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mcacev's review
3.0
Okay, DC, sort yourselves out. How many versions of this volume are out there?
For the purpose of this edition, I will only discuss issues 18-20 and the annual. So let's start.
Vol 4 follows Roy Harper, as he returns to the reservation he was raised on to help his brother and the people of the reservation protest peacefully against the construction of a pipeline that is supposed to go through their territory. As history has and still continues to show us, the police look the other way when a militia (albeit here its basically the Warboys from Mad Max: Fury Road) very much uses violence to disperse the protesters. Olie and Dinah get involved, and we get to see Roy and Olie's past, albeit in a cliff-notes version.
Roy Harper has always been one of my favorite Titans characters, and i daresay I even liked the much maligned Red Hood and the Outlaws series. It was nice seeing the past between Roy and Olie, and to see how much they've changed (and haven't changed). There is something so incredibly appealing to me about self-sabotaging, destructive characters who slowly grow, and while Roy has the first bit down, the growth, like everything else was rushed.
I think I said this in either my vol 1 or vol 2 review, but the character turns in this series never feel properly established. Character motivations shift and change so dramatically, it's hard to understand why or how they come to these conclusions. The series is trying to set a new continuity for the Green Arrow team, but it relies heavily on our knowledge of past events and character developments. I genuinely doubt anyone who has never read anything about Roy or Olie before this series to feel at all emotional about seeing them bicker and fight, and seeing Olie abandon Roy after he almost ODs, because it's so rushed.
As for the story proper, it's fine. The issues on the reservation were timely with the Dakota Access Pipeline being built and all the actual horrible things the police and militias did to the Native Americans there. However, the commentary quickly loses its bite once you implicate mask wearing, bike driving, gun firing lunatics.
I enjoyed Olie and Roy's back and forth, especially their puns and insults. I liked that Roy got closure on his dad's death, though personally, I think it would have been much sharper if he did actually kill him in a blackout drunk rage during the struggle. I knew that wasn't going to happen because this is still a superhero comic, but Roy is one of the few DC characters that actually is allowed to have genuine horrible past mistakes, so it wouldn't have been that jarring.
As for the annual... look I'm still really confused. I searched far and wide to find this issue, and I'm still not sure I have the right one. It seems to be set before Rebirth, and it was published in 2015? Unless they mean the annual that is about to come out on the 29th in which case... I dunno what to tell you. I can only talk about what I have, and that is this issue.
So in this annual, Olie gets caught in the crossfire between two groups; the "Patriots" who I shit you not, are a group straight out of the Purge movies; and a group of people infected by a disease called Lukos (which is like calling your dog, dog) which mutates people into wargs. Yes. Wargs.
The Patriots are after these infected believing they are no longer human, and the infected are all living in a trailer park, railed up there by the government. Percy is trying to draw a parallel between these people and AIDS victims (since the disease is transmitted sexually and via infected blood), but like everything else, it becomes hilarious to the point of insulting. There is no real commentary in this, and the resolution, while appropriately batshit, is treated with too much gravitas for what is essentially a shootout between gun crazy lunatics and werewolves.
This volume was... strange. If we don't count the annual, it's a decent, albeit short introduction to Roy and his role in the Arrowfam. With the annual (which I'm pretty sure shouldn't be here) it's a mess. Still, the series at least continues to be as high octane as it started.
For the purpose of this edition, I will only discuss issues 18-20 and the annual. So let's start.
Vol 4 follows Roy Harper, as he returns to the reservation he was raised on to help his brother and the people of the reservation protest peacefully against the construction of a pipeline that is supposed to go through their territory. As history has and still continues to show us, the police look the other way when a militia (albeit here its basically the Warboys from Mad Max: Fury Road) very much uses violence to disperse the protesters. Olie and Dinah get involved, and we get to see Roy and Olie's past, albeit in a cliff-notes version.
Roy Harper has always been one of my favorite Titans characters, and i daresay I even liked the much maligned Red Hood and the Outlaws series. It was nice seeing the past between Roy and Olie, and to see how much they've changed (and haven't changed). There is something so incredibly appealing to me about self-sabotaging, destructive characters who slowly grow, and while Roy has the first bit down, the growth, like everything else was rushed.
I think I said this in either my vol 1 or vol 2 review, but the character turns in this series never feel properly established. Character motivations shift and change so dramatically, it's hard to understand why or how they come to these conclusions. The series is trying to set a new continuity for the Green Arrow team, but it relies heavily on our knowledge of past events and character developments. I genuinely doubt anyone who has never read anything about Roy or Olie before this series to feel at all emotional about seeing them bicker and fight, and seeing Olie abandon Roy after he almost ODs, because it's so rushed.
As for the story proper, it's fine. The issues on the reservation were timely with the Dakota Access Pipeline being built and all the actual horrible things the police and militias did to the Native Americans there. However, the commentary quickly loses its bite once you implicate mask wearing, bike driving, gun firing lunatics.
I enjoyed Olie and Roy's back and forth, especially their puns and insults. I liked that Roy got closure on his dad's death, though personally, I think it would have been much sharper if he did actually kill him in a blackout drunk rage during the struggle. I knew that wasn't going to happen because this is still a superhero comic, but Roy is one of the few DC characters that actually is allowed to have genuine horrible past mistakes, so it wouldn't have been that jarring.
As for the annual... look I'm still really confused. I searched far and wide to find this issue, and I'm still not sure I have the right one. It seems to be set before Rebirth, and it was published in 2015? Unless they mean the annual that is about to come out on the 29th in which case... I dunno what to tell you. I can only talk about what I have, and that is this issue.
So in this annual, Olie gets caught in the crossfire between two groups; the "Patriots" who I shit you not, are a group straight out of the Purge movies; and a group of people infected by a disease called Lukos (which is like calling your dog, dog) which mutates people into wargs. Yes. Wargs.
The Patriots are after these infected believing they are no longer human, and the infected are all living in a trailer park, railed up there by the government. Percy is trying to draw a parallel between these people and AIDS victims (since the disease is transmitted sexually and via infected blood), but like everything else, it becomes hilarious to the point of insulting. There is no real commentary in this, and the resolution, while appropriately batshit, is treated with too much gravitas for what is essentially a shootout between gun crazy lunatics and werewolves.
This volume was... strange. If we don't count the annual, it's a decent, albeit short introduction to Roy and his role in the Arrowfam. With the annual (which I'm pretty sure shouldn't be here) it's a mess. Still, the series at least continues to be as high octane as it started.
birdmanseven's review
3.0
I'm not wild about the Court of Owls type plot, but the bones of the story are good and the book looks great.
We discussed this run, plus the Green Arrow's complicated history in a special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-233-green-arrow
We discussed this run, plus the Green Arrow's complicated history in a special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-233-green-arrow
bangarang's review
Roy Harper is back!!! Honestly, an awesome A+ run of Green Arrow. The artwork is amazing, Arrow Fam is front and center, and that ending actually took me by surprise.
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ good shit goเฑฆิ sHit๐ thats โ some good๐๐shit right๐๐th ๐ ere๐๐๐ rightโthere โโif i do ฦฝaาฏ so my sel๏ฝ ๐ฏ i say so ๐ฏ thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: สณแถฆแตสฐแต แตสฐแตสณแต) mMMMMแทะ๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐ะO0ะเฌ ๏ผฏOO๏ผฏOะเฌ เฌ Ooooแตแตแตแตแตแตแตแตแต๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐Good shit
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ good shit goเฑฆิ sHit๐ thats โ some good๐๐shit right๐๐th ๐ ere๐๐๐ rightโthere โโif i do ฦฝaาฏ so my sel๏ฝ ๐ฏ i say so ๐ฏ thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: สณแถฆแตสฐแต แตสฐแตสณแต) mMMMMแทะ๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐ะO0ะเฌ ๏ผฏOO๏ผฏOะเฌ เฌ Ooooแตแตแตแตแตแตแตแตแต๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐Good shit
peregrineace's review
4.0
Better story than the precious volumes. The story line is still terribly biased but the characters and their relationships are growing.
I was not a huge fan of the artist change in the first couple of issues collected here. It's a stark departure from the look of the earlier issues. I did enjoy the art in the second half, however.
Big reveal at the end should come as no surprise for long time comic readers but still has some good storyline potential.
I was not a huge fan of the artist change in the first couple of issues collected here. It's a stark departure from the look of the earlier issues. I did enjoy the art in the second half, however.
Big reveal at the end should come as no surprise for long time comic readers but still has some good storyline potential.
booknooknoggin's review
3.0
Not much storywise, but the ideas behind political takeovers by corporations is interesting.
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