'Showcase Presents Green Arrow' #1 Review

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

'Hot Gimmick' #1 Review

Here's me attempting to branch out and find good shoujo. I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading volume one of Crimson Hero so I picked up a few volumes of this series. So right off the bat we can assume this series is going to be pretty drama-tastic, hence the name HOT GIMMICK. I liked Crimson Hero because it had a nice sports manga feel to it along with the shoujo, but this series just looked like pure gossip/drama/etc. But I'll give it a shot!


Plot Summary

Our main character Hatsumi is JUST YER AVERAGE TEENAGE GAL. This series has pretty generic shoujo typecast characters. We've got the bad boy Ryoki who might have a softer side to him. Then there's super nice handsome guy Azusa. There's also nerdy otaku Subaru that no one gives a shit about. Poor guy. Hatsumi's sister Akane is only fourteen (two years younger than our protagonist) but she's been getting around town lately and asks Hatsumi to go buy a pregnancy test for her. Bad boy douchebag Ryoki happens to find out that Akane might be pregnant and now has Hatsumi in a bind. If he tells his mother about this, then Hatsumi's family will be shamed by all the other families that live in their company housing area. So Hatsumi reluctantly agrees to be Ryoki's 'slave' if he doesn't spill the beans. Already, this girl has serious self esteem issues. Ryoki basically wants to use Hatsumi as his sex toy etc etc cause this is how all guys are. But we find out that super fabulous model Azusa, who was Hatsumi's childhood chum, has moved back into their complex. He shows that he's going to protect Hatsumi because he's just so darn perfect.

(Check out the above image. SHE'S PRENANT!)


So as far as I can tell this series basically focuses on a love triangle between awkward girl, mr. perfect and douchebag (bordering on psychotic behavior) dude. Like I said, there's an otaku guy that might also jump in the game for winning Hatsumi's heart but he hasn't had much of a role as far as I've read. The most frustrating aspect for me was just that Hatsumi is...kinda dumb. I'm hoping she gets better as it goes on. Nothing really surprising from this series, pretty typical shoujo content going on. I bought the first three volumes really cheap so I'll keep reading and see where it goes. I don't have much to say about the art either, pretty average shoujo style. I do like the cover designs though. I think this series definitely reflects how Japanese behavior is different from American. All the drama in Hot Gimmick starts from Hatsumi not wanting her family to be shamed in any way and I really don't think most Western girls would care much about something like that. Different cultures. Anyway, I might review volume 2 and 3 if it gets any better (or worse)!

Hot Gimmick #1 - 5.2/10

'Naruto' #6 Review

Oh man, it's been a long time since I've read early Naruto! Found this volume used at a local bookstore and I had to pick it up. I read Naruto weekly and I enjoy the series as a whole but I think the first half of Naruto is better overall. This volume starts off with all the ninja taking the Chunin Exam in the Forest of DEATH. Kishimoto's art is still clearly in it's early stages but it's still great nonetheless! This volume marks the first appearance of Orochimaru and I think the plot of Naruto really starts to develop from that. Sasuke is marked by Orochimaru and he and Naruto are out cold from halfway through the volume. Sakura is forced to protect them and the scrolls with her life and I think it's the first time you see her in a strong, independent way. We get to learn more about Rock Lee and his badass-ness as well as Ino.

This volume is full of intense action. Not a whole lot of dialogue or slow scenes, just ninjas throwing down. A fun bonus I enjoyed about volume six is in between the chapters they had profiles and art showing Masashi Kishimoto's assistants on the manga. This volume is a great showcase of early Naruto and how fun this series can be. I don't necessarily think a person would even need to have read up to this point, it's easy to just jump right in. Interestingly, Naruto doesn't have much of a role in this volume; he's in the beginning but that's about it. Volume six is mainly about the appearance of Orochimaru and Sakura/Rock Lee/Sasuke development. Reading this really made me want to go back and start at the beginning of the series, early Naruto has actually become a little nostalgic for me!

Naruto #6 - 8/10