Green Arrow (vol.5) #3 (2010)

Green Arrow (vol.5) #3 (October, 2010)

"Character Assassination"

Writer - J.T. Krul

Penciller - Diogenes Neves

Inker - Vicente Cifuentes

Colorist - Ulises Arreola

Letterer - Rob Leigh

Editor - Adam Schlagman

Cover Price: $2.99

Wouldja lookit that... today marks our EIGHT-HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH daily discussion!

It's also... still #BrightestMay, where last we left our man Oliver Queen he was... dead... ish.  That ain't gonna stick, right?

Right?

--

We open with Ollie... shot in the head.  He flashes back to the time he was washed up on that island all them years ago.  While his mind wanders, a pack of wolves descend on his location (where they came from, I'll never know).  Before they can make a meal outta our hero, that stranger from last issue arrives on the scene to shoo 'em off.  We don't know it yet, but this is Galahad.

He lifts Oliver's prone body and proceeds to walk him over to a small pond.  He is so sure that the forest can restore Green Arrow's life... that he dunks the body into the drink.  The White Lantern entity... begins to judge Ollie's worth.  Does he even deserve to live?  As this happens, Oliver recounts many of the more pivotal points in his life.

We shift to a flashback of a young Oliver accompanying his mother to visit his father at Queen Tower.  It's alluded to here that Robert Queen wasn't the most fidelity-havin' fella.  Not sure if Ollie is seeing this in his flashback, though, because as it rolls on, we see him locked in combat with his "shadow self".

The flashback ends with a somber Moira Queen watching Robert head off on a "business trip".  She holds young Ollie in her arms... and tells him to not just be a "good boy", but to grow up and be a "good man"... at which point, Galahad nyoinks him out of the drink.

Ollie comes to... and immediately suspects Galahad as the dead-shot archer that plugged him betwixt the eyes.  Galahad (there's no organic way of shortening that name, is there?) judo tosses a confused Ollie, and insists that he is a friend.

We shift scenes into Star City proper, where we learn that Queen Industries have taken over the contract to supply medication and medical equipment to the victims of the Star City Disaster... and since taking over, haven't done all that much.  A woman vows to send them a message.

We then pop over to a press conference which may or may not be presented a Queen Industries.  The conference is to announce a new state of the art entertainment facility... which, is kind of a hamfisted way of illustrating that the "powers that be" don't care about the common rabble.  We see that Evan Gibson from the Star Gazette is there reporting on the event... and then... a woman shoots the presenter with her tape recorder?  Not sure if this is the same woman from the medical tent... hell, I'm not even sure it's actually a woman!

We head back into the woods for Galahad to do some 'splainin'.  He claims to be a (displaced?) knight, whose mind had been clouded by modern medication.  He's only become "lucid" since the forest sprouted.  While he drones on, Ollie takes a gander at his reflection in the pond... and finds that he has no scarring where the arrow pierced his dome.

Time for another flashback... this time to Siberia, 30 years ago.  This, I would assume, is the first meeting between Robert Queen and "The Queen".  She claims to have taken him... body and soul.

Back in the woods, Ollie and Galahad continue their chat.  Suddenly Oliver notices a white light behind the Knight... then the entire forest becomes bathed in it.  Ollie runs to get a better look, and notices that, in a matter of seconds, the forest experienced a years worth of maturity... all four seasons in the blink of an eye.

He heads back to Galahad, unsure if the forest means to save him... or kill him.  Worth noting that Ollie's shadow has taken the form of a beast-like critter.

--

Okay, not as much fun as the first two issues... but, I suppose we do need an issue to fill in some background beats.

I definitely appreciate the fact that the forest is still one of the main focuses of this series.  In looking though so many Brightest Day tie-ins over this past month, it's refreshing to see one that actually... ya know, keeps Brightest Day at the fore!  It feels like so many of the other books almost forget that they're part of something bigger... leaving all Brightest Day allusions feeling like a forced afterthought.  This series keeps the "crossovent" rolling, and even builds upon it... and I dig that a lot.

The (proper) introduction of Galahad was... okay.  We did get a teaser at the end of Green Arrow (vol.5) #1 (which I neglected to include for some silly reason) that Ollie was putting together a crew of "Merry Men".  I think we can assume that Galahad (and likely the woman at the med-tent, and Evan from the Gazette) will fill out that number.  Makes me wonder just what kind of series this would have grown into if not for The New-52!.

Ollie's father's infidelity... ehh.  I don't know how much of that had already been established at this point... or if it was something gleaned from the CW show (if that was even a thing at this point), or just a hamfisted way of introducing some (more) trauma into Ollie's life... either way, this kind of thing's been done before... almost too often.

The scenes at the med-tent/press conference... well, I guess it got the point across... but it's severely lacking in the subtlety department.  I mean, Neves (who still absolutely kills it here) may as well draw all of the suits with horns and hooves.  They're bad dudes... we get it.  Hell, we got it two issues ago!  I get what we're going for here... but, there's gotta be a better way.

Overall... even though this was less exciting than the issues that came before it, we do get a fair amount of forward momentum.  I'm still keen on recommending this, however... might suggest you check it out in trade. 

--

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Green Arrow (vol.5) #2 (2010)

Green Arrow (vol.5) #2 (September, 2010)
"Into the Woods"
Writer - J.T. Krul
Penciller - Diogenes Neves
Inker - Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist - Ulises Arreola
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Editor - Adam Schlagman
Cover Price: $2.99

As #BrightestMay winds down... I'm just picking books at random.

There's just not enough time to give as in depth a look at this strange and interesting time in DC Comics in a single month... even one with 31 days!  Might as well just have some fun with Ollie!

Well, we did our best... and, most importantly... might have deduced the very issue in which the gears shifted from Brightest Day to The New-52!.

We also got a "like" from Geoff Johns, so there's that...

--

We open with a cloaked man wandering Ollie's woods.  Not sure if he's been officially named yet, but we'll just go ahead and call him Galahad.  He's been drawn here, and knows that the amazing growth of this star-shaped forest is not the work of Mother Nature... Gee, what tipped you off, pal?  Elsewhere, Ollie and Hal chat a bit about the White Lantern logo appearing on a tree, and how that might've affected Hal's power ring... also, the former informs the latter that he now resides among the trees.

We briefly shift scenes to check in on "The Queen".  We learn from her that Oliver's father Robert is responsible for helping her a great deal.  As she watches a pair of Queen Industries helicopters fly off, she vows to do something about his Son.

As the choppers head toward the forest, Ollie show Hal his new digs.  Ollie wasn't messing around when he said he was living in the woods.  Seems he's got himself quite the neat little set up.

As Ollie starts to guide (the powerless) Hal out of the woods... they find themselves attacked by Queen Industries' Dollar Store Hellfire Club!  Even though Jordan is powerless... that doesn't stop him from leaping into battle.

They fight for a bit, with the hard travelin' homeboys having the upper hand, until one of the Hellfires fires a flare into the sky to request back-up from the helicopters hovering above.

Then... Ollie has an idea.  If Hal's ring is powerless in the woods, all's they gotsta do is... get Hal outta the woods!  Luckily, Ollie's been busy since moving into the forest, and has finagled an interesting little pulley system.  Hal grabs on, and is hurled skyward.

Lucky for Hal, this gamble pays off!  Green Lantern "deals with" the choppers... assuaging all of my fears by promising them a soft landing.

While Hal nails 'em "up high", Ollie maintains his offense on the low road... triggering another trap, in the form of a large swinging log.  The Hellfires get smooshed but good.  Ollie interrogates one that hasn't yet been kayoed, and tells him to inform his new boss that Queen name still belongs to him.

After the dust settles, Hal and Ollie say their goodbyes.  Ollie then goes for a Tarzan-like rope swing... before falling some distance and landing with a thud.  He inspects the rope and finds that it has definitely been tampered with.

If that's not bad enough, Ollie is then... shot in the head?!  Well, that escalated quickly!

--

Another fun issue!

I really dig the way that Ollie has made this forest his home.  It stands to reason that Oliver, as paranoid as he currently is... would rig up booby traps, and survivalist methods to keep him safe.  It doesn't matter if he's stranded on an island, or exiled to a strange star-shaped forest... if nothing else, Ollie's a survivor.

Hal being cool charging into battle without a working ring is fits his character.  Really don't have any problem with that.  I kinda feel like him "dealing with" those helicopters after being repowered was a bit "iffy".  It's as though they had to add the dialogue about the "safe landing" after the fact... because the way he was chopper-handling them looked rather dicey.

Not a whole lot more to say about this one though.  It was super fun action... with amazing art, and one helluva cliffhanger.  I'm always a sucker for a hard-traveling team-up... if you happen to feel the same way, definitely give this a peek.  Available digitally if that's you're thing.

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Green Arrow (vol.5) #1 (2010)

Green Arrow (vol.5) #1 (August, 2010)
"Man of the People"
Writer - J.T. Krul
Penciller - Diogenes Neves
Inker - Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist - Ulises Arreola
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Editor - Adam Schlagman
Special Thanks - Geoff Johns
Cover Price: $3.99

And we're back... The Dark Things are behind us, and maybe... just maybe, we can get back to checking out something worth reading.

This run on Green Arrow was one of the first things I saw when I came back to comics after the The Great Chrisession of 2008-2009.  It was promoted heavily in the back of many of the books we've already looked at during #BrightestMay... and at first blush, I wasn't sure it was going to be "for me".

The lingering image, which I'll include below, is Ollie shooting off a fella's nose.  It's pretty graphic (for comics), and I recall seeing that and just shaking my head.  More DC-darkening for the sake of it.  Or was it?  Curiosity (and a five-dollar bill burning a hole in my pocket) later led to me grabbing this first issue to find out.

It's been nearing on a decade since I read it... let's see how it aged.

--

We open in the ravaged Star City.  Star City was destroyed during Justice League: Cry for Justice... which, as of this writing, we've only covered the first issue of here at the blog.  Since the Brightest Day "happened", the decimated city has been filled in with a lush forest.  A forest, in which a woman is currently being chased by some nogoodniks.  Lucky for her, it would appear she's got a van dyked guardian angel.  And here's the bit with the nose-flesh.

Ollie shows himself... and proceeds to beat the hell out of the rest of the baddies.  He checks with the girl to make sure she's okay, and starts walking her out of the woods.  It's here that we learn a few things.  The Mayor and Police Commissioner of Star City aren't Ollie's biggest fans... which is why he's been "exiled" to the woods.  Also, this new forest almost seems "alive"... after getting "turned around" Ollie says that it seems to "change", and although he's combed the entire area... it still surprises him.

They finally make it out of the dark, and we get our first good look at the decimated Star City.  It looks pretty bad.  I mean, Gotham City was once deemed a "No Man's Land" for far less!

We shift scenes to the top of the Queen Industries tower, where the glad-handers and yes men prepare to meet their new owner, the eccentric Isabel Rochev.  We know that she's eccentric because, well... she looks like this.  Yikes.

She introduces herself to the board... and ensures them she'll rebuild the "good name" of Queen... referring not to Ollie, but Ollie's father Patrick Queen.

We pop over to a gala event being held elsewhere in the... not so ravaged part of Star City.  It's here that we meet Evan Gibson, a reporter for the Star Gazette.  He rushes over to the "guests of honor" Mayor Altman and Commissioner Nudocerda and lambastes them for wasting taxpayer money on such a gaudy event when so many Star Citizens are struggling.

Once inside, the Mayor and Commish are alerted to the fact that... gasp... all of the food for the event has been stolen!  Outside, Ollie does the Robin Hood thing, giving all the grub to some impoverished children.

The following day we join the Commissioner who is stuck in traffic... well, kinda.  He's being held up by a city worker holding up a Stop Sign.  An annoyed Nudocerda bursts from his car to confront the civil servant... only to have his throat slashed!

The accompanying officers give chase to the worker... and quickly learn that it was someone wearing a mask, leaving them with more questions than answers.  Green Arrow is on a nearby roof watching the entire thing unfold.

He is soon joined on the roof by our new friend, Evan Gibson.  They think on who might've killed Nudocerda for a bit... with Ollie suggesting that the Commish had far too many enemies to pick out a single suspect.  He's happy it went down this way though... it looks like the Mayor is starting to panic.

Speaking of the Mayor, we rejoin him visiting with "The Queen" at Queen Industries.  She presents him with his new security detail... the dollar-store Hellfire Club!

We wrap up with a visit from Hal Jordan.  He's decided to check in on this new forest... unfortunately as he closes in, his ring goes kaput... sending him careening to the ground.  Lucky for him, he lands right next to his hard-travellin' homeboy.

--

I liked this.  I liked it a lot, actually.

I want to start by taking a look at how Ollie is presented here.  When the New-52! hit, so much of the focus was on "youngifying" all of our favorite heroes.  They've all got to be 25 or younger.  When it comes to "dating" a hero, I always err on the side of less being more.  Just looking at this Oliver... he might be in his late-twenties... or, he might be in his mid-forties.  It's immaterial, doesn't get in the way... and it doesn't open up the can of worms where we have to try and "place" things from his past.

I'll admit that I'm a guy who gets tangled up in the minutia and continuity.  Probably more than most people who just want to enjoy a good story.  That said, I had no problem "reconciling" this Ollie, and as a bonus... I also dug the story!

Let's talk about that story.  Ollie's shouldering a lot of the blame for everything that's gone down, and as such has been exiled to the woods by the crooked Commish and Mayor of Star City.  It's a really good set-up to illustrate Oliver as a... Man of the People (heyyy, that's the title of this issue!).

The Robin Hood act... which is usually a "too on the nose" pass from me, really worked this time around.  It's not every story that revolves around a group of fat-cats ignoring the survivors of a literally destroyed city... so, it works without being too gratuitous.  There is also, somewhat surprisingly, no political "hot takes" for such a potentially political story (starring one of the more political characters in DC's pantheon).  That's always something I'm going to appreciate.  The Mayor is a bad guy... that's all we need to know.  It doesn't matter who he voted for in the last election.  Granted, for all I can remember... this might all come to roost next issue.

The "Queen"... ehhh.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about her.  The Cobra Commistress look is kinda cool, but I just can't see that working in the board room.  I mean, she looks like something out of that old Passions soap opera... and I think that might be about as seriously as I could take her.

I feel like my only complaint (if you could call it that) is one that isn't exclusive to this book... it's the over the top violence.  The "dark Didio DC" has always left me a bit cold.  You know when you were like twelve years old... and you thought the fact you were reading things with over the top violence and/or bad words made you "mature"?  Then, as an adult, you look back at your twelve year old self... and kinda cringe?  That's kinda how I feel about the gorier parts of this issue (and comics in general).

The nose-meat bit... hell, even the Commissioner getting his throat slashed... they were just a bit too much.  It's the kind of thing I figure normies (that is, people who don't read comics) picture when they think of comics.  And, in this case, damn DC for making them right!

There's also a fair bit of decompression here... but again, that's not Green Arrow's nor J.T. Krul's fault.  That's just the way things were/are being done.

Worth mentioning that the art here... is reeeeeeeediculous.  Just gorgeous work here from Neves.  Everything looks amazing... from the Cobra Commistress's silly mask, to the shattered Star City skyline... just absolutely breathtaking work, that I'd encourage folks to go out of their way to check out.

Overall... I certainly enjoyed this.  A really good opening chapter that, decompression accepted, doesn't waste any time getting the story started.  Worth a look... available digitally.

--

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846

Superman: War of the Supermen #0 (2010)

Superman: War of the Supermen #0 (June, 2010)
"War of the Supermen, Prologue"
"Filling in the Blanks"
Writers - James Robinson & Sterling Gates
Pencillers - Eddy Barrows, Julian Lopez, Aaron Lopresti, David Finch, Gary Frank, Cafu, Ethan Van Sciver & Diogenes Neves
Inkers - J.P. Mayer, Bit, Joe Weems & Vicente Cifuentes
Colorists - Rod Reis, Blond
Letterer - John J. Hill
Assistant Editor - Wil Moss
Editor - Matt Idelson
Free Comic Book Day

Today we're gonna look at one of my, relatively-recent Superman blind spots... and I'm going to complain about contemporary Free Comic Book Day offerings.

--

We open with a rather peeved off Superman bursting through a wall.  He has arrived at a Kryptonian Military Installation located one mile below the surface of New Krypton.  He's there to... you guessed it, talk to Zod.  Can't have a Krypton story without him... unfortunately.  To fill us in a bit, Zod was made General of New Krypton's army (seems a stellar idea, don't it?)... and Superman had left Earth for a time to serve in that army... and make sure Zod doesn't act all Zoddy.

Speaking of acting "Zoddy", Superman is here to confront the big Z has because he's declared war on Earth.  The two exchange punches for a bit, until Ursa (who I initially mistook for Zaora) slashes Superman across the chest with a Kryptonite knife!  She claims it hurts to even hold the thing, but the satisfaction wielding it brings outweighs the pain.

Superman blasts the knife away with heat vision before once more, stepping to Zod.  Zod's having a grand old time, and brings Superman up to speed, advising him he was about to surrender... and I am pleasantly surprised and thankful Robinson and Gates didn't resort to using this to shoehorn a "hilarious" "Kneel before..." reference.  As Superman approaches, he is crushed from above by the body of Non (who I mistook as Quex-Ul).  Zod always seems to have one big dude and one lady as his seconds.

With Ursa and Non holding Superman at bay, Zod reminds him that on New Krypton, he's no "super" anything... he's simply one of one-hundred thousand... all with the same powers.

He continues running through his justification for the war declaration.  It appears General Sam Lane and his spies were responsible for the death of Supergirl's father, Zor-El.  Zod's own spies claimed to have uncovered Earth/Sam Lane's own plans to declare war on New Krypton... before they were killed.  It all feels very he said/he said... but whattayagonnado?  Zod does wrap up his monologue by ensuring Superman that this isn't just about New Krypton's safety/sovereignty... it's also personal.  He hates the House of El, and is still looking for revenge.  If he can destroy Kal-El's adoptive home, and kill everyone he holds dear... well, that's all the better.

Superman breaks free, swearing to stop Zod before he can initiate the plan.  As Ursa and Non tackle our man again, Zod just laughs and goes all Ozymandias on us... ya can't stop what's already happened, Clark... everybody knows that.

Our back-up is framed around Lois Lane writing a story for the Daily Planet... nothing we haven't seen before.  This is pretty good stuff though... it serves to fill all of us Johnny-DC-come-latelies (and, read-this-stuff-so-long-agos,-we-can't-remember-what-happeneds) in on the New Krypton clusterschmazz.  Of course, we open with a page telling us about that fateful day a rocket was sent from Krypton with a "baby on board" placard.  Seems we can't go more than an issue and a half anymore without reading about that.

We jump ahead years later to Superman and Supergirl rescuing the Bottle City of Kandor from Brainiac.  Upon enlarging it, they discovered 100,000 new Kryptonian brothers and sisters.  Humans would invade the city (Which apparently wasn't destroyed-to-dust upon enlargement like the first time this story happened) and Supergirl's father Zor-El would be killed.  This led to Zor-El's wife Alura creating a new planet for the Kryptonians... a New Krypton, if you weeeeell.

For protection, these New Kryptonians would turn to... no, not Superman... General freaking Zod.  Ya kinda get what you deserve sometimes, right?  I don't understand the logic of grabbing a fella you imprisoned... for e-ter-ni-ty... and asking him to protect you.  Gotta figure there might be some sour grapes there, no?  Anyhoo, this is where Superman decides to move to the new planet, and join its army.

While away from Earth, Superman made arrangements for his adoptive home to be protected.  This crew includes, Kon-El, Mon-El (and, I just realized their names are only one letter apart!), Steel, Krypto, the Guardian, and Nightwing and Flamebird.

Lois next discusses Project 7734, which is a military black-ops organization focused on countering potential alien invasions.  It is being run by her father, ol' General Lane.  She talks about some of the operatives, which includes some 1st Issue Special love in Atlas... also, Lois' own sister Lucy Lane is now somehow a "Kryptonian killing machine" going by the name Superwoman.  I don't remember that at all.

She begins to wrap up her article, discussing the death of her pal and co-worker, Jimmy Olsen!  It appears he "got too close" while investigating Project 7734, and was found at the bottom of the harbor.  If only that were true... because a few panels later (a still wet?) Jimmy arrives with all the information Lois was looking for.  He claims that Natasha Irons rescued him and kept him out of sight (but not dry).  Now, Lois can learn the whole truth about her father.

--

Man, whatever happened to DC Free Comic Book Day issues that meant a damn?  All we get these days are garbage reprints with zero context aimed at people who only go to the comic shops one day a year... if they remember "which Saturday in May" they get free crap handed to them.

This is how ya do it!  What a great way to kick off a story... a free issue front-loaded with prologue, and back-loaded with everything you might need to jump into the impending event.  Both stories promise "to be continued... in four days".  If you wanna get readers (new, old, lapsed, whatever) interested and excited, this is the way to go.  You don't promise something "in thirty days" or "Summer 2017" or with a nebulous "Next", you give them less than a week.  You remind some of them that comic book shops are open more than one day a year... and you also catch shop regulars who may not necessarily be into Superman... but decide to give him a go after checking this out.  It's crazy, it's almost as though DC thought this one out!

For the story itself... well, it's called a prologue and that's precisely what it is.  We learn of our threat... and it ramps up to the point where it's about to boil over.  A great bit of storytelling that sets the stage for whats to come.  I'm still no fan of Zod... I find him kind of a bore.  I'm just thankful there were no requisite cutesy "Kneel before..."s in here.

The backup was really well done, even if framing a story with "writer writing about something" is a bit tropey.  I suppose things become that way for a reason.  This worked well for me, as a lapsed reader... who, if I'm being honest, walked away from the Superman books early/mid-New Krypton... so a bunch of this was new to me.

The art throughout the issue was another high point.  Another really good use of the platform (and opportunity) that Free Comic Book Day can (and should) be.  I hope I'm not coming across too angry (or old-manny) sounding here, I just feel pretty strongly about using things like FCBD as ways to promote comics and comic shops... not whatever movie might be coming out.  Contemporary "throwaway" offerings, like an issue of Suicide Squad without context or a half-decade old (and no longer in continuity) issue of Action Comics are part of why I sometimes refer to the event as "Pretend you care about Comics Day".

Overall, if I were to have read this during that weekend in May, 2010... I'd be totally psyched to check out the War of the Supermen and the entire New Krypton schmazz.  Having read it in 2017... I only wish I had the time to!  If you're interested in checking this one out, you've got no excuse not to... it's available digitally FOR FREE!

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