Last night’s episode of CW′s Arrowbrings eight seasons of one of DC Comics’ oldest superheroes to a close as the CW aired the show’s series finale. Focused on Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow–one of the costumed characters off to the sidelines over the years in the shadow of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman–the series would be a resounding success for the network and executive Greg Berlanti, sprouting several other DC Comics adaptations under the banner of the Arrowverse. And what a long, strange trip it has been. It’s been seven and a half years since I first watched the premiere of CW’s Arrow in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2012 at the panel featuring the creators and stars Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy (I reviewed the pilot first here at borg). My initial reaction found the show a “refreshing, intriguing update to the superhero game,” and “even for a fan of the traditional character’s story, updates made for TV were well thought out and did little to detract from the core of what makes Green Arrow the unique character that has survived as a key comic book character for 70 years,” and that the pilot “deftly managed to alter far less of the source material than, for example, the Green Lantern movie released in 2011, and in doing so created a truer, more refreshing story with appropriate nods to the past, and one that promises to survive, should it find its fan base.” Who knew that survival would mean greenlighting so many more superhero shows, including The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Batwoman, and the forthcoming Superman & Lois?
The series accomplished a lot even if it didn’t get everything right. Arrow suffered when it veered too far from the DC Comics stories, or when it pursued too deeply the more arcane corners of the DC universe, the biggest side trip being the dominance of fan-favorite minor character Felicity Smoak in the series, ultimately knocking Dinah (or Laurel in this version) Lance aside to be Oliver’s romantic partner, which again took center stage in the finale episode.
This winter’s ambitious Crisis on Infinite Earth’s crossover event killed off Oliver Queen in the grand tradition of killing any superhero character (aka until his inevitable return, which we’ve seen in Kevin Smith, Phil Hester, and Ande Parks’ comics story arc). Although the finale itself, “Fadeout,” was much like an old 1980s “filler” episode (with many scenes spliced from past episodes) and like the final Crisis episodes it was about mourning Oliver and preparing for his funeral. But the penultimate episode, “Green Arrow and the Canaries” (which aired last week), would make for a good spin-off. That episode took Katie Cassidy’s Laurel Lance (the only actor we ever expected to be Black Canary in 2012), and teamed her up with Katherine McNamara’s Mia (Oliver and Felicity’s daughter trained by Oliver last year), along with Juliana Harkavy’s Dinah Drake, all in a future world of Earth in 2040 (introduced earlier in the series). How long will the CW Arrowverse continue without its flagship series? Only time will tell, but viewership already switched over to make The Flash the CW’s #1 watched show.
A new book takes a look behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Abrams Books’ The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As with the prior entries in its series: The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens andThe Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it reflects fascinating and interesting images from the film, plus commentary and interviews from director Rian Johnson and his staff of creative professionals. Most of the concept art provides a look at ideas left behind, with some exceptions, like the exotic new animals and beasts that could be seen throughout the film, like the sea cow, the porgs, fathier horse-like animals, and the crystalline shard foxes. Johnson notes in the book’s foreword the challenges and hopes of making his new movie “Star Wars-y.” Browsing this new book, it will be up to each reader and moviegoer to determine if he was successful.
As with past books in the series, the book was created parallel with the final post-production and film release, so a few key spoiler scenes are not included in the film. Handily, this edition includes a follow-up section including the death of Han Solo that was omitted from The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. So a few elements are not addressed in this book many fans will want to know about, but perhaps those areas will be included in the behind the scenes volume for Episode IX. But you will find plenty here to interest any fan–plenty of ship designs and concept art for the film’s new environments and sets.
The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi tells two separate stories, one in the text explaining the decisions made by director Rian Johnson and the visual artists and staff, and the second via the concept artwork that was translated to the screen and the artwork left behind. The book lists 77 creators behind the backgrounds, landscapes, sets, vehicles, props, and costume designs. It will take the reader who has seen the film five minutes of flipping through the book to realize it is Jock’s final character rendering work that is seen in the final cut of the film that landed in theaters: Old Luke’s fantastic island garb, Rey’s updated costumes, Rose’s and the Resistance’s uniforms, DJ and Leia’s costumes. Really all the great, final designs that made it to the screen for the main cast came from the pen and paint of Jock. But for whatever reason Jock was not interviewed for the book. What were his influences? Why this or that design? It’s unfortunate because it really looks like Jock’s designs for Oliver Queen in his Green Arrow: Year One series directly influenced his designs for Old Jedi Master Luke and that would have been great to learn.
Following its release of hardcover profiles of great comic book artists Alex Ross, Sean Phillips, and Howard Chaykin, Dynamite Comics announced this week the upcoming release of The Art of Jock, celebrating the work the British illustrator of works including Hellblazer: Pandemonium, Savage Wolverine, Green Arrow: Year One, and memorable Batman covers. The Art of Jock will include hundreds of illustrations from his years as an artist for comic books, film, and marketing work.
“It will include drawings and paintings from all of my comics projects from over the last ten years, including many sketches and unseen material, plus concept art and extensive promotional images from the various movies and posters I’ve worked on,” Jock announced in press materials announcing the book release. “The quality of the books I’ve seen from Dynamite has been second-to-none, so I’m thrilled to have a home there for this retrospective.”
At the 12:01 a.m. IMAX premiere screening of Marvel’s Iron Man 3, on May 3, 2013, IMAX will be giving away limited edition Mondo Iron Man 3 prints. The artwork, created by Detective Comics and Green Arrow: Year One comic book artist Jock, is a collaboration between Marvel Studios, IMAX, and Mondo, the Austin, Texas-based limited edition poster company. According to Walt Disney Studios, owner of the Marvel properties, the Iron Man 3 print will be the last entry in the IMAX 12:01 poster series–a series that began in 2012 with alternate poster concepts to promote the films. No idea what a Mondo poster is? They are only released in limited editions and tend to sell out fast, and are created by a myriad of artists. Here is the Iron Man 3 poster to be given away in this last IMAX 12:01 giveaway:
Prior IMAX 12:01 posters have been created for Oz: The Great and Powerful, The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, Real Steel, John Carter of Mars, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Amazing Spider-man, The Avengers, Frankenweenie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Prometheus. One of the best of these fantasy/sci-fi throwback designs was created for Oblivion:
Ever since the success of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, everyone has climbed aboard to use the Year One tag to sell copies. Many times the Year One is not an origin story but a random early story that fails to satisfy readers’ expectations. A successful twist on the Year One was Andy Diggle and Jock’sGreen Arrow: Year One, but there’s also been Teen Titans: Year One, Batgirl: Year One and Huntress: Year One, Nightwing: Year One and Robin: Year One, and even Batman: Two-Face/Scarecrow Year One. It’s not only DC Comics who has cornered the market on Year One titles. We reviewed Howard Chaykin’s well done Die Hard: Year Onehere last year, and if you look around you’ll even find a Judge Dredd Year One and a Punisher: Year One. This week Matt Wagner, writer of Dynamite Comics’s Green Hornet: Year One , takes on the 1920s-1930s masked crimefighter The Shadow in The Shadow: Year One. The first issue of Wagner’s Year One creation kicks off the better side of Year One stories.
Wagner and artist Wilfredo Torres begin their Year One with a mysterious force referred to as the “Shadow of Doom” in 1929 Cambodia, where we first meet The Shadow’s alter ego Lamont Cranston. He is in pursuit of a criminal called the White Tiger and this pursuit returns him to New York City, a city brewing with criminals for The Shadow to bring to justice.
The CW Network’s new TV series Arrow will not be aired until the Fall, but the CW previewed the entire pilot for the series last Wednesday and Friday to thousands of attendees at Comic-Con. The auditorium erupted in cheers to several scenes in the series opener, starting some worthy buzz for this newest DC Comics Justice League superhero to hit the small screen. Was it good? Absolutely. And even for a fan of the traditional character’s story, updates made for TV were well thought out and did little to detract from the core of what makes Green Arrow the unique character that has survived as a key comic book character for 70 years. The pilot deftly managed to alter far less of the source material than, for example, the Green Lantern movie released in 2011, and in doing so created a truer, more refreshing story with appropriate nods to the past, and one that promises to survive, should it find its fan base.
Oliver Queen, played by Stephen Amell, is son of one of Starling City’s preeminent business magnates and head of Queen Industries, Robert Queen (played by Jamey Sheridan). Oliver was on a yacht with his father and cheating below deck on his girlfriend Dinah “Laurel” Lance (a legal aid lawyer played by Katie Cassidy) with Laurel’s impressionable younger sister. A surprise storm sinks the craft, the sister is sucked into the sea and drowns and Oliver, his dad, and a crewmember are left floating in a lifeboat. Before running out of food Oliver’s dad kills the crewmember and himself to give Oliver a chance at survival. All of this backstory is interspersed throughout the episode, building up to the revelation that the father and crewmember were dead by his father’s hand. Oliver stays on the island five years until rescued by natives of another island sailing by. By then he has become a sort of Grizzly Adams, hairy, physically strong and singularly adept at survival, including impressively wielding a bow and arrow.
When he returns home to Starling City, his mother, played by Susanna Thompson, is now romantically linked with his father’s former business partner and this does not sit well with Oliver. Despite his numerous apologies, Laurel Lance has no place in her life for Oliver and blames Oliver for her sister’s death. Oliver has his own sister, Thea (Willa Holland) a misguided youth tempted by parties and the like, and Oliver immediately returns to his role as big brother, irking the girl. In one of the best updates to the traditional Green Arrow story, Oliver’s nickname for the sister is Speedy. Green Arrow fans will know Speedy as the long-time sidekick of Green Arrow. In the Phil Hester, Ande Parks, and Kevin Smith run of the Green Arrow comic book, a wayward girl with HIV named Mia was taken under Oliver’s wing, and she became Speedy, so there is some history with a female Speedy (in my view the best incarnation of his sidekick). Hopefully the series will survive long enough for this to take on the Speedy story as its own fleshed-out subplot. The first Speedy had drug issues, and you could see that history seeping into his sister’s character arc.
Laurel has been friends with Oliver’s best friend Tommy, played by Colin Donnell, since Oliver was presumed dead. Tommy immediately steps back into a supportive role for his friend. Another wealthy late-twenty-something guy like Oliver, Tommy surprisingly fit in well in the pilot. A tad smarmy, he is the only one to really celebrate Oliver’s return and give him the “welcome home” party he deserves. In his party scenes we see Oliver’s only similarity to Batman’s Bruce Wayne, a little window into the excesses shown by Christian Bale in his stints as the the caped crusader that were echoed in the traditional Oliver Queen. Despite that slight similarity, series writers/creators Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim have shown Oliver to be a completely different superhero. And this is best highlighted when Oliver begins cleaning up the streets of his former home, donning a green suede hooded outfit like Robin Hood. The city is riddled with crime and nasty masked characters who try to kidnap Oliver, only for Oliver to kill them off one by one. A superhero that kills is definitely against mainstream norms but it also has history with this character, most recently in the superb Justice League Cry for Justice mini-series, which left Oliver murdering the villain Prometheus in part for maiming the original Speedy, now called Red Arrow.
How often have you watched Batman let the Joker live after committing horrible crimes and wondered why he didn’t just end the Joker once and for all? After Joker killed the second Robin (Jason Todd) in A Death in the Family? After the Joker assaulted Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and left her disabled in The Killing Joke? It’s long overdue that the vigilantism that is the undercurrent of both Batman and Green Arrow comes through in a story. It didn’t occur in the original Flash TV series, in any Superman movie or in the Green Lantern movie. So the audience that previewed the new Arrow was introduced to an element never before seen in a major DC Comics character and they loved it. And Amell, later in the panel, proved that he understands his character, saying, “You couldn’t expect that Oliver was going to undertake something so monumental without there being collateral damage. You don’t have to agree with his tactics, but you should respect what he’s trying to do.”
The pilot set up a web of subplots that can be handled throughout the first season. Oliver’s mother seems to be behind his kidnapping upon his return. Why? Who is she working with? How does it relate to some secret Oliver’s father may have disclosed to him on the yacht? Will Diggle be a friend to Oliver or spy for his mother?
British actor and genre favorite Paul Blackthorne (The Dresden Files) plays his American accent here as Detective Quentin Lance, Laurel’s father and an angry cop investigating the crime element in the city as well as trying to track the new hooded vigilante killing off local crimelords and their lackeys. He also can’t move beyond his younger daughter’s death these five years later. Adding further difficulty to Oliver’s covert superhero doings, after the botched kidnapping, Oliver’s mother hires a full-time bodyguard named John Diggle (played by David Ramsey) to accompany Oliver everywhere. Initially easily ditched by Oliver, Diggle learns quickly, giving Oliver an extra obstacle to fulfilling his goal of secretly cleaning up the city. Like Green Arrow in his history of DC Comics stories, his alias is not so expertly hidden and Tommy suspects that it is Oliver who is the new hooded vigilante–yet another future story element to investigate. The pilot also included a few throwaway characters that probably shouldn’t survive the pilot–typical stereotypes that you’d stuff into a pilot as filler, including Roger R. Cross as Detective Hilton and Brian Markinson as villain Adam Hunt. Does Detective Lance need a partner? If there was a downside to the pilot it was too many second tier characters.
Diehard fans of any character or story will always wrestle with any change or update to a character when translated from its original source material. Changes like updating Star City to Starling City actually help to pull the character from the comic book world into the real world, although my initial reaction was “why change that?” or “why not just place him in Seattle where he lived for decades as written by Mike Grell?” I asked Neal Adams at Comic-Con to give me his take on the new series, and he’s just not interested. Adams, along with Denny O’Neil, created the modern, cocky and cool Oliver Queen at the tail end of the 1960s. The biggest changes to Green Arrow later came from Mike Grell, who really amplified the role of Dinah Lance into Oliver’s story, and made Green Arrow the ultimate urban hunter. I think Grell would at least like the direction this new Oliver Queen appears to be heading. Do I wish this was a scene for scene adaptation of Grell’s Longbow Hunters series or his other stories? You bet. But since nothing ever matches what you’d envision, this at least gets Green Arrow a long overdue screen adaptation (the rest of the key seven Justice League members: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Green Lantern have had at least their own animated series over the years), keeps Black Canary as his love interest, and features Ollie showing his stuff as urban archer. If the writers can keep the series interesting and fresh, people will watch and we can see some expanded stories if the series will last. When I look at series like Supernatural and Smallville, whose early episodes seemed to me to be very thin, it should be a no-brainer for CW to make this series into something just as successful. Amell later in the panel admitted that he hopes it makes it ten years. Wishful thinking?
After the preview of the pilot, series stars Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy and writers Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim responded to some well thought out questions from the panel moderator. During the pilot Amell’s voice seemed very familiar and I had to look away to figure out who I was hearing. He sounds a lot like a young, cocky Tom Cruise, from around the time of Top Gun. Amell’s command of the character comes through in his voiceovers and Cruise’s early “immature jerk” roles seem to be reflected albeit not intentionally in Amell’s performance as the cocky side of Oliver. I know many don’t like voiceovers, but I am one who prefers the Harrison Ford voiceover Blade Runner to the edited version, so I thought the voiceover here was also a good touch. Amell responded very passionately to questions about playing Oliver Queen. Amell sounds like he is inside Oliver’s head, both in voice delivery and in the word choice drafted by the writers.
The series features an older cast than Smallville, less teen soap opera, less typical CW, and more adult drama, if maybe at the younger end of the adult set. Writer Andrew Kreisberg calls the show a crime drama, a family drama and a romance. But even with that age block the actors appeared youthfully ambitious and eager about their new gig.
When asked whether we’ll see Cassidy’s Laurel Lance turn into action heroine Black Canary, in particular donning the character’s signature fishnet stockings, it seemed clear that both she planned on it saying she is “definitely ready” and Kreisberg and Guggenheim couldn’t say no to the roar from the crowd. Kreisberg said that fans would see this transpire “not as soon as you want, but a lot sooner than you think.” The creators didn’t shy away from the fact that they wanted and selected attractive stars for the series, reflecting the attractive characters from the source material. Amell was the first who auditioned for Oliver and according to the writers, he was immediately selected for the role.
A key scene in one of the trailers, reported here several weeks ago, shows Amell doing a nearly impossible feat climbing a series of workout bars. Amell said no CGI was used, and he, indeed, did these scenes on his own. One of the writers added that that was “something you won’t see in Batman.”
CW revealed Kelly Hu will be guest starring in a future episode as the DC villain, China White, first appearing in the 2007 mini-series Green Arrow: Year One. As I had speculated this past February here, the writers acknowledged relying heavily on the modern origin story in Green Arrow: Year One, illustrated by the artist known as Jock. Not a classic Green Arrow story by any means, it did seem to serve as backdrop for at least the pilot episode. A very recent villain like China White seems to me to be DC Comics taking an easy route. Why not some bigger villains? At least Deathstroke was disclosed as another villain we can look for in the series. The writers advised watching each episode for “Easter Eggs,” like this Deathstroke mask found in one of the show’s trailers:
All said, I had trepidations about taking my favorite character into his own series, but I am quite pleased so far and am looking forward to watching the full series in the Fall CW lineup. The pilot for Arrow premieres to the rest of the world Wednesday, October 10, 2012.
I will feature the actual Arrow costume in a later post, as it was on display at the SDCC DC Comics booth.
One additional benefit to attended the previews of the pilot was a convention exclusive comic book for the series that I was happy to get my hands on, pictured here with a cover by none other than the great Green Arrow artist, Mike Grell:
Full trailers can be found in my earlier post here.
The CW Network just released the first photo of Stephen Amell in the new Green Arrow supersuit for the new TV series, titled simply Arrow.
The costume was designed by Academy Award winning costume designer Colleen Atwood. A native of the Seattle area, Atwood has created a pretty interesting look for the classic DC Comics superhero son of Seattle, Green Arrow, alter ego of Oliver Queen. In fact, you could see someone wearing this outfit in a crowd on the streets of Seattle on a typical gray day and no one would even give him a second glance. And that certainly fits with an urban hunter who needs to keep a bit of a low profile.
The costume seems to reveal some tidbits about the new Green Arrow. First, although the outfit doesn’t appear dark and brooding itself, the dark shadows that Amell is filmed in reflects that the producers want viewers to see this as a dark superhero drama. So fans of the cheesier, bright and shiny, green vinyl look that Oliver Queen wore in the Smallville series, take note.
I always thought this bizarre "leafy" outfit from Smallville is something you'd see Joker's girlfriend Poison Ivy wearing.
As we predicted (and hoped) earlier here at borg.com, happily, they are taking a different tack here.
Jock's tougher looking, hooded Green Arrow outfit from the Year One mini-series.
Second, this photograph isn’t just an homage to Jock and Andy Diggle’s Green Arrow: Year One, this IS the Green Arrow designed by the artist known as Jock: from the hood, the small arrow quiver, the vest design with the extended shoulders–further cements this new series as a Year One-inspired story. The fact that one of the show’s characters is named Diggle leads one to believe either the creators were working with Diggle & Co. or at least heavily influenced by the recent incarnation of Oliver Queen in the Year One mini-series.
The costume also is obviously heavily influenced by the character’s own idol, Robin Hood. This can be seen in both the medieval stylized green suede mantle and decorative trim, but even more so on the bottom from the front to the reverse in the skirting/dags/tippets/flaps as seen in Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood costume from the classic Adventures of Robin Hood, as well as in the Green Arrow early 1980s Wonder Years mini-series. The medieval capa or hood bridges the early 1980s incarnation with the later 1980s version created by Mike Grell for The Longbow Hunters.
Green Arrow from Green Arrow: The Wonder Years
The small quiver would seem to indicate removing the possibility of fitting Oliver’s renowned trick arrows in there. Probably a good thing for this kind of series.
The only possible detracting component is the pocket(s). I think pockets on this kind of piece are actually kind of humorous. Would Oliver have time to stand around with hands in pockets in stealth mode? It seems a bit 1990s “hanging out on the street corner” kind of look. Yet altogether my verdict is… I think this costume works. Green leather and possibly suede are slick materials to use. Dark tones. Inspired by various past Green Arrow influences. Practical gloves. No unnecessary belt with a big “G” buckle (I never have been a fan of that part of the costume). Looks like someone jumping around buildings could move easily in it. And it doesn’t look silly. Clearly some good thought and planning went into this.
Atwood could have taken one of these huntsman outfits from the Snow White movie, but didn't.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Costume designer Colleen Atwood has been nominated for nine Academy Awards and won three Oscars, for Alice in Wonderland, Memoirs of a Geisha and Chicago. Her other work includes Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Public Enemies, The Rum Diary, The Tourist, and the recently previewed coming release Dark Shadows. Do we see a theme here? Yep, pretty much all “dark and brooding” Johnny Depp vehicles, and interesting designs. Recently Atwood designed costumes for the 2012 release Snow White and the Huntsman and Mission Impossible III, but her past work includes film classics like The Handmaid’s Tale, Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, That Thing You Do, Gattaca, Fallen, Mumford, Big Fish, and The Planet of the Apes (remake).
, everyone has climbed aboard to use the Year One tag to sell copies. Many times the Year One is not an origin story but a random early story that fails to satisfy readers’ expectations. A successful twist on the Year One was Andy Diggle and Jock’s 
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. It’s not only DC Comics who has cornered the market on Year One titles. We reviewed Howard Chaykin’s well done 
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. This week Matt Wagner, writer of Dynamite Comics’s 
, takes on the 1920s-1930s masked crimefighter The Shadow in The Shadow: Year One. The first issue of Wagner’s Year One creation kicks off the better side of Year One stories.
