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#grelle is a queen and deserves praise
sadi-fics · 3 years
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"You're a deadly perfect lover by all means, I could stay in your arms forever and be at peace. I love you, Grelle. ♡"
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thequiver · 2 years
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Review of Green Arrow: Stranded (2022)
11/10, would recommend to any Green Arrow fan. I absolutely loved it.
A more detailed review that includes spoilers under the cut!
Alright, here we go! I'm going to be tackling the story first and the art second because both deserve praise.
First things first, I absolutely LOVED that Deneen opened right off the back on the dedication page by showing that he's a longtime DC fan, and paying homage to Mike Grell- it make me feel more secure in the kind of characterization we were going to see, and got me really excited to see where he was going with a young Oliver Queen. And I was NOT disappointed. His characterization of Ollie is probably the best we've gotten in the last 20 years without a doubt- you could really see the makings of our beloved curmudgeon in this thirteen year old- it felt like Ollie again.
Deneen manages a really masterful blend of Rebirth canon and Preboot Canon Queen family dynamics and I think that it's safe to say that with the exception of the island happening when Ollie's thirteen rather than as a young adult, this comic would fit right in with canon stories. It was beautifully structured, expertly split into chapters in a way that didn't segment the story unnaturally, and it felt like I was reading 6 comic issues bound together rather than a volume.
As someone who works with kids, Ollie was an extremely believable thirteen year old, he was just the right amount of independent and seeking validation- and his emotional push and pull with his father? Was EXCELLENT. It's the kind of dynamic we saw hinted at in GA: Rebirth but with Robert Queen being given an actual personality and chance to appear on page. Tyler and Sebastian felt like stand-ins for the Merlyns, which makes sense, given that the canon we've been given for the Merlyns relationship with Oliver Queen would be extremely difficult to portray in a novel for kids and also fitting that narrative into the island narrative would be packing it with too much trauma.
I'm always a fan of Ollie's compassion being highlighted, his acknowledgement that taking a life any life is a burden that shouldn't be handled lightly. Deneen gave us what felt like an homage to the "Safari" death of Ollie's parents from preboot canon mixed with the well known and often discussed grief Ollie feels over the rabbit he accidentally killed while learning to shoot in the way he approaches Ollie's archery skills and his development as a hunter in this comic. On that note too, the shifting between the hunting safari and the island are fantastic- the parallels and anxieties are displayed in a realistic and easy to digest way that's perfect for young readers.
Ollie, talking about the pizza place in Seattle that treats him like anyone else was just so Ollie. It so clearly and easily exemplifies his consistent desire to just be Ollie, and is just one of those instances of the Green Arrow ethos of the importance of being "just a guy."
I am also obsessed with Ollie spelling out "alive" rather than "help" in the driftwood that he sets ablaze at the end to call for help. Something about that was just so Oliver Queen. The focus on living, the determination to look at the unknown and uncertainty found in needed help and to say "I'm here, I'm alive, I am going to show strength regardless of the uncertainty of my situation," was just... so Ollie. I loved it. Seared into my memory forever now.
Onto the art- I need the island to be illustrated like this always now. Hosalla's art style is able to show the island as something beautiful and untamed and dangerous, while still plainly showing the trauma of the situation. It toes the line between serene and horrifying which is exactly what the island should be, it is both an escape, a place where Oliver Queen can just be Ollie, where he's unburdened by the pressures of his life back home- but it's also a crucible that fashions him into the man he'll become. And her art is just a brilliant display of both beauty and pain.
I also really really love the way she portrays Ollie. He looks like a thirteen year old boy, he's not just a smaller version of a grown man without a beard. He looks like a young boy who's still growing into his features, who's maturing still, has baby fat still. And it's this depiction that helps drive home the kind of innocence and unfairness that Dendeen is trying to make apparent in his writing- the art reflects the text of the story beautifully. Ollie's facial features are distinctive, and his expressions are fantastic, I love the way that the pupils of the eyes she draws are just as expressive as the line of the mouth. And I could talk forever about the way that Ollie's face switches between fear and determination, the subtle shift in the panel between just drives the scene, and brings the text to life in a way that makes it feel dynamic.
The art is what truly brings this comic to the level it's at- the writing is incredible, but the art is what elevates it to the being such an incredible Green Arrow comic. The use of color and contrast, the facial expressions convey tone in a way that text alone can't. It's an incredible comic, and an absolutely beautiful example of what the medium can be when artists and writers of equal skill are paired together.
I truly cannot recommend this comic enough. I will be thinking about this for months at absolute minimum.
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