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GREEN ARROW #29
"Straight Shooter, Part Four: New Wounds"
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Judd Winick
Pencils: Phil Hester
Inks: Ande Parks
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Sean Konot
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Winick is batting 1.000 with me these days. If Outsiders is pretty close to my idea of a perfect super-hero team comic, Green Arrow is pretty close to my idea of a perfect solo super-hero comic. Winick is combining great characterization and humor that comes from the characters with some terrific action, and "Straight Shooter," his first arc, is now past its halfway point and shows no signs of slowing down. Kevin Smith and Brad Meltzer did a pretty good job of setting up Ollie and his relationships with his supporting cast, and Winick has picked up that ball and run with it, as well as adding in a couple new characters. On top of the character interaction, which is great, he's got Hester and Parks providing art for some great super-hero action, courtesy of a new villain, Drakon, who is also interesting more because of personality and style than because of a cool costume or neat gimmick.
This issue, the dominoes fall pretty hard from Ollie's romantic encounter with Joanne Pierce, not just in terms of the unhappy reactions of Connor and Mia, but in terms of how Ollie and Joanne react to it. There's a moment in the talk between Ollie and Joanne where you see just how self-centered Ollie can be, and I think he may well be one of the most interesting flawed heroes out there, willing to acknowledge his flaws in a self-deprecating and even self-abusing way but functioning as a hero nonetheless.
Winick contrasts Ollie's difficulty with his personal life with his effectiveness as a super-hero. He's gotten his butt kicked throughout each writer's run on this new book, but he has always come back, and this issue we see him come back smarter and more effective against Drakon. It's a great action sequence that really moves, and I love the fire effects done by Guy Major, which highlight the effective shadows and shapes of Hester and Parks.
It would be easy to take Hester and Parks for granted, given that they've been on this book for over two years, but it would be a mistake. These guys do excellent work on the book, month-in and month-out, and some of my favorite work can be found in this issue. The pain between Dinah and Ollie in their phone call at the beginning, as each of them realizes that the other is hurting, comes through as clearly as Joanne's mixture of anger and embarrassment. And the action sequence, featuring Green Arrow and Drakon both moving with speed and agility, a burning building providing shadow and light, is exciting and dynamic.
It took Kevin Smith to turn Green Arrow into a mainstream hit again, but I honestly think that it's Judd Winick who is really doing the breakout work on the character. Without a lot of big name guest stars or the benefit of a high-concept story about the character's return from the dead, he's telling a story that captures exactly what makes Green Arrow cool.
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