SWIPE FILE TWO question

[west3man]

SWIPE FILE TWO from the latest LiTG installment.

[Yellow Light]"Ex Machina" by Brian Vaughan
vs.
"Green Arrow: One Year Later" by Judd Winick


I'm pre-embarrassed to ask this, but... what am I missing here? I don't see a resemblance between these two.

[twoarmman]

SWIPE FILE TWO from the latest LiTG installment.

[Yellow Light]"Ex Machina" by Brian Vaughan
vs.
"Green Arrow: One Year Later" by Judd Winick


I'm pre-embarrassed to ask this, but... what am I missing here? I don't see a resemblance between these two.

yeah, what am I missing?

[Corsair]

Compare the Ollie head on the background posters with Mr. Dangling Cigarette on the Ex Machina cover.

[Kyle]

ahahahahaha!

No, no, you guys are missing it.

The One Year Later Green Arrow is going to be the Mayor of Star City (the town he lives in).

Ex Machina is the story of the super powered mayor of New York.

Thus the swipe - not art, but story.

I laughed out loud.

[solid-one-love]

I didn't laugh out loud. I thought "Cheap shot. The Great Machine wasn't the first superhero elected to office. And Green Arrow ran for mayor of Star City back in the 70s, anyway -- so if anyone's swiping, it's BKV, not Winnick."

Really, really poor form, Johnston, particularly from a man whose own comics work has never been particularly original.

[Kyle]

I think the point is that Ex Machina has garnered a great deal of positive response, both in comics and in the mainstream. So if Ollie ran for mayor in the 70's why did this storyline just come up now? Kind of an odd coincidence that they would take the title down that road after another title has proven it can be done and still sell.

Unclench, man. Unclench.

[solid-one-love]

Unclench? It's a cheap and undeserved shot, and I've called him on it. You're the one who wants to make it about me.

The Neal Adams run from the 70s sold more copies than Ex Machina, I'll wager, so the 'proof of sales' argument doesn't wash, either -- neither does the popular acclaim canard, since the Conway/Adams run was widely acclaimed in the mainstream. In fact, Winick, in an interview on Newsarama, cites the issue of the 70s series, "What Can One Man Do?"

Again: other heroes have been elected to office. Green Arrow ran for mayor when BKV was in elementary school. If there's a swipe, Ex Machina did the swiping, not the other way around.

That said, the plots are dissimilar. Oliver Queen is running as Oliver Queen as the mayor of a completely fictional city and not using his notoreity as Green Arrow as political capital, nor is he revealing his secret identity. And he's going to continue wearing the costume.

On the other hand, Mitchell Hundred revealed his secret identiy, ran for mayor of a fictional version of a real city, using his fame as The Great Machine and the capital gained from saving one of the Twin Towers. And he doesn't wear the costume anymore.

Except for the fact that they're both going to be political leaders, the plotlines are completely different. The only similarity is that they're both going to be elected mayors...though, of course, GA was not the first superhero to run for mayor nor was Mitchell Hundred the first to succeed.

No swipe. Predictably juvenile comment by Johnston, who should at least have the balls to edit the 'swipe' from his column before someone starts posting some of the striking similarities between Holed Up and....

[Kyle]

No, seriously -- unclench.

The implication is that they're choosing to rehash the storyline from the 70's because they have proof that such a storyline would work NOW. Comparing sales and response of a comic book today with a comic book from the 70's is pointless and, actually, completely besides the point. You kind of missed it.

If you're going to swipe, you swipe something that's working NOW.

The sad thing is that ultimately it was a tongue and cheek comment, particularly since it wasn't an art swipe (as many were confused about) which is what Rich usually runs.

Did I mention the unclenching part?

Oh, and do you honestly think Rich would care if you compared Holed Up to something similar? I really and truly doubt it.

[RichJohnston]

A cheap and undeserved shot? In a gossip column? Michty me...

I've always described Holed Up as "The Addams Family with semi automatics"

[solid-one-love]

No, seriously -- unclench.

No, seriously, if you can't argue against my points without the ad hominem, you can talk to my rosy reds.

[Kyle]

Uh, no, actually, I couldn't as I keep asking you to UNclench, which would imply that you are currently clenched, thus unable to expose your delightfully described "rosy reds".

Perhaps I should start a poll.

[king mob]

It's only a comic.....

[Jack Tango]

It's only a comic.....

HEATHEN! HOW DARE YOU!?