Hard Traveling Heroes
“Hard-Traveling Heroes”
By Daniel G. Jennings
Once upon a time, American comic books were a true form of mass entertainment that reflected popular tastes and aspirations rather than collector’s items for nerds or avant-garde literature for urban elitists. And once upon a time American comic books, especially the top level superhero titles, contained some of the finest examples of the cartoonists’ art ever published.
Those who don’t believe me should take a look at DC Comics’ Green Lantern-Green Arrow collection. These fine editions reprint a wonderful series of stories created by two masters of the comic craft writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams. In these volumes, O’Neil and Adams re-imagined and recreated super hero comics as adult entertainment and created some great stories in the process.
Charged with revamping two second tier DC heroes, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, O’Neil created a sort of super hero buddy story similar to the buddy pictures of the era. Lantern, a conservative traditional super hero a cosmic lawman similar to a Star Wars Jedi Knight, and the Arrow, a costumed rebel who dressed and acted like Robin Hood traveled across America. Along the way they encountered social problems and began questioning authority while fighting with each other. Hence the term Hard Traveling Heroes.
None of the stories are that earth shattering, the leftist propaganda in some of the stories looks like a Soviet movie producer’s of the evils of American capitalism. Or the efforts of 1970s movie and TV producers to make their entertainments socially relevant by featuring stories about social issues and political controversies. Yet they are thrilling and entertaining if not thought provoking.
The art is absolutely incredible, Neal Adams is one of the great American illustrators, he could make super heroes seem real and produce pages of electrifying action. In particular, Adams could make the bloodless fisticuffs of 1960s and 70s comic books seem as thrilling as anything in a modern action movie. Violence is kept to a minimum but when it does occur it’s all the more effective because Adams style is utterly electrifying, every punch and gunshot is an earth shattering event. The art has a quality and energy to it lacking in most modern comic books. The realistic style based on comic strips is far more effective a storytelling medium than the Japanese manga or the cartoony high art look favored by cutting edge artists.
Despite the mandatory left wing propaganda O’Neil’s stories are effective because he didn’t let politics overtake the story telling. Character development and conflict come first and no ludicrous conspiracy theories are injected into the stories. Lessons modern comic, movie and TV writers should take to heart.
Interestingly enough, “Hard-Traveling Heroes” was a failure when it was first published it attracted a lot of attention but didn’t sell enough comics to keep DC from canceling the series. Yet, the series established the style of storytelling and art that would define American comics in the 1970s and 80s. A mix of realism, hard hitting action, social criticism, high satire, soap operatic character development, fantasy and science fiction. Adams’ art became the house style at both major American comic book companies, Marvel and DC. O’Neil’s brand of storytelling, deconstructing and reconstructing heroes while making them relevant to modern social and political situations, became the norm.
Oddly enough what failed in 1970 would a decade later become standard in comics. In the late 1970s and early 80s, Marvel’s X-Men which mixed realistic art, strong characters, social and political criticism and cosmic plot lines about aliens became the best selling comic book.
For those us who remember the great comic books of the 1970s, Green Lantern-Green Arrow is a wonderful trip down memory lane. Those unfamiliar with American comics or worse yet with contemporary American comics will find a wonderful example of what comic books can and should be.
Green Lantern-Green Arrow Volume 1 by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams copyright 2004 By DC Comics.
By Daniel G. Jennings
Once upon a time, American comic books were a true form of mass entertainment that reflected popular tastes and aspirations rather than collector’s items for nerds or avant-garde literature for urban elitists. And once upon a time American comic books, especially the top level superhero titles, contained some of the finest examples of the cartoonists’ art ever published.
Those who don’t believe me should take a look at DC Comics’ Green Lantern-Green Arrow collection. These fine editions reprint a wonderful series of stories created by two masters of the comic craft writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams. In these volumes, O’Neil and Adams re-imagined and recreated super hero comics as adult entertainment and created some great stories in the process.
Charged with revamping two second tier DC heroes, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, O’Neil created a sort of super hero buddy story similar to the buddy pictures of the era. Lantern, a conservative traditional super hero a cosmic lawman similar to a Star Wars Jedi Knight, and the Arrow, a costumed rebel who dressed and acted like Robin Hood traveled across America. Along the way they encountered social problems and began questioning authority while fighting with each other. Hence the term Hard Traveling Heroes.
None of the stories are that earth shattering, the leftist propaganda in some of the stories looks like a Soviet movie producer’s of the evils of American capitalism. Or the efforts of 1970s movie and TV producers to make their entertainments socially relevant by featuring stories about social issues and political controversies. Yet they are thrilling and entertaining if not thought provoking.
The art is absolutely incredible, Neal Adams is one of the great American illustrators, he could make super heroes seem real and produce pages of electrifying action. In particular, Adams could make the bloodless fisticuffs of 1960s and 70s comic books seem as thrilling as anything in a modern action movie. Violence is kept to a minimum but when it does occur it’s all the more effective because Adams style is utterly electrifying, every punch and gunshot is an earth shattering event. The art has a quality and energy to it lacking in most modern comic books. The realistic style based on comic strips is far more effective a storytelling medium than the Japanese manga or the cartoony high art look favored by cutting edge artists.
Despite the mandatory left wing propaganda O’Neil’s stories are effective because he didn’t let politics overtake the story telling. Character development and conflict come first and no ludicrous conspiracy theories are injected into the stories. Lessons modern comic, movie and TV writers should take to heart.
Interestingly enough, “Hard-Traveling Heroes” was a failure when it was first published it attracted a lot of attention but didn’t sell enough comics to keep DC from canceling the series. Yet, the series established the style of storytelling and art that would define American comics in the 1970s and 80s. A mix of realism, hard hitting action, social criticism, high satire, soap operatic character development, fantasy and science fiction. Adams’ art became the house style at both major American comic book companies, Marvel and DC. O’Neil’s brand of storytelling, deconstructing and reconstructing heroes while making them relevant to modern social and political situations, became the norm.
Oddly enough what failed in 1970 would a decade later become standard in comics. In the late 1970s and early 80s, Marvel’s X-Men which mixed realistic art, strong characters, social and political criticism and cosmic plot lines about aliens became the best selling comic book.
For those us who remember the great comic books of the 1970s, Green Lantern-Green Arrow is a wonderful trip down memory lane. Those unfamiliar with American comics or worse yet with contemporary American comics will find a wonderful example of what comic books can and should be.
Green Lantern-Green Arrow Volume 1 by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams copyright 2004 By DC Comics.
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