/Ollie Queen Green Arrow/Green Lantern team-up story. And for the most part aside from some shaky dialogue (I wonder why Ollie and Hal continue to talk about their feelings in a sensitive manly way while Hal’s ring is trying to warn them about the danger) I was enjoying this story as of Issue 7.

And then, this week, #8 came out.

Don’t get me wrong – I liked most of it. I love how it was Ollie who was the first to realize something was wrong even though he’s the less willful of the GA/GL dynamic. I loved the whole concept of Mongul the 2nd trying to recreate his father’s greatest triumph (coming closer to defeating Superman than anyone else at that point in time) in order to correct his father’s biggest mistake (not conquering Earth). And yes, much as I loved the Silver Age cheese involved in the character name, I’m glad to see Mongal dead. Still, I have to ask one question regarding the reemergence of the idea that Oliver Queen knew about Connor Hawke’s existence before their chance meeting at the Ashram Ollie retired to post-Zero Hour.

Geoff Johns? Did they have your loved ones at gunpoint? Incriminating photos? A box of kittens over a wood-chipper? Because I expect a hell of a lot better from you than what you turned out this week. You’re the man who managed to puzzle out Hawkman and Power Girl’s continuity for crying out loud! Surely you know better than to keep basing work off of the half-assed story that turned Oliver Queen into a dead-beat dad.

I’m not saying that Ollie hasn’t made some bad judgment calls in his life. But between being a recovering alcoholic, a former rich bastard and an ex-womanizer (I don’t care WHAT Joe Kelly says) he’s got enough baggage to fill an SUV already.

Not to mention that Ollie’s “confession” to Hal over his abandoning Connor and his mother here makes no sense as it was Hal who broke the news to Ollie that Connor WAS his son in the first place. (Green Arrow #96) And if Ollie honestly has been hiding the fact that he knew he had a son somewhere all these years, then he deserves a damn Oscar for the way he expresses his shock to Hal (who was essentially an all-knowing god at this point) and to Connor and Eddie Fyers later.

I know. I know. I realize I sound like a screaming geek. I’m fully aware of that. My disappointment lies in that Geoff… you are so good about these things, usually. I could understand if it was John Byrne or John Arcudi doing this… but you’re one of us! You’re the fanboy who knows his stuff and made good.

So please… somebody explain this in a formal story. Even if it’s just to say that all Ollie’s desire to have a family all these years was related to his guilt over what he left behind. Or chalk it up to reality weakening because of the Crisis and it being a flux between Earth 1 and the Vertigo universe. Just don’t ignore the fine work that Chuck Dixon and Mike Grell did on Green Arrow during the 80’s and 90’s. You’ve got the rep for being the company that actually respects and uses its history now. Don’t throw it away now.

Thank you,
“Starman” Matt Morrison

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.

Visit our blog at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/looking2dastars/

He stands at the center of the universe, old as the stars and wise as infinity. And he can see the turning of the last page long before you’ve even started the book. He’s like rain and fog and the chilling touch of the grave. He is called many names in a thousand tongues on a million worlds. Heckler. The Smirking One. Riffer. The Lonely Magus. Wolf-Brother. The God of Snark. Mister Pirate. The Guy In The Rafters. Captain. The Voice In The Back. But here and now, in this place and in this time, he is called The Starman. And... he's wonderful.