"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?
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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.
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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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Chris is on Infinite Earths, Incorporated is not responsible for any screen punching these obnoxious ads may lead to.
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