GREEN ARROW #29

Straight Shooter, Part Four:  New Wounds

October 2003

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Phil Hester

Inks by Ande Parks

Cover by Matt Wagner

Synopsis

Dinah Lance (aka Black Canary) is on the phone with Ollie Queen (aka Green Arrow) asking if she should come to Star City to help him heal after assassin Constantine Drakon severely injured him, including piercing both hands with his own arrows.  Ollie tells her to stay put.  Meanwhile, Connor’s friend in the morgue, whom Drakon killed, confirmed that the creature was indeed one of the immigrant workers hired by the Elevast Corporation.  Later, Joanna Pierce stops by to visit.  Ollie breaks of their relationship.  In the Lamb Valley District, Drakon sets a trap to catch the rest of the creatures, leading them to an empty building he sets on fire.  Ollie finds the trap and attempts to save the creatures.  Drakon interrupts, but Ollie is waiting for him.  Ollie then gets away before the building catches fire.  He knows the battle with Drakon is not over.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I really liked this issue.  What struck me about it is that there are a lot of empty spaces in the writing, moments in which there are one or two panels of no dialogue, but plenty of emotion and action.  Hester and Parks make this issue with their artwork and the pacing.  The scene with Ollie shooting the arrows, with the blood and the argument with Joanna followed by the few panels of Ollie not moving were packed with emotion that no dialogue can convey.  Ollie is angry and hurt, mostly at himself but also what he knows he did to others.  I liked the fact that Ollie felt remorse for a momentary lapse of reason; it shows that he has grown as a person.  I also like how he felt regarding Connor’s friend, even though the blame does not fall on his shoulders.  Ollie is a flawed character, one we can relate to (although I can’t relate to cheating, but I can relate to doing something that later makes you feel bad). 

The rematch between Ollie and Drakon actually left me a little disappointed.  Hopefully round three in the battle will go a little better.  I was disappointed not because the fight was short but because Ollie essentially ran away.  I suppose Winick is trying to get across that Drakon is essentially unbeatable, but we know (and Winick even mentioned in the narrative boxes) that the good guys win.  So, by making Drakon unbeatable, Winick is putting himself into a corner.  However, I did like the fact that Ollie learned from past mistakes and used that to his advantage.

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