GREEN ARROW #73

Jericho, Part One:  The Long Fall Only Hurts When It's Over

June 2007

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Scott McDaniel

Inks by Andy Owens

Cover by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens

Synopsis

It is one week before a recall election for the Mayor of Star City and current police commissioner Nudocerdo is in the lead in the polls.  Part of the reason is that the news are reporting Oliver Queen has been funding the Outsiders, a vigilante group some believe are terrorists.  Ollie doesn’t regret anything he has done; he just wishes he could’ve finished what he started.  Connor wants to know why Ollie doesn’t fight back.  Frederick Tuckman, advisor to the mayor, tells Connor that Ollie is taking a dive in the election in order to protect Mia.  Later, Mia informs Ollie and Connor that a bunch of criminal meta-humans have been rolling through Star City recently and they may be coming at the behest of Brick.  Meanwhile, Brick meets with his new gang, including the new guy:  Merlyn.  Elsewhere, Green Arrow, Connor, and Speedy prepare to deal with Brick and get a offer for help from Black Canary. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This issue is essentially split into two parts:  the mayoral race and Brick’s new gang.  I did not like the first part (see below) and kinda liked the second part.  My trepidation with the brick scenes is that Winick seems to be repeating himself since we already had the story where Brick consolidates his power while Green Arrow tries to stop him.  I hope that the truce between the two might add a little color to the story; otherwise, it seems like a rehash. 

I am having a tough time with the first part of the storyline in small part because Winick also happens to be the current writer of the Outsiders book.  Rather than coming across as a cool crossover utilizing the DC universe, it smacks of incestuous writing.  Winick writes two books for DC and it just so happens that both books are connected.  There are a number of different ways to blackmail or smear Queen’s reputation; using the Outsiders seems like a cheap plot to generate a higher profile for the team and the book. 

Finally, the entire One Year Later leap with Oliver Queen as Mayor seems to have been wasted.  The dozen or so issues since he became Mayor have rarely focused on his mayor duties.  We had several issues with Green Arrow and Brick fighting zombies followed by flashback issues of the missing year before he became Mayor followed by (yet another incestuous story) the Red Hood’s brief foray into Star City.  And now, Queen is about to lose the election.  The entire mayor plot has been a wasted opportunity.

PREVIOUS	Main		Page	NEXT