Green Arrow / Black Canary: Wedding Special


RSS

Recommended Posts

Even though I order my comics online, I still head to the local comic shop at least twice a month. Say what you will about the ease and money saved by ordering comics online, there's something special about walking into a well-run, clean, friendly comic book store. Being surrounded by the glossy paper, bright colors, rows and rows of back issues, walls filled with collected editions and toys plays with the heart - being there sets it aflutter. Heading to the shop also allows you to flip through books that have tapped your interest, but not enough to risk buying them sight unseen through an online store. Such is the case with Green Arrow / Black Canary: Wedding Special.

The above is from: http://www.earth-2.net/reviews/c/dc/misc/g...wedding-special

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really liked this story as well, and I didn't have any of the problems that you did. Basically I think you expect too much equal treatment when it comes to gender roles. Dinah slapped Ollie yeah, but quite frankly she's been trained by Lady Shiva and a slap is much more in the area of a taunt than an actual assault, especially considering the very physical nature of thier relationship. Given that both these character are experiance hand to hand fighters that slap was really just a fairly equal response to Ollie's taunts. Would it have been different if Ollie had hit Dinah? Of course, but thats pretty much as it should be (men are rarely abused by thier spouses, wheras a woman being hit rightfully has more negative connotations) and besides, if there was a woman who could take a punch and laugh it off I'm pretty sure it would be Dinah.

Again, the strip club just plays on traditional gender roles. The men are actually trying to get the strippers but Ollie refuses which is totally in character. Ollie had previously been unfaithful to Dinah several times but leading to their most recent relationship he secluded himself and didn't have sex for an entire year (a feat she declares "Herculean" when she finds out). Ollie is very ashamed of his past and really wouldn't look at another woman at this point. Dinah hasn't dedicated herself in the same way but she wasn't the one cheating and the likelyhood it that she will stay faithful.

The issue of certain heroes being around strippers is really a non-issue. Hal wouldn't mind and he's setting the thing up, and I think he's see the comedy in watching Clark Kent respond to that scenario. The fact that women in comics have come along enough to actually surpass the men in terms of confidence in thier role relating to the other gender is good. Thirty years ago the hen night would have been a sowing circle in a comic book.

My only problem with how this plays out is the confusing timeline. The current JLA storyline comes straight out of their wedding special and there appears to be no crossover whatsoever when it comes to the result of the Green Arrow/Black Canary wedding special, which I find insane. If anyone knows what the timeline is and can explain this to me please do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically I think you expect too much equal treatment when it comes to gender roles.

Demanding equality is "too much" to ask? Please explain, because I really don't see how that can be true. Furthermore, and as I said in the review, I might have overlooked this in any other comic book, but not one that's supposed to be so socially conscious. When Green Arrow is all about correction social ills, saving the little guy, protecting people from themselves and so on, how can he allow spousal abuse to continue in his own household? It's clearly been established that this is not the first time Dinah has struck Ollie out of anger. Once more I ask you to reverse the roles. Have Ollie strike Dinah not once but twice in anger and tell me this wouldn't cause an uproar! The smack was absolutely wrong. Not a word being said about it was worse. And following it up with a sex scene was terrible!

Given that both these character are experiance hand to hand fighters that slap was really just a fairly equal response to Ollie's taunts.

So if a couple is highly skilled with firearms, it's okay for one to shoot the other in response to an insult? Or butchers to chop one another with knives? Or baseball players with bats?

Would it have been different if Ollie had hit Dinah? Of course, but thats pretty much as it should be (men are rarely abused by thier spouses, wheras a woman being hit rightfully has more negative connotations) and besides, if there was a woman who could take a punch and laugh it off I'm pretty sure it would be Dinah.

Wrong. Anyone hitting anyone should be met with the same (RE: equal) response: shock and anger. This "Oh, a woman hit a man, but that's okay" garbage has to stop. You should not hit anyone, especially your lover.

Again, the strip club just plays on traditional gender roles. The men are actually trying to get the strippers

So are the women. In fact, these women acted worse around the male strippers than any men I've ever seen.

Ollie had previously been unfaithful to Dinah several times but leading to their most recent relationship he secluded himself and didn't have sex for an entire year (a feat she declares "Herculean" when she finds out). Ollie is very ashamed of his past and really wouldn't look at another woman at this point. Dinah hasn't dedicated herself in the same way but she wasn't the one cheating and the likelyhood it that she will stay faithful.

This isn't about infidelity. It's all about DC treating their characters equally. They simply can't have Superman around strippers. Think of the negative press. Yet Wonder Woman, a character that's been around just as long as Superman and is herself an icon, is right there with these cock-crazed women. Why is it okay for one icon and not another?

The fact that women in comics have come along enough to actually surpass the men in terms of confidence in thier role relating to the other gender is good. Thirty years ago the hen night would have been a sowing circle in a comic book.

Depicting these iconic female superheros as being "cock-crazed" is not progression; it's fan service.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depicting these iconic female superheros as being "cock-crazed" is not progression; it's fan service.

The fact they all wear skintight costumes and have incredible bodies is fan service. Black Canary's costume is fan service. You're going to complain about how women are depicted in comics when fishnet stockings are acceptable crimefighting attire? Really?

As for the violence, these two spar together, they do hit each other. Canary slapping Ollie is practically foreplay for them, its nothing close to assault when you consider that she was trained by Shiva and can snap limbs in moments. Typically most people associate a woman slapping a man with revenge for and insult and a man slapping a woman with abuse. Women are typically physically weaker and thus the connotations are different and no amount of wishful thinking will change that. Ideally the roles would be equal but they arn't and thus this is a reflection of majority perception rather than idealised thinking. Did they need the slap? No, but it didn't hurt at all.

Apart from all that you say that Ollie is some sort of enlightened modern social thinker, but the deal with him really is that he is a huge hypocrite. The socialist billionaire who respects all people equally whilst rackng up notches on his bedpost and cheating on his girl. He's not perfect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice review Yoda, and concerning DC's name female heroes being in the club the way I look on it is that any publicity that may arise due to this be that good or bad is going to 'hopefully' pick up interest in the characters on a broader scale, not to equal the male heroes popularity on the whole but to a point where female AND male readers feel an urge to pick up some of these characters own titles in the future, probably didnt make much sense but im rambling and eating lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stavros: I don't consider the classic costumes (including Black Canary's, which is pretty much the same as the one her mother wore in the 1940s) as fan service because they're commonplace nowadays. Fan service is going beyond commonplace, it's putting characters (usually female) in compromising positions to arouse readers. Let me put it this way:

- Black Canary standing there in her costume isn't fan service because the image isn't meant to arouse.

- Black Canary bending over (in her costume or other attire) is fan service because it's meant to show off her butt or breasts / cleavage.

- Barbara and Dinah talking at a bar isn't fan service; it's a conversation scene.

- Barbara and Dinah talking at a strip club while the other female heroes spank, chase and undress strippers is fan service because it shows them as sexually active, praying on the desires of readers.

In regards to the violence, hitting each other when sparring is vastly different from an enraged slap. And I don't care what people think about slapping and gender roles: this slap came from anger, and it isn't the first time she's struck him this way. That's a pattern, and a pattern of hitting someone is called abuse. Also consider that she is a trained martial artist, meaning she should know restraint. A huge part of martial arts is knowing not to strike someone, especially out of anger.

I never said Ollie was perfect, so I don't see your point or the reason for mentioning infidelity again. All I said was that it doesn't make sense for him to fight social ills while allowing them to exist in his home. However, since you insist on bringing up his infidelity, allow me to ask this: next time Dinah brings up Ollie's affairs (which is the same as calling him a slut), can he slap her? What would your reaction be to that scene?

Mull: If DC wanted publicity (good or bad) in regards to their heroes being in a strip club, why weren't the male heroes seen in a club, too? It seems clear, to me anyway, that DC was attempting to protect Superman and the male heroes, while playing into readers' hands by showing them the female heroes drunk for sex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

b]Mull: If DC wanted publicity (good or bad) in regards to their heroes being in a strip club, why weren't the male heroes seen in a club, too? It seems clear, to me anyway, that DC was attempting to protect Superman and the male heroes, while playing into readers' hands by showing them the female heroes drunk for sex.

Personally I dont think it was a decision to protect the male heroes, rather their opinion that the males didnt need to do that to gain extra attention whereas the female heroes could do with more attention/depth possibly. But, on the other hand I can see where your coming from concerning the girls being drunk for sex and the writers possibly not wanting the guys or needing the guys in the same situation. They may have possibly thought that both parties going to a club would have been overkill on the situation and just picked the best option which gave them the most legs for the main characters

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't read it, but after reading your review, I figured I'd chime in on the slap. My wife and I have had very heated arguments (almost all her fault :D ) and she's told me several times that she just wanted to jump me several times when things got like that. It could be that that scene was just trying to depict both the passion and love that they have for each other. Anger is a powerful emotion, and a lot of women find it to be an aphrodisiac. That slap could have just been foreplay before some angry sex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having sex after an argument I can see, but after a slap? That's hard for me to buy. Regardless, the point is that DC could never reverse the roles. Ollie couldn't have hit Dinah before ripping her clothes off for red-hot sex.

Look, it comes down to this: I loathe gender roles and double standards based on them, so I admit I was harsh on this book because of that. At the end of the day, however, I didn't let it factor into my score of the book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'd be surprised. :devil:

I'm not so sure that they couldn't have reversed the roles, but it would have had to have had a lot of build-up and back-story for it to look like anything else than abuse. That's probably a lot more mature than they would like for their characters to get, but it's not as uncommon as you might think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.