Green Arrow (2010 Series) #2

August 5, 2010

Title: Into the Woods

Writer: J.T. Krul
Penciler: Diogenes Neves
Inker: Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Cover: Mauro Cascioli
Editor: Adam Schlagman
Publisher: DC Comics

In the depths of the forest that has sprung up in Star City, Hal Jordan’s power ring has fizzed out of power at the most inopportune time. He and Ollie find themselves at the tree that bears the symbol of the White Lantern… but what does it mean?

Books like this one make me feel really good about J.T. Krul taking over Teen Titans in a few months. While he’s clearly got a lot of love and respect for the DC characters, but at the same time, he’s not afraid to take chances with them. Green Arrow has been placed in circumstances he’s never been in before, outed to the world and on the run from virtually everybody (despite being acquitted of a murder which he did, in fact, commit). Hal, too, is in an uncomfortable place. His ring doesn’t seem to work in the Star City forest, and when he and Ollie find themselves in danger, he can’t use his usual tricks to get out of it. The result is a very strong story that builds up to a great cliffhanger. I’ve no doubt that what happened at the end will tie into Brightest Day in a very direct fashion, but that doesn’t make the impact of those pages any less.

Diogenes Neves and Vicente Cifuentes nail the artwork here, transplanting our superheroes into a woodland setting and making a book that looks completely different from anything else currently being published. Mauro Cascioli supplies a striking cover as well, one that uses the Brightest Day trade dress to help with the composition, particularly the colors, making a book that leaps out at you.

Great issue, and I can’t wait for next month.

Rating: 9/10

Outsiders (2003 Series) #6

November 18, 2003

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Pandora’s Box (Brothers in Blood Part Three)

The two Green Arrows join the Outsiders as they face down Brother Blood at the Slab.

Writer: Judd Winick
Pencils: Crisscross
Inks: Sean Parsons
Colors: Gina Going
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Michael Golden
Publisher: DC Comics

As closely as this book and the new Teen Titans have been linked with their launch, it makes you wonder how Winick and Geoff Johns wound up using virtually the same cliffhanger before six months had passed – a character getting shot on the last page, leaving you to wonder for a month if he’ll pull through.

At the end of last issue Arsenal was shot in battle against Brother Blood’s minions. As he clings to his life in a hospital bed, the Outsiders and the two Green Arrows (Ollie Queen being Arsenal’s surrogate father as much as Connor Hawke is a brother) head to the rebuild Slab prison in Antarctica, where the nastiest, most powerful villains in the DC Universe are incarcerated.

Brother Blood’s plot is fairly generic as far as supervillain plots go – he’s positioned a million sleeper agents around the globe who, when activated, will kidnap a million infants to begin his own cultish nation. Exactly what he needs the villains at the Slab for this isn’t entirely clear, and in fact, it almost appears as though there are missing word balloons on the slash page that would clarify this.

As Winick also writes the regular Green Arrow series, he has a good grasp of that character as well as the stars of this book. The selling point here isn’t the plot, it’s the characterization. The heroes interact well and everyone is written in-character – even the robot Indigo is starting to show a little personality, she almost seems to enjoy annoying Grace. The new incarnation of Metamorpho remains the most interesting character in the book as he deals with his amnesia, and although the cliffhanger that ends this issue isn’t entirely unexpected, it does open a lot of interesting possibilitites.

It’s always a treat to see Chriscross’s pencils – he’s one of the most solid superhero artists in comics these days, and it’s just a shame that most of the villains in the Slab were in their prison grays and he didn’t get a chance to cut loose.

I’m not quite as pleased with this title as I was after the first story arc, as it does seem to be drifting into generic superhero territory, but it’s still clever enough to keep me interested and see where it’s going next.

Rating: 7/10