The Green Lantern Green Arrow Collection (Green Lantern - Green Arrow Series)

Rating:
Summary: Smart, sophisticated, and ahead of its time
Review: A kid growing up I had four favorite comic heroes: Spider-Man, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and the Flash (Well, at least Spidey made it to the 21st century intact). It didn;t get better than when two of my favorite characters wound up in a single comic.

The first comic I can remember regularly anticipating was the Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic. Unlike other comics, the stories were interesting and invovling. Issues like drugs, racism, hypocricy, and religion. Stuff that even as a kid gave you a time to pause and reflect. Early 70's saw the emergence of several new writers and artists, and Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams led the charge. They give you everything you ask for in a comic book: Interesting characters, great stories, and fabulous art. These days it's either all art/no substance, or a great story with pics by Mrs. Johnson's 3rd grade art class. This is back when they made them right, as evidenced by the fact that over 25 years later, they can still sell them!

And though they may have been killed (and subsequently re-introduced in altered fashion), GL and GA still rock old school. For years I have been trying to track down good copies of these comics, and heaven bless the genius who decided to reprint these. My hat''s off to you.

If you have never read anything written by Dennis O'Neal or drawn by Neal Adams, buy this! It will not disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Old School Heroes, gone, but not forgotten
Review: A kid growing up I had four favorite comic heroes: Spider-Man, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and the Flash (Well, at least Spidey made it to the 21st century intact). It didn;t get better than when two of my favorite characters wound up in a single comic.

The first comic I can remember regularly anticipating was the Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic. Unlike other comics, the stories were interesting and invovling. Issues like drugs, racism, hypocricy, and religion. Stuff that even as a kid gave you a time to pause and reflect. Early 70's saw the emergence of several new writers and artists, and Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams led the charge. They give you everything you ask for in a comic book: Interesting characters, great stories, and fabulous art. These days it's either all art/no substance, or a great story with pics by Mrs. Johnson's 3rd grade art class. This is back when they made them right, as evidenced by the fact that over 25 years later, they can still sell them!

And though they may have been killed (and subsequently re-introduced in altered fashion), GL and GA still rock old school. For years I have been trying to track down good copies of these comics, and heaven bless the genius who decided to reprint these. My hat''s off to you.

If you have never read anything written by Dennis O'Neal or drawn by Neal Adams, buy this! It will not disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Comic Book Genius
Review: I do not intend to try to sell this book to any potential buyers. I like to think that those seeking this book out recognize what it is, and the effects that the orginal series had on comic books in the 1960's and 1970's.

In the post 1960's era, where shows like Batman had made comic books look foolish, and childlike, true fans had nowhere to turn. Consider the effects this had on comic book readers in general and those characters themselves. Several books were almost cancelled! The cartoony pop of that era had campy cartoon villians, (like a Cesar Romero Joker) and immature stories. Batman and Robin would fight the Joker, who used huge tubes of paint to defeat the Dynamic Duo.

The stories were running dry. How many times could Lex Luthor trap Superman in a Kryptonite cage??

Enter the heroes.

Neal Adams (the best comic artist ever) came in with Denny O'Neil, and Dick Giordano and redefined the classic DC characters that were becoming "caricatures" of who they were before. The Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories of the sixties and seventies focused on racism, drug use, dependency, disappointment and violence. Those stories brought charcters back from the brink, and showed them as being human.

I have the orginal comics from which the reprint was taken. It's beautiful, well drawn and written. Neal Adams defined the art that has influenced even todays young comic book artists. And the respect I have for the entire team on those books has yet to be repeated.

Read this book because your a fan. You like richly drawn characters. Deeply meaningful stories and of course Green Lantern and Green Arrow. Enjoy the book, i know I did .

Rating:
Summary: a great book!
Review: i got this book as a birthday gift.i have to say it is one of the best presents i ever got.it took me back to a time when i was just getting into comics.it was great to relive how comics were back then,great storys and even better art.it was funny how the writers used the "70's" lingo.
the story is a collection of the hard traveling heros story line.the book is a great read.the storys are compeling.the art is wonderful.anyone will enjoy it!if you have any spare money laying around,spend it on this book.you will not be sorry!it comes with a nice book cover for safe storage.i have to say if i hadn't got it as a gift i would have had a hard time spending that much money on a book.but after reading it i found out it was worth it.you will not be disapointed!

Rating:
Summary: great read, no so great format
Review: i really only have one thing to say. i was a little disappointed that such a great comic was reproduced in such a weak format. the book is set up more like a novel than a comic collection with the paper being of a very low quality. its not bad for the price really but not so great considering that the comics industry has made such an effort to improve the quality of the books they produce. this paper is not even as good as the prestige format paper of the late 80's comics. i just expected more for the high end price. it does have all the great stories and a great cover gallery but it just felt a bit forced together (think of the nick fury steranko tpb $$$). if you have extra money and really love these stories its cheaper to get it this way. if youre a collector i advise buying the individual issues.

Rating:
Summary: Smart, sophisticated, and ahead of its time
Review: In the early 1970's, the comic book world had to start changing. It seems, no matter what problem Superman got himself into, those accursed robots would be called in from the Fortress of Solitude to give him a hand. And Batman's utility belt was always full of what you needed. And characters like Green Lantern and Green Arrow could face whatever villains came their way in the Justice League series. But the problem was, comic books had to grow up to retain readers. What had been aimed largely at children before, began to broaden its audience as a means of survival. (Though if you have the actual comics from the 70s, you'll see the ads are still aimed at a juvenile audience.) One of the first series to push the industry forward was the new Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. This is the O'Neill and Adams era (not included are the subsequent years when O'Neill handled the title with other artists), in which Green Lantern and Green Arrow began to confront inner demons. They'd look at problems in society. True, most of this comes across as not always so subtle liberal propaganda, but when you look beyond the politics, you find amazingly talented writers and artists churning out a good product that makes you think (whether you agree or disagree with their conclusions.) These days, almost all "important" comics require some near Armageddon scene, (think "Watchmen" or "Kingdom Come), but this title managed to talk about important issues without thinking it was even more important than those causes. My only complaint, as pricey as this book is, it should have included the post Adams era.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe Comics cannot be relevant
Review: Maybe Comic Books Heroes should never be relevant.

They are bigger than life. Faster than locomotives, and able to fly. They don't exist in our world.

Things changed in comics in 1970s. As written about in "The Classic Era Of American Comics" by N. Wright, comics were heavily censored in 1955. They no longer could be about real things. As a result, Julius Swartz and the other editors of comics looked to the stars. Comics became very science fiction. Superman became for powerful. Originally, he could "leap 1/8 of mile" and "nothing less than a bursting shell could piece his skin." Soon he could fly, leave the earth and move planets. Fighting "real" gangsters for him would be uneventful. The same became true with Green Lantern. A super powered hero who could do anything with his ring. He is partnered with a "Guardian" of the Galaxy and, of course, the Green Arrow. They team fights for Indian rights and other earthly issues. All of sudden the creators must limited GL's powers to make him competitive and mortal. It doesn't really work. Her becomes less, not more of a hero. Also, it is always interesting that a hero, like Oliver Queen, who has distinctive hair, mustache and a beard, becomes unrecognizable when he puts on the smallest mask possible. Reality is not a welcomed commodity in the comics. So they should stay away from it. But the artwork, from Neal Adams is, as always, exceptional. Over the years I have noticed that it is a small group of creators that take readers to new places. Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, John Byrnes and Neil Adams to name just a few of the few. It took me a while in the 1970"s to get used to the realistic approach Mr. Adams used on the Green Lantern, Batman, the X-Men and the Avengers. Mr. Adams make this concept workable and enjoyable. I enjoyed this trip back in time. It demonstrates what comics had become and what they could no longer go back to. It was Mr. Adams, and a few others, that gave DC the prodding to go in a different direction. For that reason, For Neil Adams, this book is worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe Comics cannot be relevant
Review: Maybe Comic Books Heroes should never be relevant.

They are bigger than life. Faster than locomotives, and able to fly. They don't exist in our world.

Things changed in comics in 1970s. As written about in "The Classic Era Of American Comics" by N. Wright, comics were heavily censored in 1955. They no longer could be about real things. As a result, Julius Swartz and the other editors of comics looked to the stars. Comics became very science fiction. Superman became for powerful. Originally, he could "leap 1/8 of mile" and "nothing less than a bursting shell could piece his skin." Soon he could fly, leave the earth and move planets. Fighting "real" gangsters for him would be uneventful. The same became true with Green Lantern. A super powered hero who could do anything with his ring. He is partnered with a "Guardian" of the Galaxy and, of course, the Green Arrow. They team fights for Indian rights and other earthly issues. All of sudden the creators must limited GL's powers to make him competitive and mortal. It doesn't really work. Her becomes less, not more of a hero. Also, it is always interesting that a hero, like Oliver Queen, who has distinctive hair, mustache and a beard, becomes unrecognizable when he puts on the smallest mask possible. Reality is not a welcomed commodity in the comics. So they should stay away from it. But the artwork, from Neal Adams is, as always, exceptional. Over the years I have noticed that it is a small group of creators that take readers to new places. Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, John Byrnes and Neil Adams to name just a few of the few. It took me a while in the 1970"s to get used to the realistic approach Mr. Adams used on the Green Lantern, Batman, the X-Men and the Avengers. Mr. Adams make this concept workable and enjoyable. I enjoyed this trip back in time. It demonstrates what comics had become and what they could no longer go back to. It was Mr. Adams, and a few others, that gave DC the prodding to go in a different direction. For that reason, For Neil Adams, this book is worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: There's a reason these tales are legendary
Review: On the verge of cancellation, the space cop comic book Green Lantern was handed to the young creative team of Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, with the directive of saving it if they could. They responded with quite possibly the most resonant comic stories ever put to print, and that grand influence is still felt today. After years of knocking around with the Justice League, Green Arrow finally developed his socially concious gadfly personality, and this modern-day Robin Hood was never shy about confronting the far more powerful Green Lantern whenever the "law" was placed before "justice." For the first time in comics, environmental, religioius cults, labor and race issues were examined in a serious light. The super-hero lifestyle is caught in the spotlight as well, when the young Roy Harper (aka Speedy, Green Arrow's obligatory Robinesque teen sidekick) is discovered to have developed a heroin addiction during the long months while his mentor was criss-crossing America with Green Lantern. And as an added bonus, the backup story from the Flash series is inclded here as well, in which Green Arrow accidentally kills a criminal while trying to stop a robbery, and has to deal with the social and emotional fallout of that event. Powerful stuff, and it still packs a wallop to this day. Adams' glorious artwork has never been beaten, and O'Neil's writing is top-notch (even if his 70s hipster dialogue is laughable these 30 years later). Throw in the blond bombshell of a hero known as Black Canary, and you've got an indespesable piece of comics history.