GREEN ARROW #30

Straight Shooter, Part Five:  Loose Ends

November 2003

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Phil Hester

Inks by Ande Parks

Cover by Matt Wagner

Synopsis

Recently, bizarre creatures have appeared in the Lamb Valley district; all of whom were immigrant workers hired by the Elevast Corporation and then recently fired before being evicted from their homes.  While Elevast has hired assassin Constatine Drakon to deal with the situation, Ollie Queen (aka Green Arrow) is trying to help the district by funding the lawsuit headed by Joanna Pierce.  Ollie and Joanna slept together, angering both Connor and Mia.  While out on patrol, Ollie gets the news:  there are more creatures in the district.  He goes to investigates, but there are too many for him.  Suddenly, Superman arrives and rounds them all up with relative ease.  Scientist at STAR Labs report to Ollie that the immigrants are turning into creatures due to an adverse reaction to an inoculation they received in Africa from TepCorp.  When Ollie relays the news to Joanna, she recognizes the name and asks Ollie to come see her right away.  When he gets there he finds her dead.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was another great issue in what is easily becoming a fantastic beginning to Judd Winick’s run on Green Arrow.  The opening sequence with Ollie and Connor was wonderful, not only for the taut and tense dialogue and interaction between the two, but because Winick doesn’t make it easy for either of the two characters.  Connor may call Ollie’s bluff at every single turn, turning Ollie’s clichéd responses on its ear, but at the same time Ollie fails to offer anything that would appease his son, or the reader.  And then Ollie follows that up with Mia’s rejection of Ollie and his own realization of what he has done, not only to Dinah or himself, but also to his family.  This is some great stuff.  And then intermixed with an appearance by Superman, more creatures, and more clues to the mystery, and Winick creates a masterful blend of the right ingredients. 

For most of this issue, I got the sense that Winick was holding ground (or treading water, insert your own clichéd phrase) until the final part of this storyline that would see Ollie and Drakon squaring off for one more battle.  As such, the ending surprised me.  It was not the type of cliffhanger I would expect.  Then I thought about it and I realized that Joanna’s death is not crucial to the ending of the Elevast storyline.  Really, Ollie should learn the secret of TepCorp (which should point back to Elevast) from rummaging through her papers.  And the fight with Drakon would occur regardless of Joann’s death.  No, I think what Winick is aiming for is a little bit of personal pathos for the emerald archer.  First he slept with her and now with her death, Ollie will most likely beat himself up for it.  And I am (almost) certain that Joanna’s death will force Ollie to reassess his life and his recent decisions.  The first part of this issue touched upon it a little.  Connor asked the most direct question:  “why did you do it?”  At this point I suspect Winick is going to delve a little and try to answer that question.

PREVIOUS	Main		Page	NEXT