GREEN ARROW #9
"Quiver, Chapter Nine: The Weird World of Stanley and His Monster"
Recommended (8/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Kevin Smith
Pencils: Phil Hester
Inks: Ande Parks
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Sean Konot
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Kevin Smith certainly does love the concept of continuity. Fans of his movies, like myself, are well aware of this, given how all five of his movies thus far refer to one another. It's clear in his comic-book scripts as well. Though I understand its appeal, sometimes -- such as a key flashback scene in this issue -- it comes off as gratuitous and threatens the accessibility of the story to new readers.
But damn, the guy can write dialogue that boasts a genuine sound, and it draws one right into the story... even one as fantastic as this one.
Stanley Dover, the elderly fellow who took a time-displaced Oliver Queen (AKA Green Arrow) into his home, is revealed to be a practicioner of the black arts. He's looking for life eternal, and he thinks he's found it in the form of a demon known as the Beast with No Name. Unfortunately, the demon is linked to his grandson, and Stanley needs more time to wrest control of the creature for himself. That's where Green Arrow and his young, vital but soulless body come into the picture.
Hester and Parks's exaggerated and shadowy art is well suited to establishing the foreboding and eerie mood for this supernatural story. I also remain impressed with Guy Major's dark colors. He reinforces that mood by toning down brighter colors and focusing on deeper ones that blend nicely with the shadows one finds along the periphery of most pages.
Smith goes playing briefly in Neil Gaiman's sandbox, so to speak, with a flashback that links to events in the first issue of Gaiman's Sandman series, still popular today in its second life as a series of trade paperbacks. For those Sandman fans among us, it's a nice look back at a great story, but it's entirely unnecessary. There was little need for Stanley's quest for immortality to be connected to the continuity of another book like this.
On the other hand, Smith's new take on the Stanley and His Monster concept was quite accessible. One need not be aware of the previous incarnations of this property to enjoy this story. Furthermore, Smith is making excellent use of the costume-clad supporting cast -- Batman, Black Canary, Arsenal and the new Green Arrow. While the title character is immersed in satanic insanity, they provide the human side of the story with their thoughts about Ollie.
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