Time for a change of pace! Old DC comics. Really old. Showcase Presents Green Arrow features over 500 pages of comics from 1958 to 1969. DC has released these showcases with almost all of their major titles and I wanted to check one out so I picked up Green Arrow. They're all printed in black and white so they could make them much cheaper and it really doesn't take away from the art at all. I think this is really only for intense comic nerds, these issues are old and dated as hell. If you've recently gotten into DC comics and you want to check more out, I suggest something a little more...recent. All of the dialogue in this volume is so ridiculously bad, it's good. Every single character speaks like 'HEY THERE FELLA, THAT'S JUST SWELL, WHAT THE BLUE BLAZES, WATCH IT BUSTER' and so on. I swear almost every issue in here has at least one character yelling GREAT GUNS! The amount of puns and one-liners in this volume will astound you. If you can look past how corny everything is, you might be able to really enjoy it!
Plot Summary
Almost every issue in here is six pages long. Most of them are from World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics so they're short and sweet. There's so real surprises on the stories, usually some dastardly crook has made some evil play to steal something, Green Arrow and Speedy use their wits and gadgets to save the day. For me, the most enjoyable parts are just the absurd dialogue and situations that occur. There are some cameos in certain comics from Superboy, Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter and so on. About halfway through the volume, there's a full issue of Justice League about Green Arrow joining the team. It was surprisingly good and my personal favorite comic featured in here. The strangest thing for me was that every comic looks and feels very similar except out of NOWHERE the last comic in here is completely different. It's suddenly has the look of 1970's comics and shows the transition from the earlier style. The panels are large and poses more dynamic, there's much more inking work going on with lots of crosshatching, the faces are large and dramatic, Green Arrow suddenly has a goatee. It was a very sudden shift in style and it felt very out of place, even though it was still good!
I couldn't help but notice that early Green Arrow is LITERALLY a copy of Bruce Wayne. Oliver Queen is a millionaire playboy with no actual superpowers. He's a detective who's created all of these wild gadgets to help him fight crime. He has a sidekick who's basically with him at all times. He has an Arrow-mobile, an Arrow-plane, even an Arrow-cave! Sounds pretty familiar...
I've noticed that there are quite of few of these showcase volumes for Batman, Justice League, etc, but Green Arrow only has one?? I'd definitely like to read more where it goes into the 70's and 80's, hopefully DC will put out another one. All in all, cheesy as it gets but an enjoyable read!
"You sure turned the tables on them, Green Arrow!"
"Yes...The Camouflage King and his men will have a tough time camouflaging themselves now - behind bars!"
Showcase Presents Green Arrow #1 - 7/10
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