The newest volume of Green Arrow and the new series American Century are what could easily be classified as revisionist titles, from the revisionist company, DC Comics. Despite the wealth of talent involved, these two comics easily prove that revisionists do not arbitrarily rein over the traditionalists.

The oddest point of comparison between Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow and Howard Chaykin’s American Century is the emotional reverence with which each writer handles their protagonist. Smith’s prosy narration is that of a gifted but forlorn fanboy who wants to swell Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) in nostalgia. Queen has been “dead” (it’s a cardinal rule to write about any super-hero death with quotation marks) for a few years in the DC Universe, and one of Smith’s main goals was to get Queen back onto the page. So Smith slowly sets up the events by having Arsenal (Queen’s former partner, known to most DCU aficionados as the former heroin addict Speedy), Black Canary (Queen’s former lover), and Connor Hawke (Queen’s estranged son, who took the Green Arrow mantle) all wax sentimental about Queen’s death—all of which is narrated over suspensless action. It’s not writing Smith is doing here; it’s having the characters remember events so that he can share what he postulated they were thinking while he was reading their initial exploits, authored of course by someone else. 

Smith’s movies, Chasing Amy in particular, have proven him such a capable writer of affairs of the heart. But that’s the movies. In comics, he’s simply digging up old ground and polishing his Daredevil techniques. I trust Smith’s general geek impetus for wanting to write Green Arrow, but the wash of flighty prose indicates that Smith might not really get Ollie Queen—he isn’t privy to emotional testimonies. He’s the DCU’s resident socialist! He’s a cantankerous liberal revolutionary who, as best show by Frank Miller or even Mike Grell, would just assume debate social philosophy than stop a mugging. But if Smith were to get it, or, convince his readers that he gets it, his Green Arrow will start to soar. For example, his handling of Superman and Batman is an example of getting it, and because of that, he makes the dialogue crackle. 

Actually, Ollie Queen the character is more politically akin to Chaykin’s liberal disposition than Smith’s. He himself has had several a revisionist series come forth from his hand: He began on Marvel’s Conan in the ’70s, and followed up his smart American Flagg! with a revisionist project for DC, The Shadow. On the opposite end of the pole from Smith, Chaykin is an veteran who developed in the eyes of fanboys, cultivating a sequential-savy style that has inspired the likes of Frank Miller. In Century, Chaykin, along with co-writer David Tischman, is revising more of a genre rather than a character. His Harry Block is a pastiche of ’50s war comics, only mixed in with the existential anger of the Vietnam-era. Clever? Yes. Good? No. The characters are all bogged down by the writers’ bitterness, whether it’s loathing of being in a mainstream comic or just to imbue the characters with contempt for contempt’s sake. Miller has force-fed these radical political manifestos down his reader’s throats, but at least he lets up by making his style aesthetically pleasing or creative. Chaykin surprisingly adds little to that (even though he helped with layouts) while Century wants to politically approach the subdued malaise of the post-War America ’50s. But there are enough waves of middle class emasculation stories in different mediums (from Blue Velvet to Pleasantville) that, because of the anger-stymied tone, it sounds politically insipid. Almost as politically insipid as Smith representing Queen’s politics.

But by the end of both these series, it’s easily to assume that Smith will come out with a polished, more revered Green Arrow, while Chaykin’s American Century will be relegated to $.50 boxes in flea-markets. Why? Because Smith is at least inspired by the fanboy fervor, and while I think he’s misguided, he’s a gifted wordsmith, and inspiration is all he needs. Chaykin on the other hand is bitter; his current writing and his characters show it. When asked in a recent interview if he’s ever regretted selling out, he replied, “Comic books are a commercial medium, in which occasionally interesting work gets done, frequently despite itself. It’s a meaningless question.” But Chaykin doesn’t seem completely convincing, and for all his apparent contempt, I think it was Smith who said it best (in Chasing Amy): “Oh, the cry from the heart of a real artist trapped in commercial hell, pitying his good fortune. I’m sure you can dry your eyes on all those fat checks you rake in.”