Green Arrow #23 - A Review

The Ninth Circle's Four Horseman continue to reign chaos down on Seattle. As Black Canary hits the books to find the method to their madness, Roy Harper and Emiko Queen will join forces to save the city's water supply from being fouled by Cheshire as Oliver fights to save what remains of his secret base from Eddie Fyers.


Is there any superhero scenario more tried and true than stopping the town reservoir from being poisoned? I can think of three Batman stories alone based around that concept. Thankfully, while the set-up of Green Arrow #23 may seem somewhat familiar, Benjamin Percy offers more than simple action and adventure. His command of the characters and dialogue make everything old seem new again and it's a real treat to see the interaction between Red Arrow and Arsenal. Roy Harper fans will also be glad to know there is confirmation that he has some kind of history with Cheshire in the Rebirth reality but no details are given here. Hopefully that tale will be told sometime in the near future.


Juan Ferreyra's artwork continues to amaze. I'm particularly impressed by his use of negative space and color. The above page is a fine example of this, with the muted background colors serving to make the reds seem all the stronger while further enhancing the aura of sorrow blanketing the scene.

Final Analysis: 8 out of 10.

Green Arrow #22 - A Review

With Seattle suffering on multiple fronts and the corrupt Mayor Domini doing nothing to help, the city is more in need of its heroes than ever. Yet even as Green Arrow does what he can to undo the damage wrought by The Four Horsemen, he can't help but wonder about the secret room he discovered in The Queen Family mausoleum and the revelation that his father was part of The Ninth Circle syndicate that seeks to destroy everything Oliver Queen has ever fought to protect.


At this point, I think you can safely assume I'm going to love anything Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra do together. Theirs is one of the greatest partnerships in modern comics. And this issue of Green Arrow is a near-perfect symphony of art and script working together in perfect unison.

There's only one false note in that symphony and that is the scene between Black Canary and Green Arrow near the end of the issue. While I'm relieved to see Oliver reject the notion that Dinah is his conscience (a concern I voiced nearly a year ago), this whole conversation seems forced. I can't see Dinah holding the belief that the need for people to be free to make their own mistakes absolves Oliver of the need to do something about the evil being done in his family's name. Particularly given that her pre-Rebirth solo series (is that still canon?) was based around Dinah trying to learn about her mother and uphold her legacy.


The irony is this conversation does a fantastic job of showcasing one of the classic conflicts of Oliver Queen's character,and modern liberalism in general. Oliver Queen honestly does want to help people but Dinah rightly points out that drive is somewhat inspired by a belief in Noblesse oblige - that the rich and powerful are obligated to look after their sociological "lessers". The problem is it's difficult to be a man of the people when you're mentally placing yourself above the people you're trying to help.

As Terry Pratchett noted, the root of all evil lies in viewing people as things, As Dinah points out here, that attitude can come just as easily to a humanist who views "the people" as something to be saved as to a fascist who views people as property. Regardless of where you stand on this discussion, I think it is impressive that Green Arrow has once again become so thought-provoking even as I decry how awkwardly the ideas are presented.

Final Analysis: 8 Out of 10. Great action and artwork with some honest-to-goodness social commentary. It could be handled more smoothly, though.

Green Arrow #21 - A Review

As Oliver Queen ponders his life and the father he never really knew while visiting the Queen family tomb, a sinister plot unfolds. Four villains - all in the employ of Queen Enterprises CEO Cyrus Broderick - have set about bringing Hell to Seattle in one form or another. Soon Green Arrow and his allies will find themselves tested as never before...


It's difficult for me to show any scans of Green Arrow #21, given the unique way in which Juan Ferreyra illustrated this issue. Up until the final three pages, the top third of each page depicts Oliver Queen's as he visits his father's grave. The bottom two-thirds depict the various villains in action and the story spans across both pages, splash-page style. It's a bold breakage of the standard comic-book format but Ferreyra pulls it off beautifully, taking advantage of the extra space in some truly unique ways.

Benjamin Percy's script is more concerned with the practicalities of reestablishing several members of Green Arrow's rogues gallery than any fancy aesthetics. More, the story attempts to reconcile the new origin for Robert Queen presented in Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow with something somewhat closer to the Arrow TV series character. Far from being overly expository, Percy balances this set-up and some thrilling action sequences like a master plate-spinner.

Personally, I regret the necessity of needing to stick with the story where Shado is Oliver Queen's weird step-mom. But what do I know? I'm one of the three people who miss Mia Dearden and Felicity Smoak from The Kingdom story arc!

Final Analysis: 9 out of 10.