GREEN ARROW #65

Kick to the Front, Then Kick to the Back, Then a Good Side-Kick!

October 2006

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Scott McDaniel

Inks by Andy Owens

Cover by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens

Synopsis

In the ‘glades portion of the city, Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow) and Mia Deardon (aka Speedy) continue to fight zombie-like people altered by a dose tainted morphine.  The arrival of Hal Jordan (aka Green Lantern) ends the fight as he is able to round up all of the victims and send them to STAR Labs for Detox.  Before he goes, Hal asks Ollie if he should take down the wall; Ollie tells him no, they are not ready for them.  Mia questions Ollie about his recent decision to suspend sales tax within the city limits.  Ollie tells her it is not about the money, but the need to generate news that will keep the media focused on what about in the city.  Later, Ollie pays a visit to Theodore Davis, head of the Willobeigh Revitalization Project.  Ollie tells Davis that he knows about the assassination and he knows Davis was the one who tainted the morphine with nerve toxin to make the city look worse.  Ollie tells him that if Davis wants to avoid jail, he better do what the Mayor tells him to do.  Meanwhile, at Alcatraz Prison, Slade Wilson (aka Deathstroke) locates professional assassin Constantine Drakon, who is the reason Slade allowed himself to be imprisoned.  Slade wants Drakon to tell him everything about where Green Arrow went the previous year.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Tonight we discuss that splunking sound in the pond of lucid thought that is the Mayoral office of Star City’s Oliver Queen.”

This was a very good issue that ties up a lot of the loose ends to the first story arc of the One Year Later switch without actually tearing down the wall, which in my mind would be too soon.  Some of the lingering questions, such as why Ollie doesn’t have it torn down, are answered and to me it made sense.  To Ollie it is not about the wall, it is about the conditions of the city and how the government failed to help anyone.  By keeping the wall, by focusing the media to focus on the city, it is a reminder of how things went so badly.  In contrast, the point and counterpoint in this issue came off lame, mostly because of the guy spouting really over the top anti-gay statements.  To me, he did not come off real or believable.  However, the woman came across okay, but then all she was really doing was corroborating Ollie’s position. 

My one complaint is the first ending with Theodore Davis.  The evidence provided by the employee and then Ollie’s blackmail offer essentially removed Davis as any kind of serious threat to Green Arrow and Oliver Queen.  I realize that Davis is not a cape or cowl (as Deathstroke put it) but I think giving Ollie a counterpart to fight against would have been a good move.  Regardless what happens with the wall or Star City, Davis could have been a viable opponent, a rich man trying to suck the money dry from the downtrodden and poor.  He would’ve a perfect foil for Ollie. 

Green Arrow and Judd Winick earn the award for the first series to use a flashback to tell the story of what happened in the missing year.  What will be interesting is how well this matches up to the events in Infinite Crisis and 52.  So far, 14 weeks in to the series, Ollie has announced his candidacy for Mayor and has broken up cult meetings.

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