It’s a thin line…
January 29th, 2007 by david brothers | Tags: 100 bullets, black canary, family, hal jordan, hawk, hawkeye, ign, justice league, kalinara, leader, mark millar, process, raceIt is Hal Jordan Appreciation week. In honor of HJAW…
Huh.
I got nothing. Moving right along–
I love 100 Bullets. You all know this already, right? I’m confident that I can prove that it is the finest piece of comic literature amongst a field filled with self-absorbed people whining about their life and tights’n’fights.
Here’s the long and short of 100 Bullets: The Trust are the scary behind the scenes people that are usually referred to as “they.” They are obscenely rich and outside of the law without being outlaws. The Minutemen were a group of men who protected The Trust from threats both foreign and internal. If a member of The Trust moved against another, the Minutemen would handle it decisively. A few years back, The Trust tired of this and had the Minutemen eliminated in Atlantic City… or so they thought. Agent Graves, leader of the Minutemen, faked their deaths and dropped them into new lives through hypnotism. Now, he’s reactivating his army and appears to be in the process of taking careful revenge on The Trust.
One of my favorite characters in 100 Bullets is Isabelle “Dizzy” Cordova. A reformed gang member whose husband and son were murdered while she was in prison, Dizzy is both one of the reader’s many POV characters and a moral center for the series.
Graves approached her with a briefcase and revealed that two policemen were responsibile for the death of her new family. The briefcase held a pistol and 100 bullets, both of which were completely untraceable. They were “magic bullets,” and any police investigation that involved them would be canceled and wiped away clean. It was a license to kill.
By the end of that arc, it was clear that Dizzy was destined for greater things. She’s appeared throughout the series and you can see a clear progression from broken-hearted girl to grown woman. She’s still young, though quite some time has passed since she first crossed paths with Graves, or rather, since Graves began grooming her for his purposes.
You see, Dizzy is “The Girl,” and she is slated to become one of the new, post-Atlantic City Minutemen. Even more so than the others, Dizzy is slated to be a check within the group itself, as she has been given both a reason (or two!) and the training to kill Agent Graves if and when the time comes.
Time will tell how she ends up, but as-is, she’s easily my favorite female comics character. She’s got heart, she’s got character, and she’s awesome. She’s had an interesting character arc, too. She’s gone from ex-con with a death wish to a person with a fierce wish to live.
Early in the series, she’s told that she had every right to kill a man. She would have gotten away with it. “Well,” she responds, “that don’ make it right, knowhumsayin’?”
That’s Dizzy.
I have trouble with Green Arrow. Ollie Queen has only had a handful of stories that ever really interested me, and even then only slightly. It doesn’t help that the past few years of his book have been not to my taste at all. Longbow Hunters was good, and I’ve been meaning to read Grell’s run on the character because of it. It might help me “get” Ollie.
I think it boils down to his character. He’s this super lefty, hero of and to the people type of guy. He’s that annoying, loudmouth, brash guy who I don’t think anyone likes. He’d be positively frustrating to hang out with. I dig Black Canary, but I have no idea what she sees/saw in him.
Plus, there’s this kind of thing.
So, in short, Ollie Queen is an annoying slimeball with a stupid mustache. I realize that this is a plot point in Justice League Elite, but I don’t see it being even remotely out of character for Ollie. Shoot, one of his character traits is “unfaithful.”
Also, Hawkeye has the same gimmick but is at least fifteen times as cool, Connor Hawke is more interesting, and Oliver Queen having a win against Prometheus is ridiculous. I actually like Mark Millar’s Ultimate Hawkeye more than I like Oliver Queen. Hate may be too strong a word, but I definitely am not an Ollie fan.
Similar Posts:
- First Shot, Last Call.
- I Second That Emotion
- Booze, Broads, & Bullets Index
- Waffling
- Promise you’ll be merry!
It’s funny, I love Ollie for the fact he is a cocky slimeball with funky old timey facial hair. He makes no bones about who he is, his womanizing ways, his attitude, it’s all up front. Plus any dude that can make a goddamn boxing glove arrow a legit item is aces in my book
I can’t wait for Green Arrow’s inevitable confrontation with Celestial Archer.
For me, it’s that Ollie is human. Human in a real, well-rounded way that you don’t often see in comics. He’s a good guy who tries to do right, and so often fails. His relationship with BC is complex and frustrating, and just feels real to me. He drives me crazy, and I love him anyway for what he’s doing and the person he tries to be.
The above scene reads a little wrong to me. Yes, he’s unfaithful, but it’s more of a spur-of-the-moment passion thing. He doesn’t randomly proposition every woman he sees. He *does* however, ask questions like his last one. He has a good heart under the sarcasm, and would notice and care about something like that (if only because he likes to see women smile).
GA’s characterization was a sore spot for the JLElite mini. I understand that Joe Kelly had a theme going about human weaknesses and the dark side of heroes, but you’re right… Ollie would not have been that direct in being unfaithful. Of course, you can say this is after he got rejected by Black Canary so he was playing around.
I would have preferred a Firestorm/Dawn pairing more though, since that was built up in JLA.
I see what you mean, Mark. I think that GA realizes that he’s basically picked this young lady (or maybe she’s just written with a youthful enthusiasm?) up on autopilot, but he still doesn’t quite stop where he’s headed.
If it helps any, I don’t much like the Namor/Sue/Reed dynamic over at Marvel, where all involved look like complete tools every time it pops up. Namor, she’s married to Reed. Susan, you’re married to Reed. Reed, you’re married to Susan. Let’s try to keep that in mind, you wacky kids!