GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #20

Enemies List, Part Five:  The Silence Of Sounds

July 2009

Written by Andrew Kreisberg

Pencils by Mike Norton

Inks by Josef Rubenstein

Cover by Ladrönn

Synopsis

Green Arrow and Black Canary visit a marriage counselor, which is causing some problems because they are wearing their hero costumes.  The therapist asks about Dinah’s mother.  Dinah remembers the first time she used her canary cry and she hurt someone.  To the therapist, however, Dinah says she and her mom are fine.  The therapist sensing some hostility.  Dinah lashes out, but suddenly there is not sound.  The duo confirm there is no sound all over the city.  The duo rush to stop the looters and protect the city.  Elsewhere, Cupid is also helping out, much to Ollie’s displeasure.  As Dinah helps, she recalls her joy at learning, when she was a teen, she could not a canary cry the second time.  Now, she can’t do it all.  Nearby, a man watches the city and cites Hamlet:  “The rest is silence.” 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I hate, and I really do mean I hate, to keep going back to previous reviews and harping on a point I have made before, but since Kreisberg continues down the same path, I guess so must I.  The problem I have been having with this series is that Kreisberg has not earned the dissention and the friction between Dinah and Ollie.  It feels arbitrary, first it terms of Ollie suddenly becoming more violent, and then Dinah not liking the way Ollie is handling things.  On the surface, it is an interesting concept and, for the most part, I like the way Kreisberg is handling the situation.  But it doesn’t feel real because Kreisberg didn’t set up the situation in a realistic manner.  It was almost like, here it is, now let’s go and deal with it.  It doesn’t work.  For us to understand why Dinah and Ollie are at the therapist and why Dinah is upset and why Ollie doesn’t want to share, we needed to see how we got to that point.  But we didn’t.  So the opening lacks any type of emotional punch, only some comedic moments.  As for the rest of the issue, it is fairly standard set-up as the next new villain is introduced even as the old one is kept around for further hijinks while we learn some insight into Dinah, the one who is going to be most effected by the world gone deaf (although the cry should’ve worked and should’ve knocked the truck backwards; we can’t hear it, but that doesn’t mean sounds don’t exist or am I over thinking things).  Ultimately, not a bad issue, I just wish I had some connection to what is going on with the main characters. 

I also didn’t buy the idea that people who have suddenly gone deaf would suddenly riot in the streets.  Of course, the rest of the issue doesn’t work unless the people riot, but if I were to suddenly go deaf, I’d think I would not do anything.  I guess for others, “hey I can’t hear, let’s go steal that plasma tv!” is what they are thinking.   

This issue features another appearance (or mention) of one of the Red Circle characters that are going to be re-introduced in the DC sometime soon.  In this issue it is the Shield.  He also appears (but not named) in Wonder Woman, issue #32.  He, along with the rest of the Red Circle characters appear on a monitor in Superman, issue #688. 

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