GREEN ARROW #75

Jericho, Conclusion:  And The Walls Come Tumbling Down

August 2007

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Scott McDaniel

Inks by Andy Owens

Cover by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens

Synopsis

At City Hall, Fred Tuckman, chief advisor to the mayor, prepares himself for one last chance to save the mayor.  Meanwhile, Green Arrow, Speedy, Conner Hawke, and Black Canary are locked in battle with assassin Constantine Drakon and Slade Wilson (aka Deathstroke) and they are losing badly.  While Drakon faces Mia and Conner, Deathstroke faces off against Ollie and Dinah.  Elsewhere, Tuckman goes to mayoral candidate Brian Nudocerda and asks to be appointed as Head of City Council.  Tuckman realizes that Ollie is going to lose the election and he still wants to help out the city.  Since Head of City Council is a largely a powerless position, Nudocerda agrees.  Meanwhile, Deathstroke takes down Ollie while holding Dinah at sword point.  Ollie then offers himself, willingly accepting death if Deathstroke would let Dinah live.  Deathstroke doesn’t like the offer; he’ll kill them both.  Just then the Justice League arrives to save.  However, Deathstroke and Drakon are able to get away.  Later, Mayor Oliver Queen decides to step down before the election.  The office then transfers to the next highest ranking city official:  Head of City Council Fred Tuckman.  Then, in his last act as mayor, Oliver Queen tears down the wall dividing the city in half.  That night, Oliver Queen asks Dinah for her hand in marriage.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I am not going to use the word perfect because that would imply a lot more to this comic than I would like, but I think Winick was able to nail all the right beats for the final issue of this book.  He closed out the saga of Mayor Oliver Queen by making sure that Ollie won the war, if not all of the battles.  The way it played out, Winick made it seem as if Tuckman really was ditching Ollie knowing what is going to happen, puts the conversation on the first page into a new light.   Winick also was able to bring down the wall (albeit the one he created) in a scene that made sense to the overall story and to the moment in which it happened.  Plus, it fit well into the ending to the Mayor saga.  And he was able to allow Green Arrow to survive the encounter with Deathstroke and Drakon without cheapening either of the two villains.  And then the ending.  I want to see Ollie get married and I would like to see what stories could be told with two married heroes (with a kid, no less), so the fact that the story will continue in a new mini-series does not bother me.  I am disappointed that we don’t get to see the answer.  Would it be too difficult to add a small bubble with the word “yes” in it?  Hell, there doesn’t have to be a marriage if DC is not going in that direction; many, many people change their minds.  Maybe I would call this issue perfect if there had been an answer, but I guess we’ll never know....

My first reaction to the arrival of the Justice League’s arrival was dues ex machina, a way for Winick to get out of the hole he dug himself into.  And, yes, there is a little truth to that, but their arrival does make sense in the broad context of the DCU since Black Canary is the chairperson of the team.  One would think that if she were in trouble that she would call the JLA for help and the attack by Deathstroke certainly qualifies for that. 

I find it interesting that in the group shot of the Justice League when they arrive, the one character with wings is shown standing on the ground (and really obscured for being seen).

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