One of the byproducts of shedding the majority of my monthly purchases in order to go for a more trade paperback oriented approach to comic book collecting has been that a number of series I planned to buy collected, I never actually bothered to order. Not because I suddenly decided that I hated the characters, but because I’m now in the position to actually be informed before I buy. Looking back, I find that I was getting a number of titles out of sheer inertia, or based on the promises of creators that something new different, better was coming, only to find out that I was merely being played.

Not that I’m claiming any of the creators were lying - I’m sure that every single one of them believed that the stories they were telling were top quality. Unfortunately, as we all know, this isn’t always true. Case in point - Green Arrow. I’d been buying the series since the Kevin Smith relaunch, and before that for the majority of the series that Mike Grell launched years and years ago. The post-Infinity Crisis series was on my short list of collections to purchase as well, until the reviews started coming in.

Let me take a quick step back - when I say that I’ve been reading reviews to determine what I do and do not buy at this point, I’m not relying on whether or not the reviewer likes the book, per se. Rather, while avoiding major plotine spoilers as much as possible, I’m paying attention to what sort of storylines are being told and how the characters are being handled. With Green Arrow, I have little to no idea as to what the overall plot is, but when I come across a site with a collection of panels illustrating how rape-happy Dr. Light has become, well, I’m canceling all plans to buy the TPBs.

It’s not that I’m opposed to th whole idea of a super villain as a rapist - I’m one of the people that actually enjoyed the whole Identity Crisis mini. It’s just that Winick’s managed to take the concept and somehow turn it into an over the top parody. Dr. Light as a rapist should make him into one of the more frightening and chilling bad guys in the DCU, but instead, he just comes off as a sick freak. As one of the commenters on the above referenced page puts it, it’s like the only thing Winick knows about Light is that he’s a rapist, so he’s running as long and as far with that ball as he can. Fortunately for my wallet, he’s also run beyond my interests and has thus saved me a couple more bucks this year. Now, if only Mark Waid would reveal that Bouncing Boy’s a closeted pedophile, I could kick this damned Supergirl/LoSH habit…

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