GREEN ARROW #47

New Business Part 1:  Southern Comfort

April 2005

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Tom Fowler

Inks by Rodney Ramos

Cover by James Jean

Synopsis

In Star City, Green Arrow and his sidekicks, affectionally called Team Arrow, are slowly but surely putting a dent into Brick’s illegal operations.  Even though Team Arrow is targeting the smaller operations, Brick realizes that if he doesn’t do something soon his organization will disintegrate.  And he knows he can’t deal directly with Green Arrow or else he would have the JLA to deal with.  It is time to bring in some help.  At the Queen residence, Roy Harper (aka Arsenal) takes issue with Mia Deardon becoming the new Speedy until Ollie informs Roy that Mia was tested HIV positive.  Mia then announces that a bank downtown is being robbed.  Along with Conner, the four of them encounter the Duke of Oil, a mechanical cowboy, in the midst of robbing the bank.  the Duke shrugs off the arrows stuck in his body and grabs all of them but Roy. The Duke takes them outside, leaving Roy inside.  As soon as The Duke steps outside, the windows and doors shut tight.  Roy recognizes that they have been wired with explosives.  No one can leave or they will all die.  Roy wonders what is going on as hired assassin Constantine Drakon watches and says, “payback is a bitch.”

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I still have problems with the art, as I mentioned in my review of the last issue which features the exact same art team.  Other than that, I liked this issue and is a strong set up for the next storyline.  The bits with Mia and HIV were kept to a minimum while the action increased and that, to me, is a good sign.  Winick has not forgotten Brick but more to the point has not forgotten that Brick likes to engineer and manipulate the proverbial chess board, so it was nice him plot his revenge rather than simply resort to mindless violence.  Of course, Brick’s plots do lead to violence but he manages to keep his hands clean, which is a sign of someone who knows he needs to look clean while he plays dirty. 

I must give props to Winick for managing to make a character like the Duke of Oil, who smacks of being comedy gold in the Silver Age and making him look really cool and come off with a sinister edge that makes the encounter work for what it was supposed to accomplish. 

The arrow placement changes from page 13 (where both green arrows hit the upper chest and the red arrows are below that) to page 14 (where one green arrow is now on the leg and one of the red arrows is on the upper chest).

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