GREEN ARROW #11
"Ultimate Speedy"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Kevin Smith
Pencils: Phil Hester
Inks: Ande Parks
Colors: James Sinclair
Letters: Sean Konot
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Now that writer Kevin Smith has explained how the title character has come back from the dead and set him up with a new life, he sets to the task of getting him back into a more normal routine of super-heroics and in his everyday private life. The art remains a key strength of the book, and while I enjoy the theme that Smith explores here, he spells it out too clearly for the reader.
With the wealth of a dead serial killer at his disposal, Oliver Queen decides to keep the Star City youth center operating, while continuing to spend time with the son he never knew, Connor Hawke. Meanwhile, Mia dreams of becoming the new Speedy, sidekick to the Emerald Archer... as well as something much more.
Hester and Parks's collaboration is as strong as ever. Their styles combine to give us a brightness and a darker, more mature tone with seeming ease and to great effect. They do a particularly good job of capturing Mia's youth, energy and determination as well. I'm also pleased to see that a shift in colorists -- from Guy Major to James Sinclair -- hasn't hurt the look of the book either. Like the pencilled and inked art, the colors also boast dichotomously light and shadowy tones.
The most interesting aspect of this issue is the examination of the title character and some of his motives. His desire to be a father figure makes a lot of sense when one looks at the context of the character's history, as Smith does here. Unfortunately, he's more than a little blatant about making his point. Though it's Connor that points it all out, it doesn't come off as character interaction. Instead of Connor's voice, I hear the writer's, and that took me out of the story.
Mia certainly does shine here, and her character gives Smith the chance to deconstruct super-hero conventions -- mainly the phenomenon of the sidekick -- as well as the opportunity to do the unexpected. It brings a fresh new tone to the traditional super-heroics of the book.
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