Comic Info
Comic Name: Green Arrow (Volume Four)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: J.T. Krul/Dan Jurgens/Keith Giffin
Artist: Dan Jurgens/Ignacio Calero/George Perez/Ray McCarthy
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2012
Green Arrow (4) #2
Reprints Green Arrow (4) #1-6 (November 2011-April 2012). Billionaire industrialist Oliver Queen has been given a gift of the Q-Core company after his parents deaths. Under criticism of Emerson for mismanagement, Oliver secretly moonlights as a vigilante named Green Arrow. When Green Arrow is targeted by an internet killer named Rush, Oliver finds he might have to go public. The attention given to Q-Core also draws out a new threat in guise of a walking toxic dump called Midas and an assassin named Blood Rose.
Written by Dan Jurgens, J.T. Krul, and Keith Giffen, Green Arrow Volume 1: The Midas Touch is part of DC Comics’ New 52 relaunch. The series showed some big changes from the pre-Flashpoint Green Arrow and “de-aged” Oliver and features art by Dan Jurgens, Ignacio Calero, George Perez, and Ray McCarthy.
I have to say, I wasn’t very excited about a Green Arrow relaunch (it was relaunched not long before Flashpoint) and this volume didn’t help my interest. Green Arrow had his heyday in the late ’70s when teaming with Green Lantern but had a nice resurgence in the early ’90s (and another little blip in the 2000s with Kevin Smith among others as writer). It is always a bad sign when a new comic has three different writers in six issues and this volume a good example of what happens when that occurs.
Green Arrow (4) #4
Dan Jurgens is listed as the “co-plotter” on all six issues. What he is co-plotting is unknown since the plot seems pretty paper thin. J.T. Krul is the primary writer on the first three issue story arc with the generic internet thrill seeking villain Rush and his superhumans. They have a ton of generic superhumans attack Green Arrow online (which has become a cliché itself) and Green Arrow beats them…that is about it. The second story arc involves a superhuman named Midas who is toxic to the touch (a la Swamp Thing combined with Man-Thing) and his robot sidekick. It also is a dull story with very little plot or development.
The art is one of the better aspects of this series. It is pretty basic but classic super-hero. It is better than the writing…but that also wouldn’t be difficult.
Green Arrow 1: The Midas Touch is a poor freshman outing for the Emerald Archer. I’ve read good Green Arrow and enjoyed the character on Smallville and the character in the Arrow series also puts a good spotlight on Oliver. It is a shame with a big relaunch that DC couldn’t have done a better job on the series starring a character with a lot of history. Green Arrow Volume 1: The Midas Touch is followed by Green Arrow Volume 2: Triple Threat.
Related Links:
Green Arrow Volume 2: Triple Threat
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters
