Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Green Arrow and Black Canary #4
DC Comics
Winick & Chiang

This title is quickly becoming a must read each month. I don’t know how a reboot of a title could make the stories such much more interesting, but this one seems to have done that. Sure its only four issues in, but I couldn’t find four consecutive issues I liked of the previous Green Arrow title out of the last thirty or so. Hopefully this is a start of a great, long run for this title.

As you recall from the last issue Ollie was rescued from the clutches of some women by Black Canary, Connor and Mia. After celebrating their escape Connor is shot from a cloud. Now he’s lying on the deck of a boat bleeding. After some debate about what to do, Ollie does the right thing and screams out for Clark. Superman swoops in within seconds and grabs Connor.

With everyone at the hospital we see some of the other heroes pitching in. Wonder Woman calms the hospital staff down while Superman tries to calm Ollie down. Finally, Green Lantern enters and goes in to assist with the operation. A little strange, but I’ll buy it. Personally, I’d rather have Batman in there, especially seeing as how in this series he performed an autopsy on the Ollie look-a-like in the Batcave. He seems to know his way around a clavicle.

After some arguing and screaming out their secret identities, Wonder Woman takes a trip into the stairwell to make sure no one heard their real names. There is Batman, perched on the stairs watching everyone’s backs without them even knowing it.

Ollie inquires about the killer. Superman explains how he did a search and found nothing. Apparently, Aquaman is checking the oceans too. Ollie just keeps screaming at the others to do something, do anything. Eventually the heroes all leave except for Team Arrow

Finally, Ollie is left thinking about all the missed time with Connor. He comes to the conclusion that he hasn’t been a father. He admits he has lied to the kid all this time about what he knew and when he knew it. Mia explains that Connor knew all this and didn’t care, because he forgave Ollie. With the exception of Roy playing the son-he-never-had part of the equation and not really talking, this scene was a good mix of how Team Arrow works really well.

Green Lantern comes in and gives the old good news-bad news bit. Connor is alive but brain dead. Ollie is beside himself.

It’s a great issue. It’s not perfect, but it’s great. Some of the things I liked in this issue are how the other superheroes are handled. Batman talking about losing a son and Wonder Woman talking about making people admit what they know are just a couple of examples of how the supporting cast works so well in this issue. Even the artwork has it down cold. In the background of the Daily Planet you see Jimmy and Perry arguing. It’s vintage and great.

Some of the downsides to this issue are the non-involvement of Roy. We don’t know how he feels at all about this and his only dialog is about him trying to join the other heroes in the search for the killer. It’s weak. Also, the involvement of Green Lantern in the operating room was weird. Especially when you consider Connor had some type of virus in him, couldn’t Superman do something with that? I’m nitpicking, but whatever.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Connor. He’s been in no man’s land for years now and with Roy in the Justice League I cant really see what they would want to do with Connor. I’m not saying you kill him, but do you leave him a vegetable forever? The relationship between Ollie and Connor was barely touched in all this time. Maybe it will finally be explored with one of them unable to speak or move.

4.5 out of 5 geek goggles.

Check out the upcoming issues of this title...


Green Arrow Black Canary #5

Green Arrow Black Canary #6