Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Everything's so greeeeeen

My heart beats faster. I feel like flying among green heart-shaped clouds, and I have a sudden urge to buy a bow and arrows. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I just read the stories of my one and only love Oliver Queen. OLLIE. My last trade I brought from paradisiac Down Under. I knew I had to read it'till the very end, to rejoice in such ways that my pathetic little life here would seem less annoying.
Collecting Green Arrow # 16-21, Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest, by Brian Meltzer and Phil Hester brought me good moments as I'm sure it will be the same for you. What has happend? Ok Ollie died and came back to life (long story, for some other time). So how do you deal with your own resurrection? How do you pick up where you left? Ollie starts a journey down the memory lane, on a mission to recover some artifacts from his past life. Along Roy (Arsenal, former Speedy) he will pick up some of the pieces of his life, not without finding
trouble along the way.This is not a mission to save the world. This is personal.

Along the issues we'll cross paths with characters we love, like Flash (Wally), Jonn, Supes, Oracle, Black Canary, Connor, Green Lantern (Kyle). One great moment is when Ollie finds himself in the JLA Watchtower and Kyle asks him why he always gives him a hard time... after a little discussion, Kyle finally gets that Ollie has no quarrel with him. It's just that for Ollie, it's like "someone showing up at your house on Halloween dressed up as you dead best friend" Wow. The whole trade is filled with those moments and even better ones; when Ollie finds again the old pickup truck which Hal and he drove cross country so many years before; we get to see the gifts both Hal and Barry left for his friend; Ollie staring at his own grave; visiting the Arrowcave with Roy and remembering good old times, now long gone.

Some of you might ask, of all the superheros, of all the stories you might read, Why the hell Ollie should be important in the scheme of things? He doesn't have powers (Yes I know, Batman neither, but Ollie is NOT as skilled as Bats). He uses all kind of silly arrows such as flare,boxing or handcuff arrows! He's too...human.
The truth is that is his humanity what makes him so interesting. His sense of humor, his passion for the fight. And yet, he's SO imperfect that you gotta love him. He is a womanizer, even though he's deep in love with Dinah (Black Canary), which makes you want to kill him sometimes. He's a little immature, running away from responsabilities, such as leaving Connor when he was born. Let's face it; the man sometimes can be a real bastard. Yet you can't prevent from loving him.

Times have changed so much, that it has been reflected in the things we see, read or hear. We cannot have perfect superheros, with perfect little lives, because we would not identify with them. In these stories superheros die. As Ollie points out to Roy "Even Batman is going to die. He refuses to believe it but it's true". Not everyone lives forever. Life whether we like it or not, it's like that. We die and we all make mistakes and have to learn to live with them. But what gives us hope is to see a guy like this, so imperfect, like us, still do some good. Still making a difference. He cries, he bleeds, he laughs just like you and I. Yet he still tries. He still fights. And so in that way, we feel redeemed. Hopeful.
Life's so much easier when you acknowlege your mistakes and keep on living. (I suppose it also becomes in handy having some kind of weapon to use when someone annoying tries to ruin your almost perfect day). I guess the only thing that's left to say is that Ollie is great, even though his imperfections. And so are we. (That goes only to the beautiful, intelligent people that actually read this blog. The rest of the world, on the other hand, are filthy sinners afraid of their supreme and only Master...ME- all of you I hope you choke in your stupidity)
There's only ONE true stupidity! and it all begins and ends here!!! Sinners! you have been warned. Watch out for flying boxing arrows.