Customer Reviews

Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection - Volume 1

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Adams/O'Neil Green Lantern and Green Arrow series was truly revolutionary. Although other reviews suggested that they were heavy handed and are now outdated, I think the majority of issues addressed in them are just as relevant today. I always thought that a real cool animated movie could be made from them. If you enjoy comics and care about social/political issues, you won't be disappointed with this book. Check out Volume 2. The two books compliment each other.

This review isn't about the quality of the stories or the artwork, which are both great. I just wanted anyone thinking of buying the two volume soft cover editions to know that if you want every story you must be careful to buy the right editions. These were reprinted in 1992 with both characters on a purple background and again in 2004 on a white background. The 1992 volume one reprint (at least the one I have) is supposed to reprint issues 76 to 82 but actually omits 82 and prints 83 instead. I don't know if the 1992 volume two reprints issue 82, but the 2004 volume doesn't. Basically, make sure you buy volume one and two from either the 1992 collection or the 2004 collection.

The nature of these stories ensured that they would not age well, and to try to process them apart from their historical context will not yield much enjoyment or appreciation. Much of the popular entertainment of the late sixties/early seventies veered into social commentary, always with a heavy hand, but the fact that we're listening to this antiestablishment stuff come from the mouth of Green Arrow (primarily) makes it all the more jarring and surreal. I laughed out loud several times during the first story. There's no allegory, no subtlety, and no effort whatsoever expended to reconcile the cosmic fantasy universe of Green Lantern and the hippie-era earthiness of the stories before throwing them together. Comic book storytelling has certainly come a long way.

That said, they were obviously influential stories at the time, and the artwork of Neal Adams is still wonderful to look at today. It may not pack the same startlingly realistic wallop that it did in the early seventies, but there's still much to appreciate.

If you want stories that in any way reflect modern sensibilities, this collection will not do a thing for you. But if you want to learn something about the advancement of the craft during some tumultuous times, particularly as it relates to the DC universe, I recommend it.

This is a great compilation of some of the best comic book art ever drawn. The volume is reprinted roughly the same size as the original comic books and on paper that is better than newsprint but will trigger memories of the originals. Printing on a newsprint-like paper is more in keeping with the original experience. The coloring seems to be original, or at least is in the spirit of the originals, which preserves the graphic quality of Neal Adams' work. I am glad the publishers didn't opt for a full-blown color revision in the style of contemporary comics. Part of the charm of that era were the techniques relevant to that era. It is probably just an aspect of nostalgia but I prefer the old graphic comics style better than the new, more painterly style (although there are notable exceptions).

There are 174 pages which include seven stories with the original covers which function as chapter divisions. There is a five page introduction by Dennis O'Neil. It was fun to see the stories presented in a way that evoked the artistic spirit of the original comics. My only complaint is the art is occasionally too close to the gutter (for a perfect bound book).

Diehard comic book fans already know the special friendship between Green Lantern and Green Arrow. This book collects the stories which started it all. The book explores the social issues prevalent in the 60s and 70s, and demonstrates how these events bring the two (three, if you include Black Canary) to forge a frienship which still lasts, as is apparent in James Robinson's "Cry for Justice" JLA mini-series. Whether you read it for the purpose of nostalgia or just plain curiosity, Volume 1 of this two-volume series will not disappoint, especially with the exqusite artwork by Neal Adams.

I bought this because I liked Green Lantern and I heard the stories in this book were good. What I got was one awesome adventure after another with Green Lantern (who is still cool) and Green Arrow (my new favorite superhero). It is clear that the themes of the stories work way better at the time they were written than they do now, but they are excellent themes nonetheless. Some of the dialogue is cheesy, but that's to be expected considering when it was written. None of the dialogue is "bad cheesy," though. Just a bit dated. The best part of the stories is definately Green Arrow. He always acts for good and isn't fooled by "The Man." It's cool to see Green Lantern change throughout the stories from super cop to a more open-minded hero. If you like this one, you'll definately like the second one as well.

If you have an appreciation of old school comics and like green lantern and green arrow, this should be an easy buy for you

Some say that this book collecting the O'Neil/Adams GA/GL run was outdated and lame, well they are wrong. racism and drug abuse is not something that is just forgottan about. purchase if you are a fan of either charecter.

It's good that DC has brought this run of stories by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams back in print, and at an affordable price. It's not so good that these stories are straight out of the early '70s and loaded with the kind of heavy-handed social commentary that was so prevalent for the time. This book collects the first several issues of the famed "Hard-Travelling Heroes" arc, where Green Lantern and Green Arrow take, of all things, a road trip, where they hope to rediscover America and find out what happened to the "American dream" - yep, you read that correctly: it's EASY RIDER for superheroes. The two heroes, in the presence of a Guardian and with a brief assist from Black Canary, take on the alienation of African-Americans and Native Americans, corrupt corporations, cult leaders, and just about every other social ill that was making the front pages.

I applaud O'Neil and Adams for this work, as it was one of the earliest signs of breaking away from the world of absolutes so prevalent in super-hero comics. The problem is that it's somewhat overwhelming. I can take only so much dialogue about the evils of "The Man" before it unfortunately becomes humorous. I think that if O'Neil would have eased off and constructed his stories more logically, instead of just dumping GL and GA in one extreme situation after another, they would have fared much better over the years. But, at the time, these topics were rarely tackled in post-Code comics, so a hard message was better than no message at all.

I was amazed to see the intensely negative reviews printed here about this remarkable series. Neal Adams is probably the greatest comic book artist ever and his work here is his best.

The times we live in are incredibly sad. I despair when I read comments like these. The so-called "Reagan Revolution" must be here to stay, unfortunately.

People, even comic book people, obviously don't care about important issues like racism, poverty, the enviroment, American imperialism and the like. Reviewers who consider the GL/GA series "quaint" or, even worse "naive and misguided" are not part of the problem. They ARE the problem.