GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #8

Haystack, Part 3:  Needle

July 2008

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Mike Norton

Inks by Rodney Ramos

Cover by Cliff Chiang

Synopsis

Now, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Speedy are infiltrating a castle.  Then, after learning Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins was behind the shooting of Conner Hawke, they contact Batman.  The Dark Knight informs that Ra’s is indisposed and not behind the attack.  Still thinking it was the League, they hire Dodger to help find where the point of sale came from.  The clues lead them to the castle, where they are attacked.  However, they find a cryo chamber.  When they open it, they find Plastic Man. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was another fun issue.  As usual, Winick fills the book with humorous quips and decent action.  Combine that with a few trick arrows from Ollie, and we’ve got a winning formula.  Well, maybe not winning, but I do enjoy this comic, even if the basic idea is starting to wear thin.  After three or four issues, the search for Conner’s attacker has gone on long enough.  It just seems like Winick is having Ollie and Dinah run around in circles and are accomplishing nothing.  At first, it was interesting to see them follow the clues to find Conner’s attacker, but now, now it is starting to drag.  And adding characters or using character names to make us think there is progress seems like a desperate attempt to make something out of nothing.  Kinda like the cliffhanger.  I guess it is too early for Ollie to find Conner, so Winick decided he needed something, and viola, here is Plastic Man.  I mean, it was a surprise to see Plastic Man, but what the hell does Plastic Man have to do with this group of characters?  Why not make it Conner?  I suppose I have enough faith in Winick to know he has a plan for what is going on, but at the moment it doesn’t seem like it.

Here are two words for you:  bait and switch.  Last month, it was revealed Ra’s al Ghul was behind the attacks.  This month, Ra’s is on the cover.  But inside the comic, Batman tells Ollie (and the reader) that Ra’s couldn’t have done it because he is under wraps at Arkham Asylum.  So we get the bait with Ra’s to get people to read the comic thinking he is the main villain and then the switch to reveal something else entirely. 

Although I actually enjoyed the scenes where they attempt to torture Dodger, the fact that it ultimately led nowhere made me wonder why it was even necessary.  Again, like much of the main plot, it seems like it was added because it was a nice scene, if it doesn’t make sense, or to kill a few pages just to get to the cliffhanger. 

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