GREEN ARROW #37

City Walls, Part Four:  The Devil Inside

June 2004

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Phil Hester

Inks by Ande Parks

Cover by Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez

Synopsis

Star City has been cast into darkness, thanks to a spell that completely encloses the city, keeping everyone inside.  Outside the city, Superman attempts to break through the spell with little success.  Meanwhile, inside the city, people are being killed by demons who only attack when someone breaks the law, such as stealing or looting.  Green Arrow, along with Connor and Mia, attempt to get the news out to the people to keep their actions within the law.  Green Arrow then goes to visit the Riddler in jail to learn the identity of the one who cast the spell.  At the library, Ollie learns that Davis’ family had been killed during a car-jacking and that spell had been an attempt to free the city of crime.  Later, Ollie and Connor head out to Davis’ home and find that he is home, but he is also surrounded by hundreds of the demons.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

As part of the larger storyline, the events in this issue work very well and it helps to set the scene of what is happening in Star City.  It is not pretty and Winick infuses the story with a grimness and dark humor that is appropriate for a city that is slowly going to perish, even with peace. 

Yet, I can’t help but feel that much of this issue was, well, I don’t want to say wasted, so I suppose pointless is a good a word as anything.  First, the opening pages repeat the events in the previous issue, pretty much.  Second, was it really necessary to devote five pages to Ollie beating the crap out of the Riddler (and why wouldn’t the demons come running; aren’t Ollie’s actions against the law)?  Granted, the first is not that big of a deal, but the Riddler beating was not worth the space it took up.  I would have liked to see more of Ollie and company and how they are coping and trying to live in a city with no electricity.  The text indicates it has been two days; it would have been nice to see and feel how it was like to live those two days in Star City.  Winick does a good job with what little we saw, but I would’ve liked to have seen more. 

I also like the fact that the demons’ actions play against Green Arrows political tendencies a little bit in terms of civil liberties in the face of lawlessness or a crisis.  I could see the golden age Green Arrow debating a politician fat cat about civil liberties, perhaps related to Altamont or to Woodstock or to Kent State (look ‘em if you need to). 

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