After a really solid opening arc, I was a little worried to see an interruption in the new regular creative team of Green Arrow, especially since it's Phil Hester and Ande Parks who have provided such nice artistic continuity for the title. Fortunately, Winick's script is as entertaining as ever, and Garcia and Bird do an admirable job of filling in for the definitive Green Arrow team. While Winick touches on some of the fallout from his first story arc, this is really a self-contained storyline that shines the spotlight on Arsenal and Connor Hawke, the adopted and genetic sons of the lead character, and it's a light, fun story of male bonding and character development. With, and this is the key thing that sets Green Arrow apart from so many solid super-hero books these days, a nice bit of action thrown into the mix.
While I'm glad to see that the action isn't left out of this super-hero comic, though, I can't deny that the big selling point for me in this issue is the character interaction. Winick does of course play into the obvious gags and contrasts between party-guy Roy Harper and buddhist Connor Hawke, he also shows the same deft characterization touch that made me a fan back in his Barry Ween and Pedro and Me days. Winick is clearly having fun with the super-hero nature of the book, with the talk about the "Batmobile improvements" to the car and the talk about the super-hero/sidekick relationship that Roy and Oliver once shared, but the most fun aspects of this issue are the regular guy type stuff.
In many ways, this is your standard buddy comedy formula issue. Two guys with very different tastes, each dragging the other into what the other one wants to do, until they bond over their shared similarities. Nothing wrong with formula, however, if you can layer onto it some entertaining dialogue and examine the characters in ways they haven't been before. Winick does a terrific job showing that Roy is a bit of a stereotypical horn-dog who likes to hang out in strip clubs and cheap diners, but at the same time... he's the guy who knows all the strippers by name and treats them as people, he's the guy who lets Connor drive his precious car even though Connor hasn't ever driven a car before and he's the guy giving the pep-talk about being Ollie's son, adopted or not. Winick makes Roy fun-loving without making him a cartoon, and he makes Connor a little unusual in the modern world without making him stereotypically naive.
In the midst of all this character development and downright funny dialogue, though, Winick throws in a pretty good action sequence. Again, it's a bit formula, that the heroes out for a night on the town happen onto street crime, but I don't have much trouble suspending disbelief if it means we can avoid another completely talking-heads book. In addition, though Garcia and Bird aren't quite as deft with the action as Hester and Parks, they do some very solid kinetic action and show the speed and skill with which the heroes move as compared to a handful of armed thugs.
Bottom line, if you missed out on Winick's Green Arrow because you judged it based on the horrible Green Lantern crossover that kicked it off, or you just didn't want to get onboard in the middle of a story, this is the issue to check out. It doesn't have the regular art team, but it will give you a sense of the balance of wit and action that has made this one of my favorite super-hero books running at the moment.
