Will My Green Arrow Please Stand Back Up

Green Arrow (2011) 41-43+
DC Comics
Benjamin Percy, writer
Patrick Zircher, artist

I know, I know. Last post was Green Arrow. But I felt moved to follow up on last time's follow-up.

The new creative team that started with this arc — Benjamin Percy and Patrick Zircher — did away with a number of the features I liked from the last team's wonderful arc. We're still in Seattle, but the cast is reduced to just Oliver, Emi and new tech guy Henry.

Having said that, I really want to stress that I very much enjoyed this team's first arc, "The Nightbirds." The story introduces a credible, real-world threat, albeit one pumped up with "killer robots" and a maniacal mastermind to make it fit more comfortably into the four-color world we all enjoy. It presents the kind of street-level problem Green Arrow is known for tackling with some fun moments here and there to keep the story from turning too dark. Percy has crafted a story with some subtleties that I appreciated, and Zircher has a clean, but moody art style that complements the narrative. Colorist Gabe Eltaeb also deserves kudos for matching the tone of the story with a limited, muted color palette.

The second reason I wanted to talk about this arc, though, is my problem with it. I enjoyed the story. It was an entertaining read expanding on the privacy versus security debate. But it was really only a Green Arrow story because it was in Green Arrow.

You could take Oliver out of the story, insert almost any other hero, and the basic story doesn't change. To get to the nutcase behind the plot, the hero has to go through the killer robots. Sounds like a classic Superman story. Ollie uses tech arrows to hack the robots' programming. Cyborg, anyone? Ollie has to do a little investigating to track down the villain. Batman could do that and would have been better and more efficient about it.

With the exception of a few subplots, there was nothing that made this story have to feature Green Arrow. And those subplots, likely laying groundwork for future arcs, were not integral parts of this arc.

Again, I liked this story. I was nervous about yet another creative team change on this title, but these guys have convinced me to stick around a little longer. That's their job: to get me to keep buying. If they want me to hang around for the long run, however, I need a little more reason for Ollie to be in the stories they are writing for his title.

And to peek ahead a little further, issue No. 44 is all about yet another character, George, introduced in "The Nightbirds." Now, I like George, and he has potential to be a nice addition to the cast. His origin was also an interesting read. But again, let's get some focus back on Ollie soon, please.