Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part VII: Green Arrow: Heading into the Light

Comic trade paperback, 157 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2005-06)
Borrowed from the library
Read September 2009

Green Arrow: Heading into the Light

Writers: Judd Winick, J. Calafiore
Pencillers: Tom Fowler, Ron Garney, Ron Lim, Paul Lee
Inkers: Dan Davis, Rodney Ramos, Bill Reinhold
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterers: Rob Leigh, Pat Brosseau, Phil Balsman, Jared K. Fletcher

I've occasionally wondered if there's such as thing as overdone continuity in comic books-- they are, after all, a continuous medium, so surely continuity is always par for the course? How fortunate for me, then, that Heading into the Light has seen fit to give me the answer. This story has two big continuity elements. The first is that it spins out of the events of Identity Crisis, a story I haven't read. But I soon will, I know what it's about, and it had just came out when this story ran. So that's fine. What's not fine is that the Big Bad behind this story turns out to be some guy called Merlyn. Who the heck's that? Who knows, because this story never bothers to reveal who this guy is or why he might be so ticked off at Green Arrow. I guess they have a vendetta of some sort, but nothing here sells it enough to make me care.

Also: people often complain that the problem with writing Superman is that he's too powerful, and he's out of his antagonists' league. But the problem with Green Arrow is that he's not powerful, and his antagonists are always out of his league. This is at least the third volume is a row where I've seen Green Arrow and company just receive beating after beating from some antagonist with a huge advantage over him. I'm getting tired of it. And Connor is fricking hospitalized yet again. Get a new deal, Winick.

This book is penciled by four different people, but specific credits aren't given to specific bits, so I have no way of telling who did the bit of the book where the art ceases to be dire. Also, I've no idea which part J. Calafiore wrote, but it seems odd that he could write any issue here, as this is a pretty tight story arc all the way through.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part VI: Green Arrow: Moving Targets

Comic trade paperback, 252 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2004-05)
Borrowed from the library
Read August 2009

Green Arrow: Moving Targets

Writer: Judd Winick
Pencillers: Phil Hester, Tom Fowler, Eric Battle, Tommy Castillo
Inkers: Ande Parks, Rodney Ramos, Jack Purcell
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterers: Clem Robins, Rob Leigh, Pat Brosseau, Phil Balsman

The sixth volume of the Green Arrow series is the thickest yet, encompassing a few story arcs. In the first, "New Blood", Oliver Queen has to deal with the aftermath of City Walls in more ways than one-- a new crime lord named Brick has arisen to replace those killed off in that story, and Mia is becoming the new Speedy more and more. The latter of these plot lines is quite good-- and the reveal of Mia's HIV-positive status is handled fantastically well-- but the former I find hard to buy. Brick has a tough hide, yeah, but I have hard time seeing why he's so dang hard for two Green Arrows to beat. (Also: Brick keeps on saying he'll do something really awful if GA interferes again, but GA keeps on doing things... and Brick suddenly stops caring.) In "Teamwork", Mia joins the Teen Titans, a story which for some reason has Mia taking the exact opposite stance on being HIV-positive as in the previous story. Okay, then. The final part of the book is taken up by "New Business", where Constantine Drakon and the Riddler take on Team Arrow, and the Outsiders show up. It was fun to see Drakon again (his opening scene was fabulous), but otherwise, this is a bit of an explosion-and-punching fest. Roy "Arsenal" Harper steps into the role of GA-dependent-character-beat-to-within-an-inch-of-his-life-to-prove-the-situation-is-serious in this one, giving Connor Hawke a break for once.

The biggest event of note here is that penciller Phil Hester and inker Ande Parks leave the title for good after "New Blood". Sometimes you don't quite realize what you've got 'til it's gone, and though I always sang their praises, their skill was sure made apparent by appearing right alongside their replacements. The sense of mood is all gone, panels are busy, and people are impossible to tell apart. Worst of all are the facial expressions; everyone here looks angry and ugly.