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GREEN ARROW #12
"Feast and Fowl"
Recommended (8/10)
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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 |
With the close of "Quiver," Smith seems to be taking a little time to play around with Oliver Queen's readjustment into the world and how it affects those around him, and this issue we get a bit more time spent on the relationship between Oliver and Black Canary. Given that Canary has played a fairly major role in JSA and Birds of Prey for
several years, she has enough baggage of her own, which makes her play nicely
off of the complex story of Green Arrow.
As with a lot of Smith's work,
both in comics and movie, this issue works on the level of human relationships
and dialogue, and it's often hilariously funny. There are elements of dialogue
that feel a bit too stylized, and I'm not quite sure I buy the relationship
between Oliver and Dinah entirely, but there's enough there to make it a great
character development issue, and the relationship between Green Arrow and
Hawkman is almost worth the price of the issue all by itself.
Hester and Parks have done a great job on the artwork of this book, and this issue is no exception. Their Dinah Lance might have benefited from a closer modeling to her appearance in Birds of Prey and JSA, but
context makes her identity fairly clear right off the bat, and I can't argue
that their interpretation is a bad one. I really enjoyed their take on Hawkman,
which gives the character sharp and defined features, fitting for the bird of
prey from which he takes his name, and since a lot of the action this issue is
emotional, it's nice that Smith has an art team that can keep up with the
subtlety of the script.
Subtlety may not be the right
word, actually, as some of Smith's dialogue is a little over-the-top for my
tastes. "Hall-y" didn't sound right in my head, although I understood the
shortcut it was meant to symbolize, and the sex scene between Ollie and Dinah
gets so overly cute that even the character is complaining about it, which is
never a good sign. On the other hand, it is remarkably witty dialogue, and the
banter between Dinah and Ollie at dinner shows the same great sense of
humor/gentle mocking of super-hero continuity that Smith has brought to the rest
of the book. In addition, the interplay between Hawkman and Green Arrow is just
fantastic, very funny and revealing about both characters, tying nicely into the
trials and tribulations each of them has undergone.
Along with further developing
Oliver Queen and his new place in the world, this arc promises to introduce a
new villain, the oddly-named Onomatopoeia. Smith's introduction of the character
is mysterious and sinister, and full of atmosphere, and I have to admit to being
quite intrigued as to the motivations, goals and abilities of the character. Not
as intrigued as I am by the possibilities suggested by the last page of the
issue, perhaps, but enough that I'm as anxious to see more of that character as
I am the resolution of the cliffhanger.
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