GREEN ARROW #40

New Blood Part One:  Moving Day

September 2004

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Phil Hester

Inks by Ande Parks

Cover by Marcos Martin & Alvaro Lopez

Synopsis

In the aftermath of the enchantment that enclosed Star City, Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow) is still feeling remorse that he allowed Mia into the battle that ultimately led her to kill the spell caster, even if that murder helped to save the city.  Meanwhile, Dinah Lance (aka Black Canary) visits Ollie to ask him about Mia and then to end their relationship.  When Ollie doesn’t fight her decision, Dinah gets upset at him and storms out.  Elsewhere, Danny Brickwell (aka Brick) is slowly consolidating his power as the leader of all of the gangs in the city.  And if they don’t agree to his terms, he kills them to show he means business.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Not much happened in terms of plot developments or action, but this was still a good issue.  One thing I really like about Winick’s run so far on this book is that he always follows-up on the events from storylines that were just completed.  This is not a book that gives us a new plot every six issues, with all of the character development located within the arc.  Winick continues each story, even if the plot may have ended.  In this case, Winick has focused on Ollie’s feelings about putting Mia into the position to shot Albert Davis.  Granted, he didn’t force her to shoot, but he still feels guilty.  Winick’s Arrow is someone who shoulders a lot of guilt, whether it is justified or not.  This is exemplified with his conversation with Dinah, in which his guilt over the affair with Joanna continues to haunt him, to the point where he drives her out of his life. 

The other half of the issue is the focus on the new gang leader in Star City.  It is too early to tell if Brick will make a worthy adversary to Green Arrow, but at the moment his character is a breath of different air after nearly four years of stories dealing with magic and magic-based creatures haunting Star City. 

Many fans of comics of the past will cry foul that Ollie and Dinah belong together.  But the characters are in different books, doing different things so in terms of being able to tells stories with them, it becomes problematical.  Hopefully this break-up will lead to some romantic entanglements for Ollie (as long as it is not Mia). 

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