Personal Update: The Inspiring Green Arrow

Some might call the character a Batman knockoff or a DC Sideshow Bob.However, I draw great inspiration from the character Oliver Queen, known as the Green Arrow.

For those not familiar with the Emerald Archer, Oliver Queen acts as a sort of Robin Hood (the character and the writer drew inspiration from both Robin Hood and a 1940 film The Green Archer) to fight for the middle class of his home of Star City. The Green Arrow fights crime with an arsenal of trick arrows (except for in The Longbow Hunters, the one time he uses deadly force), the most memorable being the famous boxing glove arrow.

While this may sound like a Batman spin-off character, the core personality of the character sets him apart from the Dark Knight. While Bruce Wayne is a calculating and often angry character, Oliver Queen solves many of his problems with wit and a sense of humor, making him (in my personal opinion) a bit more likable.

One thing that put the Green Arrow comics in the spotlight was the 1990s series known as Green Lantern Green Arrow, in which the two titular heroes went on a journey across the country, encountering several small situations that looked at social problems. These included racism, pollution, and most famously, drug addiction. While other superhero comics focused on developing and bringing back a small set of villains, the Green Arrow comics tackled problems in our society, allowing the reader to connect more with the good deeds Queen was performing. Sure, we love a good Batman/Joker showdown, but Oliver discovering his sidekick, Speedy, is a heroin addict? That’s an impacting story many can connect to.

Going back to the trick arrows mentioned before, Green Arrow is also a bit more creative than the other members of the Justice League. While Batman has a utility belt of a few multipurpose devices, an arrow can only be used for one purpose at a time. So, Queen has to get creative. Just a small list of trick arrows include the jack-in-the-box arrow, the fire-extinguisher arrow, Greek fire arrows, chimney sweep arrows, mummy arrows, umbrella arrows, donut arrows, and even an arrow to hack computers.

And there’s my comic rant for today. Just thought I’d share exactly what makes the Green Arrow as much an inspiration for me as Batman is to the other main writer on this blog. Until next time, I wish you all good night, and good luck.

The Origin of Bruce Wayne, aka The Joker

Many of you know the story of a small boy named Bruce Wayne who turned to crime-fighting after witnessing the death of his parents. Soon after, he started facing a full cast of twisted villains bent on the destruction of the Bat. But only one was there since the very beginning: The Joker.

I am here to tell you a different tale.

After the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, the young boy inherited his family’s company. However, wanting to push himself away from anything to do with the Wayne family and his parent’s deaths, he ran away in his teen years, believing he had grown a remarkable sense of humor. So, Wayne started going to bars and clubs, hoping to make it as a stand-up comedian.

During this time, he fell in love with a beautiful young woman named Jeannie, and was going to become a father. Unfortunately, his acting career was coming to an end before it could begin. Mr. Wayne was quite nervous in front of crowds, and thus wasn’t very good as a comedian. Because the comedic career was Bruce’s only hope for supporting his family, he was at a loss as to how to go on.

At this point, he was approached by two men with a proposition. Wayne would lead them through one of the WayneTech chemical plants (which had minimal security) to assist in a heist, and they would pay Wayne enough to feed his kid. Desperate for the money, he accepted, putting on a red cowl with pointed ears and a long red cape, to keep anonymous.

The night before the heist was to take place, Bruce was approached by police officers. They were very sorry, but an electrical accident had killed his wife. It was a million to one accident, but not to Bruce. In the shock of the news, he realized that it was not him, but the rest of the world, with a sense of humor. It was all a joke! Wayne’s life was meant to be a joke for the audience!

But the heist was not to be called off. Wayne put on the cowl, and began to lead the men through the plant. Walking through the plant that his family owned, that he owned, set his mind twitching. This was wrong. This was not the way to live. His wife and son were standing next to him, telling him so. He shouldn’t be doing this. He was a monster for standing by and committing crime after the death of not only his humanitarian parents, but of his innocent wife and unborn kid.

The mental conflict built, and Wayne stopped on one of the walkways above a large chemical vat. A shove from behind knocked Wayne to the floor. The men were getting impatient. One of them said something under his breath. Perhaps they planned to kill him too. Now that was funny.

Picking a crowbar off of a nearby maintenance bench, he turned and smacked one of the men upside the head. And hit him again. And again. Then, he started beating on the second one. Pounding, slapping, hitting, breaking, and pummeling the men, he looked up to see police officers. Out of nowhere. Bruce turned, and ran. Past the bodies. Past the maintenance bench.  Past his parents, his wife, and his kid, all beckoning him to come back.

He looked behind him to see that everybody, even the police, had been replaced by a big, black demon in a horned cowl and with  big, black bat-wings. Bruce kept running.

But then he slipped. Fell down, down, down into the vat below. He was adrift, being pushed, pulled, tumbled along until eventually washing up on a shore. He was outside the plant, all the city spread out before him on the moonlit night. He looked down to see a monstrosity.

His skin was bleached white. His hair had become the most vivid green. And yet, the cape and mask were dyed black. As black as the bat-demon standing behind him.

The bleached color eventually faded to it’s normal hue. He soon found that he had no sense of humor, that is, until an unearthly amusement took him and he laughed until that sadistic grin and garish color came back bringing with it….The Joker.

Top 5: Best Batman Villains

 

 

 

 

It seems the Bat is coming back. First, an announcement for a Batman and Superman movie, then a new Batman Arkham video game in the making, and now a TV series about the young Bruce Wayne and the origins of several famed villains titled Gotham. In anticipation of the Caped Crusader making his way back into popular media, I present the top five best villains of the Batman storyline.

 

 

 

Number 5: Mr. Freeze

Victor Fries is one of the few villains that has an emotional motivation for his actions. After his wife, Nora, became terminally ill, Fries froze her in a cryogenic chamber to slow down the effects of the disease and thus buy him more time to cure his beloved. During this time, he began to rob banks to keep funding for his research. At this point, he was stopped by Batman. For this, he blames the Bat for his struggle.

 

 

 

Number 4: Deadshot

Floyd Lawton is an expert marksman who never misses. He first arrived in Gotham with the intention to replace the Batman in his crime-fighting business, but was thwarted by the Dark Knight when he and Robin tampered with the sights of Lawton’s twin revolvers. Thus, after breaking out of prison, Lawton adapted to using his signature silenced wrist-mounted guns, and installed a tamper-proof laser sight by his eye. From then on, he joined a covert military unit called the Suicide Squad, a group of assassins who carry out impossible missions for the good of society. Hoping to die in a spectacular fashion, Deadshot awaits the opportunity to set his sights on the Bat.

 

 

Number 3: Bane

Bane was a South American prison convict serving time for the crimes of his dead father. Now, he is known as “The Man Who Broke the Bat”, after he broke  Bruce Wayne’s spine. Eventually, he was a part of a military medical experiment, and gained superhuman strength through a drug called Venom. What many films featuring Bane (namely Batman and Robin and The Dark Knight Rises) fail to touch upon is that Bane is not only a gorilla-like character in terms of strength, but is also very smart. He passed the time in prison by reading smuggled books and with meditation. Perhaps one film will eventually make Bane as intelligent and huge as he was initially created to be.

 

 

Number 2: Deathstroke

Slade Wilson has been in the killing business since he was 16, when he faked his age to join the Army. His superiors were impressed with his fighting ability, and thus entered Wilson into an experimental program to create a super soldier. The result of said experiment allowed Slade to use 90% of his brain at any one time (a normal human can only use 10%), along with possessing superhuman strength, agility, and regeneration. Being the best at what he does, he has his eye on one impossible job: killing the Bat.

Number 1: The Joker

Though his origins are unclear even to the clown himself, Joker has been around since Batman issue 1. He never intends to kill the Bat, (in fact he believes they were made for each other) but to instead break his spirit and perhaps become as insane as the Joker. Performing every crime possible from theft to arson to mass murdering, this laughing man has the esteemed position of being Batman’s archenemy. One of his more heinous crimes include killing the second Robin with a crowbar in the comic “A Death in the Family”.

 

From “A Death in the Family”: