I think it is fair to say that Green Arrow does get into a lot of trouble, not just with villains, but also government institutions and CIA officials. While this may be down to his incredibly liberal views, this is mainly down to his aggressive personality and the way he talks to people who are his enemies. That being said, he doesn’t always get himself into the trouble. Sure, in most cases and some we will see in this stories that is the case, but in the scenario of the Black Arrow story, Oliver Queen finds himself arrested for “his” terrorist actions, which he didn’t commit. As you will learn, Oliver is framed by a certain somebody with dark ginger hair and glasses. However, this isn’t the vigilantes only problems. His life is getting worse and he will be pushed to breaking point and most importantly… he will lose all of his hair… all of it… (maybe).
The stories I will be reviewing are:
Coyote Tears --- Green Arrow (vol 2) 29-30
The Canary is a Bird of Prey --- Green Arrow (vol 2) 31-32
Broken Arrow --- Green Arrow (vol 2) 33
The Black Arrow Saga --- Green Arrow (vol 2) 34-38
Sunday on the Tarmac with George --- Green Arrow (vol 2) 39
Green Arrow (vol 2) issues 29-39 were published from February to Early October, with issue 39 coming out the Late November of 1990. Like many other DC titles around this time, Green Arrow went fortnightly, starting with issue 36 and reverting back to a monthly schedule with issue 64. Like always, all of these stories were published under the "Suggested for Mature Readers Line " and I have read issues 29-38 of this story in the Green Arrow: Black Arrow trade paperback release and I have read issue 39 in the
Green Arrow: Last Action Hero trade paperback. The reason for this issues inclusion in the review is due to its conclusive aftermath of the events of the Black Arrow five-part epic.
THE STORIES AND MY THOUGHTS
Coyote Tears --- Written by Mike Grell with art by Dan Jurgens, Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin
THE PLOT
A coyote on the coast of Alaska watches an Argon Oil tanker ship crash, resulting in the oil running into the waters, environment and wildlife in the area. After this occurs a representative of Argon Oil holds a press conference, in which journalists and protestors both attends. Remarks are made about the captain of the oil tanker ship and just as questions are being asked, a protestor storms the conference and throws the oiled dead bodies of seals on the ground at the feet of the Argon representative. The representative heads back to his office, where he tells the captain of the tanker that he must leave Seattle for security reasons. The representative also advises the captain to take refuge in a log cabin in Alaska owned by the oil company. The captain is taken to the cabin by plane and he is left there. The captain hides himself in the cabin with a gun. Meanwhile, Oliver Queen reads in the newspaper about the disappearance of the captain and tells Dinah Lance that he is going hunting, after getting information from an angry fisherman, Oliver becomes Green Arrow as the coyote from earlier follows him. Green Arrow manages to find the cabin and aims his bow at the captain.
As the news still report on the oil spillage caused by Argon Oil, the representative of the company says that he has no knowledge of where the captain has gone, even though the representative in private tells his workers that the captain has been in that lodge for two weeks. Meanwhile at the lodge, the captain has become worried, nervous and disturbed as he is being haunted by the howls of the coyote. However, the two cannot leave the cabin for numerous days due to a heavy storm. Back in the Argon Oil building in Seattle, the heads come up with a plan to give up their oil pipeline to the Native Americans, who don’t have any idea how to maintain the oil, meaning that they would naturally go back to Argon Oil for help, which they will provide if they are paid by the Natives, making Argon Oil improve their image. As animals become stuck and infected by the oil, the captain tells Green Arrow that he is haunted by the deaths of the animals and that he will take the fall for the company, which will keep the company safe. It is then that the company representatives decide to go to pick up the captain in a plane. However, an oiled eagle falls from the sky and lands in the plane’s wind mirror, causing for it to crash and explode, obviously killing all of those inside. The Coyote then watches Green Arrow leave the captain to his fate as the Argon company rebrands itself as Argos Oil, with their motto being “building a better world”.
MY THOUGHTS
An interesting factor to this tale which has to be considered is that it is actually inspired by an oil spillage in Alaska from an oil tanker in which the captain was drunk. This shows to me that Grell has obviously researched this topic a lot as there are numerous statistics and facts about the animals and how they are affected by the oil. The most unique and interesting part of this story has to be the fact it is from the point of view of a coyote, who watches Green Arrow and the oil spillage. This shows the feelings of the animals and we constantly see animals being trapped in the oil, making the whole thing seem more destructive. Not only that, but this is helped by the
portrayal of Argon Oil, who come across as pretty sinister and evil. It is great to see the captain being haunted by the animals that he has killed from the spillage, which again, makes the spillage incredibly serious. That being said, while it does pander a lot and does feature loads of animal information, the main plot is generally exciting and informative. It is clear that this is something that Grell obviously has an interest in as a lot of effort has been put in the story. The ending where the plane with the Argon representatives gives a sense of shocking revenge and although you may think their death is deserved, as the captain said, the company simply rebrands itself in a better image and names itself Argos Oil instead, making the whole thing seem like nothing happened and due to that, they will most likely get away with it, adding a realistic viewpoint for how businesses cover themselves up.
However, one thing I cannot understand is why Green Arrow simply leaves the captain at the end and doesn’t bother arresting him. Green Arrow constantly tells him that he will take him back home to stand trial, but in the end, he just leaves him to either die of hunger or any animals that may attack or on the off-chance that somebody will come and pick him up. Also, why is Green Arrow here? These types of stories don’t really fit him particularly well. I do like the plot of this story, but I don’t really think it is suitable to Green Arrow and his character really.
For the last time, we get to see the great inker Dick Giordano on this title, well, at least for insides anyway. You can really see how much he adds to Jurgens’s pencils and although some of the finishes are a bit messy possibly due to McLaughlin’s inking, this to me is the last time that the title has a constant inker that is constantly interesting and great.
Story: 8/10
Art: 8.5/10
The Canary is a Bird of Prey --- Written by Mike Grell with art by Grant Miehm and Frank McLaughlin
THE PLOT
After a fake drive-by shooting from gangsters towards a group of former National Guardsmen, a real one occurs with the former guards shooting at the gangsters in their car. Meanwhile, Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance are having a walk in the park, where Oliver jokes with some kids who work out that he doesn’t have any children, which makes Dinah feel sad. After a news report of the drive-by shooting in which people speculate that gangsters from a nearby drug warehouse may be behind it, there is another shooting, which kills a teenager and seriously wounds some of his friends. However, Lieutenant James Cameron comments that they have no evidence of who the attackers were. This angers Oliver and he becomes Green Arrow and heads to the drug warehouse, where he spots Reggie Mandell (the villain from Green Arrow (vol 2) 5-6) behind the drug crimes. Although he hears that Reggie and his gang was behind the shootings, Green Arrow is then knocked unconscious by a gangster behind him. It is then that Dinah wakes up from a bad dream, calling for Oliver.
After thinking that Oliver is in trouble, Dinah becomes Black Canary to find him. Although she fails trying to get information from Lieutenant Cameron as he is sick and tired of vigilantes, Dinah locates a note on Oliver’s side of their bed, which says that he has gone to the drug warehouse. All while this is going on, Regi is ordering one of his men to beat Green Arrow over and over again. Not only that, but Cameron has knowledge of the next drug deal from Reggie and his gang from an inside man, but any interference could ruin the plan. After finding the note, Black Canary questions some common thugs about where Oliver could be, but she doesn’t find out anything new. She ends up speaking to one of the former members of the National Guardsmen, who have been affected by the drive-by shootings. She then finds the warehouse and just as she finds Oliver about to be killed tied up, she jumps through a window and
violently takes out the gangsters around Oliver. Reggie manages to escape as Black Canary is holding onto Oliver, both of whom are trying to escape as well. However, the police arrive at the scene and a gun is fired, which misses and hits an oil tanker, causing an explosion. Reggie’s thugs escape and Dinah and Oliver are rescued by firemen, who were called by the young daughter of one of the former members of the National Guardsmen.
MY THOUGHTS
Like always, Grell adds a realistic menace to this story, specifically Reggie and his drug scheming and shootings. Not only does this make the villain incredibly threatening, but the main highlight of this story has to be Green Arrow being tortured, which gives Black Canary some long needed presence. To me, the title almost belongs to both characters as they are so close and personal with each other. For the previous thirty issues, Dinah is there and very good, but she never really takes up the main character in a story. This is why this story works incredibly well and it also highlights an incredibly realistic side to Green Arrow’s vigilante life, specifically his torture scenes, which not only highlight the great risk, but it mirrors what happened to Black Canary at the start of the run perfectly. Like Green Arrow in Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters 2 when he finds Dinah dying from her wounds, Dinah does something similar as she violently kills the gangsters and occasionally using guns to do so. This makes the emotion seem intense and real. This is a prime example of Mike Grell writing character excellently as we get to see the real emotion and anger in Black Canary. Apart from that, the threat does feel incredibly real and it is good to see the return of Reggie as the main villain (who obviously first appeared in Green Arrow (vol 2) 5-6). There are also some moments where the relationship between the two main characters is strained, particularly in the part where some kids joke that Oliver isn’t a father. While Oliver jokes about it, we get to see the sadness and thinking of Black Canary. As this plot thread was incorporated back in issue 1, it is great to see it still lingering at this point, showing more important it was at the time.
Although this is a good plot, I must say the very start is a bit pointless, specifically the fake drive-by shooting where the gangsters use their fingers. Why? Why don’t they just get their guns out straight away and kill them. It just seems weird and quite honestly, a dumb decision by the gangsters. Also, when Black Canary wakes up after having a bad dream, she calls for Oliver and then goes looking for him. Did she not notice the huge note next to her on her bed that tells her where he is? I guess not.
While the art by Miehm and McLaughlin isn’t the worst in the world, to me it is full of little lines that tend to be rather messy and overall pointless. There are some interesting and good uses of dark lighting, especially in the second part where we see Oliver tortured, which looks mysterious and suggestive to readers, making the severity of Oliver’s wounds looking horrific. That all being said, the inks by McLaughlin may have made the finished work look sloppy, but overall it isn’t the best.
Story: 8.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Broken Arrow --- Written by Mike Grell with art by Dan Jurgens and Frank McLaughlin
THE PLOT
After the events of the last story, Oliver is mentally affected by the damage done to him and he is haunted by the gangsters and people who tortured him. After Dinah finds Oliver hiding from her in the shower, he visits Dr Annie Green (who appeared in Green Arrow (vol 2) 1-2) who helped Dinah after the events of Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters 2. Oliver tells Dr Green that he is angry, and he felt cheated as Dinah managed to defeat his attackers. Meanwhile, Dinah looks at Oliver’s blood-stained Green Arrow costume, which makes her cry. She then remembers when she told Oliver that she didn’t want to have children as they might grow up to be orphans (from Green Arrow (vol 2) 1. Dr Green explains to Oliver that when Dinah was being tortured, she would have rather died than for Oliver to see her. Oliver becomes uncomfortable speaking, but Dr Green becomes determined to him to confront his actions of killing the torturers of Dinah and the other times he has been excessively violent. Dr Green manages to get the truth out of Oliver, which is that he has killed numerous people because he felt that they deserved it. Oliver then leaves after Dr Green tells him that he can never come back from what he did. He arrives home to Dinah, who tells Oliver that due to the fact he nearly lost his life, she now wants to have children with him.
MY THOUGHTS
For a not very plot heavy one-off story, this works beautifully. Like always, Grell gives a superb character piece for Green Arrow as a character, making him feel like a real person. Although he always comes across as strong and somebody who is resilient to pain in a sort of way, this story is him at his mentally worst and it is great to see aspects like that. Not only that, but it is good to see the return of a character from the first story of the ongoing series, who was incredibly well constructed and fitting to be used here. The events before this and here obviously mirror what happened to Black Canary in Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters 2 and Green Arrow (vol 2) 1, which although people may say it is too much of a coincidence, to me it makes perfect sense as they are vigilantes and stuff like this would be bound to happen. The scenes between Dr Green and Oliver are hard hitting and perfect. You really get to see the violent emotions in Green Arrow, which makes him feel real and although I will always mention that aspect, it is so important in a character because it keeps the plot interesting while having engaging characters that make the stories worthwhile. Also, the ending of Dinah Lance wanting children is a little out of nowhere, but it does make for a good ending that makes you want to read on.
In fact, my only criticism with this story has to be the fact that Dinah wants a child. Her reasoning for why she couldn’t in earlier issues made a lot of sense, but especially after Oliver’s been tortured, surely that would make you not want to have a child more as it emphasises the risk of having a child while being a vigilante. It is only a small point in an excellent story and while we find the consequences of that decision in the next story, it just seems a bit strange to me.
Like always, Frank McLaughlin makes the penciller’s work look a bit, well, rubbish really. Here that still applies as Jurgens’s art looks quite nice in numerous places with some good lighting, but the inks over it look a bit messy and dull. The storytelling isn’t really the problem here, it is simply the quality of the art, which with a good inker on Jurgens could have made this story look a hell of a lot better and nicer to look at.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 7.5/10
The Black Arrow Saga --- Written by Mike Grell with art by Dan Jurgens, Frank McLaughlin, Mark Jones, Rick Hoberg and Bill Wray
THE PLOT
One day in Seattle, Oliver and Dinah are walking happily together, joking about what names to give their baby they are planning on having. Later that night, Oliver and Dinah seemingly conceive their child together, both while wearing their superhero costumes. Afterwards, Oliver goes out on the streets as Green Arrow and hunts down gangsters and questions them about the whereabouts of Reggie. However, during one of the violent questionings, the police arrive and Lieutenant Cameron shouts at Green Arrow for ruining their planned attack on Reggie’s drug gang and how a police officer was killed. Although Oliver tries to apologize, Cameron doesn’t accept it. To his surprise, Oliver finds Eddie Fyers nearby on the scene, now working for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and he offers Oliver the chance to take out Reggie. He agrees and tells Dinah. Oliver and Fyers go to a remote jungle to find a drug processing facility and place a tracking device in a shipment of drugs on an American Navy boat so that DEA can track it. After Oliver successfully achieves his mission and leaves, Fyers stays behind and activates the tracker, which he knows is an explosive device which destroys the boat. However, while this was happening, Dinah finds out that she can’t have any children due to injuries that she had had previously. Oliver returns home and finds out the news. He holds onto her while there is intense knocking at the door. The door then bursts open and FBI members pin Oliver to the (continues after image)
ground, arresting him on charges of terrorism and sabotage for sinking the American Navy boat.
After Oliver is arrested, he is intensively questioned by the FBI, DEA and the CIA relating to his mission with Eddie Fyers in the jungle. Oliver refuses to answer any questions, but when he is told that the tracker, he placed in the boat was an explosive on a boat that was on an anti-drug scheme, he explains how Fyers had betrayed him and how he is working for DEA. The questioners come back at him and tell him that Fyers is no longer working for the CIA, but in fact working with a drug lord and they have evidence of Oliver meeting with Fyers. They also tell Oliver that they are aware about the money he stole years ago from the CIA (referencing Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters and he used the money in Green Arrow (vol 2) 6). The Seattle Times newspaper publish the story that Oliver Queen has been arrested while Oliver sleeps, thinking about Dinah and how they can’t have any children. However, he is woken up by a guard to meet Dinah and a lawyer, who tells Oliver that he has no chance of bail. Oliver then shouts at the lawyer, who then leaves and says that Oliver is a traitor. Oliver then tells Dinah that he was set up by Eddie Fyers, which causes her to promise to clear his name and prove his innocence. Later on, Oliver is being transported in a van to a prison, but the tyre is shot by Eddie Fyers with a sniper. This causes for the van to crash and for Oliver to escape. Meanwhile, Dinah finds the
phone number for Shado and calls her, telling her that Oliver needs her.
In Seattle, a young woman named Marianne goes amount making a few small robberies while being nice to shopkeepers and the people she meets in the city. After some time, she meets a friend of hers named Tommy. The two speak briefly before being interrupted by some teenagers joking around. She says goodbye to Tommy and stares at dresses in shop windows. Afterwards, she returns home to a run-down basement of sorts, where she surprisingly meets Oliver, who is in hiding. She same group of teenagers from before arriving and begin attacking Oliver. Although at first, they are beating him, he gets back at them with the help of Marianne and the teenagers run off injured. Although Oliver is about leave, he is told to stay behind by Marianne as he is bleeding. She notices all of the scars on his body and asks for his name, which he says is Robert Huntington. Marianne sees through the lie immediately. The next morning, Marianne discovers Oliver reading her journal, which makes her angry. He learns from the journal that she has robbed people and he asks her to sneak into his and Dinah’s home to get his bow and arrows. She returns back to Oliver, who has shaved his head and beard off, and tells him that she knows he is wanted for terrorist crimes due to information from a newspaper. He says that he is innocent, and that Eddie Fyers was the man who set him up. Although she doesn’t know who he is and questions Oliver, he decides to leave Marianne twenty-thousand dollars and tells her to get a job at the Sherwood Florist before leaving. Meanwhile, Dinah hears somebody firing a bow in the garden of her home. She runs to look and finds that Shado has arrived with his son. As Oliver watches Marianne pick up a dress that she wanted, he also finds Eddie Fyers and fires his bow right next to him, alarming Fyers.
After a news report discussing Oliver Queen and the American Navy ship explosion, Dinah speaks with Shado about her jealousy of her. She also notices the child that Shado has, which Dinah works out belongs to Oliver. Although Shado says that Oliver doesn’t know the child belongs to him, she admits that she raped him when he was injured (from Green Arrow (vol 2) 10, part two of Here There Be Dragons). She also admits that she doesn’t really know much about Oliver, despite the fact he is the father of her child. Afterwards, the two discuss what has been going on with Oliver and how Eddie Fyers is the man behind it all. Meanwhile, Oliver is searching for Fyers after shooting multiple arrows at him, but Fyers threatens to kill him if he keeps on shooting at him. Oliver then watches men and woman being robbed without being able to do anything about it otherwise his cover is blown. However, he does take out a group of common thugs taking drugs in a dark alley, while Dinah has done a special delivery in her van, which has Shado in the back of it, so her disappearance seems suspicious to the CIA, who are monitoring Dinah. Shado gets out the back of the van to look for Fyers before Oliver gets to him. However, Oliver heads back to his makeshift home and finds Fyers waiting for him there.
While crime lord Reggie receives a call that they know where Oliver is hiding, Oliver confronts Fyers, who admits that he set Oliver up at the very start, but Oliver tells him that he was also set up as the government officials told Oliver when he was being questioned that Fyers worked for a drug lord. Oliver then finds the arrows which he fired at Fyers earlier but tells him that they didn’t belong to him as they missed, and he wouldn’t. Suddenly, Oliver and Fyers both point and fire their bow and gun respectively at each, but the shots are intercepted by Shado’s arrow. Although she tries to convince Oliver not to kill Fyers, he shoots him anyway, but Fyers wore body armour. Oliver knew that he would wear armour and he grabs Fyers to go and see the CIA. But they notice gunmen all around them, causing a fight to break out, but the remaining gunmen run away. Shado finds a tracking device on one of the dead gunmen, which links to a tracker on Fyers. Together, Green Arrow, Shado and Fyers make a plan to take out the conspiring CIA members by organising a meeting between three CIA members, which Oliver raids and orders all of them to sit down. He reveals to the CIA members that he knows their plot was to let Green Arrow take the fall for the destruction of the boat, which was part of a plan to take back control of the Panama Canal, where the ship was located. He then goes onto say that his terrorist image is everywhere around the world and how his life has been ruined by it. He also says that he has more chance of being killed before going on trial to defend himself. Just as he says that, he is shot in the back by a sniper, who is then taken out by Shado. However, Green Arrow lives as he wore Fyers’s body armour and the CIA members agree that the plot was true, and that Green Arrow is innocent. Afterwards, Fyers delivers Reggie to Oliver, but he decides to not kill him. As Oliver leaves, Fyers get his gun out and shoots Reggie in the head, killing him without a thought. Finally, Oliver reunites with Dinah, who is sad that Shado used him to get a child and a news company get a tape from Oliver and decides to listen to what he has to say.
MY THOUGHTS
Out of all of the stories in the run, this is the longest story of the whole run. There isn’t any other five part stories at all, with the exception of the stories after Grell leaves, such as the ten-part epic Crossroads storyline (Green Arrow (vol 2) 81-90 and Where Angels Fear To Tread, a six-part tale that leads Oliver Queen to his death (Green Arrow (vol 2) 96-101). But back to the topic at hand, this is the longest story of the run and due to that, you know some serious sh*t is about to go down. That is definitely true, and it is a story full of drama, plot and genuinely shocking. First of all, the first part of the story is a sort of prologue and although it isn’t titled in the original issue, it is almost certainly a part of the Black Arrow Saga storyline and due to that, I don’t understand why that wasn’t just considered part 1 and the last part considered part 5, which is clearly the proper way the story should be told. The first part of the story has a great feeling of mystery and curiosity. This is because we as readers know that Fyers is hiding his real agenda. This builds up the story in such a way that makes you interested to keep reading. Obviously, this is a great way to pull people into a multipart story and here it works well. One of the main aspects of the prologue is the revelation that Dinah cannot have any children. After countless issues of that moment from issue 1 where she tells Oliver that she doesn’t want children, this comes across as a real shocking moment and you really feel for both Oliver and Dinah in that moment. This is great character development and I really think it makes the characters feel incredibly three-dimensional and human. This is made even better when the FBI break in through the door as you are still digesting one emotion while another forcefully throws itself straight at you, which in turn makes the story incredibly fast paced. Moving on to the main plot, while it can be incredibly convoluted and complicated, it is an excellent character piece for Oliver Queen as we see him start as an incredibly happy man and end as a man who has been convicted of terrorism and his whole life has fallen apart. It also shows the measures of how far Oliver can take his vigilante potential, with him shooting Eddie Fyers, despite the fact that he seemingly knew that he was wearing body armour. This is a great risk he takes, and it really shows how much he changes as a character. Fyers also comes across as a convincing villain and when you discover that he has also been betrayed, it makes the whole story feel even larger. Although both of these characters don’t feature much at all, Shado and Dinah work pretty well and there are some interesting dialogue scenes between the two characters, which are certainly tense, especially when we are now pretty much told that Shado raped Oliver back in the Here There Be Dragons storyline, which wasn’t hard to work out, but Dinah hearing it makes it even more impactful, particularly after knowing that she cannot have children. Apart from the characters, there are some excellent moments throughout the story, such as Fyers killing Reggie at the end of the story, which feels funny as Oliver doesn’t have the guts (continues after image)
to kill him while also being a shock. Also, Oliver not being able to help the citizens of Seattle is fantastic writing as it shows how badly Seattle needs him, but he cannot destroy his cover. This has a form of emotional strain on the character, which emphasises the severity of the situation that Oliver finds himself in.
My main issue with this story has to be the fact that it is overlong and there is so much plot (particularly at the end of the story) that it becomes very hard to follow what is going on. There are multiple scenes which are dialogue heavy, but they don’t feel very interesting to read. Although I like the revelation that Fyers has also been betrayed, it just makes the whole tale complicated and I really think that despite the high level of drama in this story, I think it should have been a four-part story really. Also, although she is a recurring character in this story, I didn’t really feel a great need for Shado to be in it. Sure, there were some excellent scenes between her and Dinah, but why couldn’t Dinah just find Oliver and Fyers. It would have made for a great but tense reunion for the story, making it even more character driven and interesting. I guess the main reason for her appearance is due to her son, but perhaps there should have been some presence of the Yakuza in the story just to make Shado feel more suitable for this story. Moreover, I’m really not a great fan of Marianne and her character. I mean, she has some qualities as a thief which are incorporated into the story, but she just comes across as dull and quite honestly, her dialogue and most things about her make the third part of the story which she features in the most just boring to read. Finally, why does Green Arrow send a tape into a news company who look as if they are about to broadcast. What reason would the news reporters have to believe Oliver. It just comes across as a bit rushed and too convenient to me. That being said, I still find this a pretty decent story, but I believe a great amount of fat needs to be trimmed off of it.
While I have discussed before that Dan Jurgens inked by Frank McLaughlin isn’t great due to the sketchiness and messy aspects of the art, as this tale is drawn by multiple people, some of it looks just as bad. Sure, Mark Jones and Bill Wray aren’t that bad as a team (just a bit ugly and messy), Rick Hoberg looks incredibly plastic. Most people tend to have the same faces, and nothing looks different. There aren’t really any interesting page layouts and while the inks by Wray make the whole thing look a bit better, it still pretty much sucks, which is shame for a story that is meant to be as serious and major as this.
Story: 7.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Sunday on the Tarmac with George --- Written by Mike Grell with art by Denys Cowan and Shea Anton Pensa
THE PLOT
After being cleared as a terrorist, Oliver Queen is invited to meet with President of the United States of America, George Bush Snr. After Oliver is searched, he meets the President, who declined the request of a TV news company to speak about the terrorist events related to Oliver. Although he understands that Oliver was set up by the CIA, DEA and FBI, he tells Oliver that thanks to the attack, a trade deal has been made with Panama and a military advantage is now there. After the President asks Oliver is this was all such a bad thing, Oliver is angered at the President as his life has been ruined by his framing. He tells the President that he will always be known as a terrorist, despite the fact that he has been proven innocent. Before leaving, he tells the President that he can kiss his ar*e and that the sniper outside better not miss him. However, the President doesn’t decide to kill Oliver and he lets him go. Later on, Oliver is still angry that the news is showing him as a man who they thought was a terrorist and he phones up multiple news companies about how they portray him. This angers him even more. Later on, Marianne arrives at the Florist and tells Oliver that she believes he isn’t a traitor. He then introduces Marianne to Dinah as she wants a job at the florists. Dinah accepts her decision to work for them while she shows her around the place. Later on, in the night, Dinah finds Oliver staring out the window. She asks if he is leaving, which he says he will, but he doesn’t know where or for how long. Dinah and Oliver then hold onto each other for the last time for a long time. As Oliver leaves, Marianne asks him where he will go and what he is looking for, but he doesn’t know.
MY THOUGHTS
For a story which is basically a conclusion to the Black Arrow Saga, this is actually pretty good, and it focuses a lot on character and cruelty aspect of Oliver Queen’s fake terrorism charges. For starters, you can clearly tell that Grell isn’t a fan of President George Bush Snr. Similarly, to how John Ostrander writes Ronald Reagan in Suicide Squad (vol 1), Bush Snr is shown to be a horrible man who doesn’t really care much about anyone else. He completely forgets about the pain Oliver went through, which clearly angers him, and it adds so much to the Green Arrow character. Apart from the meeting with the President, which I think is very interesting as it feels like a fitting end to the Black Arrow Saga, we get to see Oliver deal with the immediate aftermath of the previous story, which is excellent. Grell writes Oliver in such a human way to make him like a real character. His anger comes across realistically and nothing feels forced at all. And although we see more of Marianne’s character, who I’m not a huge fan of, there are some interesting moments featuring her, specially the ending of the story and when she makes a comment of how Oliver and Dinah’s home would be perfect for children, obviously making Oliver and Dinah sad. Plus, the ending of Oliver leaving to go travelling makes sense as thinking about, it would be hard to recover in the direct aftermath of being called a terrorist. Overall, I think this is probably one of the best Green Arrow stories of the whole run due to its great plot, expressive character and it is constantly interesting.
However, the art is the opposite of all I just said. Simply put, it is horrific. Not only do I dislike the art of Denys Cowan anyway, but the inks by Shea Anton Pensa are vile, grim, disgusting and… impossible to describe with our limited vocabulary. But seriously though, how the hell did this get published. It is just utter trash. The line
weights are either too thin or too think, making Green Arrow look fat and the faces look so over the top and monstrous that instead of having a hard-hitting impact, it just looks like sh*t.
Story: 10/10
Art: 2/10
VERDICT
Overall, the stories in Green Arrow: Black Arrow are pretty good and some of them are fantastic. Although I had some issues with these, I thought that the oil spillage story, the Reggie story and the Broken Arrow stories were all excellent. The weakest point has to be the main Black Arrow Saga story, which simply goes on for too long and I think it needs a lot of fat trimmed off it. However, the conclusion to the story featuring the President is superb and is probably one of the best Green Arrow stories by Mike Grell. Now that Green Arrow is planning to go aboard, lets see where he will end up in the following issues…
Stories: 8.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Highlighted Character: Black Canary (Dinah Lance)
Next Review: Green Arrow: Last Action Hero (Green Arrow (vol 2) 40-50). Written by Mike Grell with art by Mike Grell, Denys Cowan, Bill Wray, Rick Hoberg, John Nyberg, Mike Manley and Floyd Hughes. Expected to be published by 21/07/2019.
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