GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #17

Enemies List, Part Two:  Let Your Arrow Go

April 2009

Written by Andrew Kreisberg

Pencils by Mike Norton

Inks by Josef Rubenstein

Cover by Ladrönn

Synopsis

At the Star City Police Department, a truck crashes through the building, releasing inmates, including Merlyn, from the holding cells.  Green Arrow and Black Canary arrive on the scene to re-capture the inmates.  One of the inmates is Dregz.  This time Black Canary wins the fight.  Merlyn, however, is taken away by an unknown woman.  Later, the woman gets a new hairdo, and then kills the hairdresser so no one else will have her style.  Elsewhere, the woman wakes up Merlyn.  She tells him he is to be a gift to her love…Green Arrow.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This may not have been a perfect issue, but I liked it and I liked what Kreisberg is doing with this series so far.  While he provides Merlyn as a familiar antagonist, he is also developing a new antagonist.  Out with the old, in with the new.  Plus, Kreisberg is slowly developing the woman, building to her first encounter with Ollie providing characterization (even if she is nutty or simply doesn’t like to pay for a hair cut) rather than just tossing her into the mix.  Yet, while the woman gets the slow build-up, Kreisberg doesn’t forget to write a compelling stand-alone issue, as well.  The strength is the way the prison break was handled.  Not so much in terms of its ingenuity or originality in the concept.  Trucks (or cars) have been used to create a diversion or an instant door to a variety of escapes over the years.  What works is the execution, the way the truck appears on the first page, then reappears again in the background, before it is finally crashes through the prison (or the holding cells, I am guessing, since it is technically a police station).  And then when Ollie and Dinah are fighting to recapture all of the criminals, Kreisberg makes a good choice to not only bring back Dregz, but also provide a wonderful moment for Dinah to prove she is indeed the better fighter.  While this part is a little clunky (it reads awkwardly, I am not sure if it is the writer, the artist or the combination), I appreciate the effort.  The rest of the issue is the build-up and it works.  It shall be interesting to see if Kreisberg can not only continue the great build-up, but then also provide a decent pay-off. 

Origins & Omens

Written by Andrew Kreisberg

Art by Mike Norton and Josef Rubinstein

Commentary

I am unsure about the flashback regarding the first use of Dinah’s Canary Cry; does that fit into the established history of the character.  On the other hand, I liked the rest of the section, with the patient who lost his hearing thanks to Dinah getting a glimpse of the cause on the television.  the plot of the innocent victim looking for payback has been done before, but I like the way it counters what is happening with the woman and Ollie in the earlier section.  As for the Omens portion, there really isn’t anything that grabs my attention. 

PREVIOUS	Main		Page	NEXT