DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #16

Enemies List, Part One:  Draw Back Your Bow

March 2009

Written by Andrew Kreisberg

Pencils by Mike Norton

Inks by Joe Rubenstein

Cover by Ladrönn

Synopsis

Four friends celebrate, believing they saved the world while getting rich in the process.  The celebration is cut short when Merlyn kills them all.  When Green Arrow and Black Canary learn of the murders, he joins the police in the investigation.  Green Arrow quickly learns that there was a fifth member of the small group of friends.  Black Canary contacts Oracle, who is able to find the identity and location of the fifth person.  They find him talking to Merlyn.  He was the one who hired Merlyn to kill his friends.  Green Arrow and Black Canary attack Merlyn and are able to capture him.  Later, a young woman finds a green arrow, which she takes as a souvenir.  Green Arrow saved her life.  She shows her gratitude by carving a heart in her chest with the arrow tip.  She loves Green Arrow. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a very average issue with a standard plot and story that was saved slightly by the ending and the creepy woman, who was the one rescued (though Ollie didn’t mean it) in the previous issue.  She doesn’t have anything to do with the basic plot of the kids and the murders, but her presence helps to overcome the feeling that this is a throwaway issue.  As a concept I love the idea of telling one-in-done stories while telling a large mythology in the background.  But the concept still has to work and this issue doesn’t quite do it.  Part of the problem is the use of Merlyn, the anti-Green Arrow who was recently revealed to be spear heading the League of Assassins.  Somehow it doesn’t quite work for Merlyn to be working as an assassin for hire, especially when you consider what group he is the supposed leader.  And he was taken down way too easily for a character of his stature.  The way he gets beat (even two on one) makes him look like a punk.   I think if it had been someone other than Merlyn, the issue might’ve worked.  Further, it would’ve made the relationship with the police more believable (somehow when super heroes fight super villains, having the police in the middle of it all seems a little silly).  As it is, the issue’s plot is not that interesting, although the woman at the end certainly is an interesting idea.

I am curious about one thing:  what happened to the dude who ordered his friends to die?  It isn’t quite clear if the Green/Black Team heard the conversation with Merlyn or not.  They saved his life when they cut Merlyn’s arrow in half, but after that we don’t see anymore of him.  Did he get away?  Did the police capture him?  Yeah, I know, a minor plot point, but for some reason it bothered me a little bit that it wasn’t resolved.  At this point, I am going to go with the idea that Kreisberg is setting up something down the road.