GREEN ARROW #14

By: Tony Whitt
Review Date: Tuesday, July 09, 2002

Last time I went on and on about the fact that Kevin Smith had created a virtual "Green Arrow Family," similar to the old Batman and Superman families, in the new GREEN ARROW series. Sadly, it looks like he's abandoning that family just when it needs some stability. With Connor in surgery and Connor's would-be killer running about ready to strike again, this particular story-arc, begun just last issue, feels less like "going out with a bang" and more like "trying to get out while the getting's good."

The writing is still just as strong as ever, of course, and Ollie hasn't been handled this deftly since the Denny O'Neill-Neal Adams days on GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW. But the introduction of a villain whose sole ability seems to be mimicking sound effects, just to provide someone to shoot poor Connor and inject a bit more pathos into Ollie's life, seems awfully forced somehow. Sure, it's great to see Ollie acting like a father as he tries to save his son's life; and it's great to see Dinah revealing just how much she cares about Ollie when she reveals just how fast she can get to the hospital when she thinks it's him who's been shot. But the gestures feel hollow this time around, especially when we know the storyline will be resolved, one way or the other, at the end of the next issue. Perhaps that hollow feeling comes from this being a trademark Kevin Smith "talky" issue, where not a lot happens, and the heroes cool their heels while Smith gives them some more character development. Nah - even that feels hollow this time. The characters seem to simply be counting time this month, and so does Smith.


None of it really stands up to the amazingly rendered cover by Matt Wagner, nor do Phil Hester and Ande Parks get much of a chance this time around to show their stuff. But even given nothing more interesting to work with than a lot of shots of hospital interiors, Hester and Parks create the somber mood that's somehow missing in Smith's script. If there's one thing we can fervently hope, it's that these guys stick around even when Smith has taken to the high road. Few books have been as consistently slick and visually interesting as this one has, and it's all due to Hester and Parks making Smith's (usually) vibrant scripts come even more alive. Put bluntly, this book can (and obviously will) survive without Kevin Smith, but it would have some serious health problems without Phil Hester and Ande Parks.

I may be being too harsh on what is, after all, a penultimate issue, though. Such issues are meant to build up the tension to the climax in whatever "ultimate" issue the title in question sees fit to give us. But there's not nearly so much of a build in this issue leading to the next one as this issue got from the last one. If this were a TV series, this issue would be that lengthy bit in the third act where you feel free to go get something to eat or go for a pit stop despite the lack of commercials because nothing major's going on. Maybe Kevin Smith's fourth (and final) act will make us wish we hadn't gone to the potty when we did. Maybe.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at
feedback@cinescape.com.