GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #22

Enemies List, Conclusion:  Peace And Quiet

September 2009

Written by Andrew Kreisberg

Pencils by Mike Norton

Inks by Josef Rubenstein

Cover by Ladrönn

Synopsis

Star City has been rendered completely silent.  Black Canary has the method to restore the sounds, but as she is about to use it she encounters the man responsible, Sean Sonus.  He then blows up the building they were standing on.  As she falls, Black Canary recalls the first time she met Wildcat and his offer to train her.  As Sean falls, he recalls the moment when he told his father he wanted to be a professional musician.  When they land, Sean attacks Black Canary, but she easily knocks him out.   Afterwards, Black Canary learns Sean was deaf.  She then visits Sean’s apartment and realizes the Canary Cry was the culprit.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was an average issue.  Mostly it just falls flat and I think a lot of that has to do with the structure, which I discuss in detail a little bit more below.  Basically, I had very little reaction to this issue and the best it could produce was an apathetic shrug.  And that’s not good. 

Maybe it was just me, but the story ended on a lame note, wrapping up a lot sooner than I thought it would.  Kreisberg spent several issues to build up Cupid and then Discord and with this issue promptly dismisses them both with very little fanfare.  We are introduced to a villain with a very strong connection to the hero, which seems like a good idea.  Yet, Dinah meets him only once and in that meeting she defeats him, and that is the end of that.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the villain win the first battle so that when Dinah does win, the victory is a little more satisfying?  And that, after the first battle, Dinah learns about his past and how they are connected?  But that doesn’t happen and as such there is a big disconnect.  The flashbacks and the present events just don’t seem come together and when that happens I begin to wonder what the flashbacks were supposed to accomplish. 

Ultimately, I don’t think the flashbacks do anything for the story.  I am not quite sure what Kreisberg is trying to show us with the flashbacks.  We learn that Dinah needs to control her powers.  So, what does this have to do with Discord?  Does he lose his hearing because Dinah lacked control of her powers.  I don’t know.  Granted, he was in the line of fire, but did she know that?  Did she let loose more than she should have, suggesting that if she controlled herself Sonus would not have been hit.  Don’t know, I don’t think that was ever mentioned.  If Kreisberg wanted to do the flashbacks, it would’ve been better to have them resonant with what is going on in the present.  Indeed, Dinah doesn’t learn what happened to him and how until after he goes to jail, which makes me wonder why she is even thinking about the past anyway. 

The flashbacks to the life of Sean Sonus are meant to provide (obviously) background on the character, to give the big bad meanie a little depth so we can understand why he is doing what he is doing.  But the fight with his father and the relationship with his brother don’t really have much to do with his reasons for revenge against Black Canary.  She caused him to go deaf, so now he wants to provide payback.  Yes, it does flesh out the character, but it is a little too late for that, seeing how the character gets knocked out a few pages after the flashbacks.  The background stuff should’ve been shown earlier, to give the character depth before he actually meets up with Black Canary, not while the confrontation is happening. 

Opening Night Jitters

Written by Andrew Kreisberg

Art by Mike Norton and Bill Sienkiewicz

Synopsis

With the city returned to silence, Green Arrow attempts to apprehend Cupid.  When they hear a cry for help, they rush to investigate.  They find a woman killed by her husband.  Angered, Cupid threatens to kill the man.  Green Arrow stands by and does nothing.  The police arrive, stop Cupid, and take the men into custody.  Later, Green Arrow returns home to learn the police called Black Canary to tell her what happened.  Black Canary then tells him that he is too close to the edge and he needs to stop before he crosses the line. 

Review

This is not really a back-up feature so much as an epilogue to the main story.  I still don’t the basic conceit (that Ollie has gone to the edge) because, as I have said numerous times during this particular storyline, Kreisberg hasn’t done enough to show me that Ollie has gone off the deep end.  What happens in the apartment is also not believable; Green Arrow doesn’t strike me as someone who would allow another person to kill someone, whether it was justified or not.  I might believe Green Arrow could be angry and frustrated enough to do some serious damage when he was fighting someone, but not when it is someone else. 

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