Well, Arrow is coming back for a fourth season tonight, and there is going to be a dramatic shift in terms of tone for the season, apparently. I'm completely fine with that. Last season tried to get super dark and edgy and instead, mixed with horrendous marketing and early spoilers, it ended up a colossal mess, the highlight of the season being the stuff early on with the various archers, anything with Nyssa, and Episode 18 "Public Enemies," which is actually one of the best Arrow episodes yet.
I bring up "Public Enemies" because of its impact on what we're taking a look at today. Around this time last year, I took a look at Green Arrow #35, in which the creative team behind Arrow took over the Green Arrow comic. You can check out the review here. When it first came out, I loved the book. After going over it again, and in a complete story?
Yeaaaahhh, not so much.
The problem that I should have anticipated back then was exactly what the whole schtick of the arc was. They dropped the "Green" part and did everything in their power to make it simply "Arrow," which is not at all the appeal of the comic book. You can have similar characters--Diggle is great in the comic book--but after so much is done to steer it in a different direction in terms of mythos and overall feel, you can't just try to steer it back. It, like a car, will just spin out and look silly. Which, of course, is what happens.
There are many more things wrong with the book than just that, though. In their efforts to force the Arrow-ness down our throats (and by that, I mean really, REALLY bad attempts at comedy with Felicity), we also have a weak plot, poorly executed cameos, and an awful, easily forgettable villain. I remember Midas and the Snow Sisters more than this loser, and they were part of the "meh" run from early on!
The story is basic. Oliver and Diggle recruit Felicity after we're made to believe she's going to kill Oliver but doesn't. There, Team Arrow is formed. Also Mia Dearden for some reason. John King--clearly the villain with no personality outside of that--wants to take over the city because of his last name. Yes. Because he is "the King" he must take over the city with money that has no explained origins and subjects that follow him with no explained origins. Hmm. Tommy Merlyn also shows up to capture Mia out of nowhere (well, okay, we knew he was alive given the ending of Issue 25 but he's only in the story for a few pages and never mentioned again, so what was the point?). Katana is also here too, because she's going to be in Season 3. That's really it.
So King exposes Oliver as Green Arrow to only himself--something I'll get back to--before trying to kill him while throwing him out of a plane (when he had dozens of men with guns pointed at an unarmed Green Arrow, why not just shoot him?) and he, and the comic for a few pages, are saved by Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who should be up in space dealing with the battles of the New Gods at that little place called THE SOURCE WALL but is instead in Seattle...because. Also Oliver texted him. What?
Jordan helps, barely, and leaves. Felicity is put under arrest, Oliver breaks up with the girlfriend that came out of nowhere, and then Cheetah is in the comic because...Felicity? Oliver breaks here out, there's a bunch of cameos that are unnecessary, and he beats up John King in an anticlimactic battle that lasts two panels. Then it's implied Felicity joined the team, as did Mia, but thankfully that's not the case and Ben Percy has yet to mention any of this as of Green Arrow #44. Thank God.
Let's start with the heart of the problem: Felicity. Yes, she is what is wrong with this arc.
She is the focus for no reason. Oliver and Diggle keep her around for the purposes of having a hacker on team, when they sent away a perfectly good one in Fyff. Felicity could have been used better as a mole in King's plans, but, instead she has to join Team Arrow because that's how it is on the show. She has little character outside of damsel in distress as well as forced comedic relief.
It was truly a drag reading through her scenes once again to review this arc. The comedy was terrible. There are certain things that work better on screen than in comics (normally the other way around). Emily Bett Rickards is much better at conveying this innocent and clumsy IT girl than an artist is. Felicity's jokes are little more than references that try to break the fourth wall but instead just bounce back and hit the book in the face. Unlike the show, she has no emotional anchor to the two of them. There are many moments when Oliver and Diggle just wander off without her because she is unnecessary to the situation. The only time she's truly needed is the final battle...and trust me, we'll get to that steaming pile of bore and stupid.
Next is the villain, and I'll tie Mia Dearden into this. When Hal arrives and asks Oliver what's up, Oliver says that this is just typical stuff. I nearly shut the comic book. Then what's the point of reading this if it's just typical stuff? I'd much rather be reading something that's atypical. Like, a war or being trapped on an island or espionage of some kind and NOT some "typical extortionist" trying to take over the city. When they say that and Green Lantern shows up, it makes me want to start reading that book because that's not typical at all.
And King was just that. His backstory is also ridiculous. He killed his wife when she found out he was trying to raise some sort of army and business and then decided he would come after Seattle after Oliver saved his life by taking down a criminal. Oh, but Oliver didn't kill the criminal so that automatically makes the city weak. So, Gotham's weak, right? I can't help but laugh every time I read that King is thinking about moving to Gotham after Seattle to try and take it over.
Bud, you stand absolutely no chance against Batman if it's taken you this long to strip the company from some mid-twenties Robin Hood-like dude. You don't even stand a chance against someone like Red Robin (don't worry, he's my favorite, I'm just saying).
We have no idea where King got any of his wealth nor what he does with the wealth. All we know is that he wants the company and to kick Green Arrow away. I suppose he's supposed to be an extreme version of what Oliver thought Bruce and Lex wanted back in Issue 35, but even then, it's dull.
Mia is simply a pointless character. King pursues her up until the issue with Green Lantern and then she simply follows him around before slightly aiding Oliver in the final battle, which, really, Oliver already had won easily, so she really was useless. I imagine the writers were simply getting readers ready for what was to come on Arrow given Thea's arc from the season, but it fell flat on its face.
The final battle, and issue in general, is also one big bore. In reality, it makes very little sense. Oliver, apparently, calls in Arsenal, Katana, Cupid, Batman, Luthor, Emiko, and Naomi up to help him storm King's fortress after rescuing Felicity. Out of them, I imagine only Katana, Arsenal, and Emiko would be necessary fighters alongside a Green Arrow who is more skilled in combat than any of them. Luthor and Batman are definitely overkill, and Cupid is there because she was also on Arrow. Naomi was there for fanservice and nothing. Also, Felicity being the new Naomi?
There's also very little resolution on many of the matters. Does the city go back to liking Green Arrow (apparently so in Green Arrow #41 but why)? What happens to all of King's subjects? Where the heck did Tommy go to after snatching Mia, and where did he come from with all of those skills? Does Zehra go to jail and how does Oliver bring the company back up?
After reading this, I am a little frustrated with what Percy's doing on the book now. He's not mentioned any of this, but, I think I'm going to treat this little snippit of Green Arrow history as simply non-canon. Issue #41 picks up at a perfect place after "Broken" came to an end, with Emiko segueing into normal life while Oliver recuperates and the two are still adjusting to each other.
Still, from the little things like needless mentions of Big Belly Burger and the Glades (which don't make sense, those are in Star City not Seattle) to big things like bad plot, bad villain, and bad Felicity, this arc of Green Arrow is one to skip over.
Just as a final thing, I'll say this: The art is pretty and things feel fun, but the faces on the characters are sometimes clunky and Oliver has a very inconsistent costume design. Toward the end, the art begins to fall apart a little and isn't as clean as it was in the early issues. Maybe the artest, Daniel Sampere, was just sick of reading this dumb script and wanted to get it away from him as fast as possible.
In summation, my thoughts on Green Arrow #35-40 are simply this:
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