Written by Kieth Giffen and Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Dan Jurgens and George PerezIt’s a Tokyo showdown! At an international tech expo that caters to the likes of WayneTech and Queen Industries, party crasher Green Arrow finds himself in the sights of a mystery woman bent on taking down “evil” corporations — like the one Green Arrow owns!
Krul is out, but Giffen is in. Can this ship be turned around and brought to a winning port before its too late?
I don’t know. Let’s figure it out after the cut.
One of the very few things that I want from DC Comics is a decent Green Arrow ongoing. Perhaps its just wishful thinking, or even wishful thinking, but a Robin Hood-esque techno genius in a starring role sounds incredibly intriguing to me. I would love to read about the continued adventures of the Emerald Archer akin to the various trades I bought when I first grew to appreciate the character. He’s not an all-time favorite, but I always have the urge to give him a shot, see if he can’t hit that bullseye (puns absolutely intended).
Of course, as luck would have it, this just doesn’t seem like it will ever happen. When I wanted to read about Green Arrow, he was too busy being married to have solo adventures. By the time he was having solo adventures again, it was in the wake of James Robinson’s critically reviled (but actually not that bad) Cry For Justice. This was the first time JT Krul had written a Green Arrow ongoing (the first of three), and as an admitted fan of the character, I was really hoping that he’d be able to do something interesting with him. Krul was also given a really poor jumping on point, all things considered, but I stick with the title into Brightest Day before realizing there was nothing for me there.
After 15 issues, the book relaunched with the DCnU, once again with Krul at the helm. While it was probably the most enjoyable thing Krul had done with the title, it still wasn’t worth reading beyond the first issue. However, as things go in the new age of DC Comics, Krul was quickly pulled from the title and replaced with Keith Giffen for a few issues before Ann Nocenti returns to comics and takes over. I feel pretty bad for Krul at this point; the man has some good ideas, but its his execution of them that always flies fat. You could feel the passion he had for Green Arrow, but the material never matched, akin to the experience you personally have when you have a wonderful idea but by the time you get to the computer you just can’t write it down.
So Green Arrow went through its “the King is dead, long live the King” phase only four issues in. Keith Giffen, for all intents and purposes, is a name you can generally touch. The man can work some serious magic in a script. His work with Booster Gold before the relaunch brought back the character’s trademark feel and gave some true depth to the character, and his work with Dan DiDio on OMAC has been fairly universally celebrated despite being an incredibly unlikely hit (all things considered). With older JLI trades in stock and being reprinted, Giffen is certainly on a winning streak within the company. You would think that, if anyone could make the wait for Nocenti’s first issue of Green Arrow worthwhile, it’d be him.
It must just be Green Arrow then. Or, at the very least, this iteration of the character. Olly in the regular DCU was always rather fun, and his adventures around the globe with other characters all serve as bright spots in my memory what once was. Four issues in, and I have no idea who the new Olly is supposed to be — is he just some brash young CEO, clueless how to run his company? Is he a genius who plays dumb? What does he care about, and why is he Green Arrow? I have no idea, and it doesn’t seem the character does either. He is Green Arrow because he was born written that way. Our new Olly has no great origin or quest, he just likes to dress up as a crime fighter and shoot off his bow and arrow because he can. It does look rather cool.
Perhaps its the team-up aspect of Giffen and Jurgens that is just keeping the book down in the dumps. The book doesn’t really have that Giffen feel to it; its not too jovial, it doesn’t cut fast and loose, and there’s no bwa-ha-ha. Giffen writes with a Silver Age mindset and a Modern Age tone, whereas Jurgens writes whatever thing probably seems coolest. Jurgens has certainly had his runs in the past, but his more recent work has been weighed down with excessive over-thinking and heavy plots that don’t push the characters in interesting directions. The transition between Krul and Giffen feels organic enough, but it seems that when Krul left the book, Jurgens said to Giffen, “Okay, this was where the book was going, but this is where we’re going to take it now.” Apparently Giffen just replied “Ok” and wrote the book.
Even the art takes a downturn with the issue. The original issue of the book actually looked quite great; with Perez’s inks over Jurgen’s pencils, the book had a very sharp feel to it. Even if the script didn’t pull its weight, the art carried the reader through the book quite easily. This issue is a bit sloppier. Perez’s usual clear cut lines and signature character designs are mostly absent, essentially only apparent when Green Arrow is suited up. This brings up an issue of “style over substance,” because if the only thing that looks half way decent is the superhero action sequences, then the message is clear: it’s not what the character does that counts, but rather how cool he looks while doing it (or, the Jason Statham Effect).
For Green Arrow to make it in this world, he needs a spark — a true sense of affection brought to the character by a writer who seems to really care for him. Krul was that writer, but he just couldn’t get past his own roadblocks. Green Arrow could and should be a character Giffen could do well with, but the enthusiasm isn’t here. It seems that writing Green Arrow is just a job, one that is not nearly as endearing as working on OMAC. Perhaps the job right now is just to keep the ship afloat until the new captain arrives, but if thats the case thenI hope the boat is in shallow water.
Final Verdict: 4.0 – Oh, and that solicit very much does not describe the issue within. But, you know, whatever.
