As much as I've detested the latest batch of DC Animated's feature films, I've really enjoyed the DC Nation shorts that have aired on Cartoon Network (or more accurately, YouTube). The 75th Anniversary Batman 'toons are flat out incredible, while the Animal Man & Shazam bits have been just big buckets of win. Their latest subject appears to be Green Arrow. Sigh. DC Comics has been trying real damn hard to make Oliver Queen a top tier character of late. They brought on Jeff Lemire to script the issues (he just left, but I can honestly say that for the first time ever, Lemire made Green Arrow a regular monthly for me), and the WB's constant assault of magazine man-ads for Arrow are lifelessly off-putting. Folks tell me that show's decent these days, but I just have a hard time buying into the trick arrow guy. Yet, on the Marvel side, I regularly enjoy Hawkeye's appearances in Secret Avengers, Deadpool, and his own monthly. What's the deal? I think it has something to do with sense of humor. The coolest & most serious version of Green Arrow for me happened when he popped up in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns; when he helped Old Man Wayne kick Superman's ass. Old. Cranky. One-armed tough dude. But I've been meaning to finally crack into Neal Adams & Denny O'Neal's Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic. So maybe now's the time. Guess all the publicity is working.
--Brad
