GREEN ARROW #49

New Business Part 3:  Road Trip

June 2005

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Eric Battle

Inks by Jack Purcell

Cover by James Jean

Synopsis

The Forest Trust Bank of Star City has just exploded.  Roy Harper (aka Arsenal) had been inside trying to diffuse the bomb.  Ollie Queen (aka Green Arrow), along with Conner Hawk and Mia Deardon (aka Speedy) are frantically searching the fire to see if he is alive.  Elsewhere, Arsenal awakens in the back of moving truck.  He is able to remove the rope and then use some of the gadgets he carries around to set off an explosion that topples the truck.  When he gets back to his feet, he realizes his captor is Constantine Drakon.  Arsenal tries to take him down, but Drakon slits Arsenal’s throat just enough to force Roy to use both hands to stop the bleeding, but not enough to kill.  Drakon then takes Arsenal to meet his employer.  Meanwhile, Green Arrow is joined by the Outsiders in the search for Arsenal.  Indigo determines Arsenal made it out alive.  Then Shift finds a box with a riddle inside.  At that moment, Roy learns Darkon’s employer is the Riddler. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a very well done story with some good suspense, nice action in the fight with Arsenal and Drakon, and a good guest-starring turn by the Outsiders (a book also written by Winick).  The dialogue among the members of the Outsiders and Team Arrow is fun and plays well upon who they are within the comics (such as sexually active Grace asking Conner about being in the monastery).  I liked how Arsenal was able to get free of his bonds and then freed himself from the truck.  My first reaction is that he should’ve run away, but hey, this is a superhero, he should be able to beat up whoever attempted to kidnap him.  Of course, this is Drakon we are talking about.  Winick has made him almost impossible to beat (unless you have a leaky stove nearby, something Arsenal is without in the forest) so I was not surprised by the ending to the fight.  I like Drakon as a character, but his abilities are too much

The entire thing, however, is slightly negated by the murky final page.  That should be the Riddler, but without the costume or even the cane, it is difficult to tell.  I can see how someone could flip the page and wonder who the hell it is, even with the riddle (and Ollie’s reaction) on the previous page. 

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