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The Book Review: Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest
Writer: Brad Meltzer Brad Meltzer is the most talked about comics writer of the moment. Those who have read his novels will know that he has a talent for developing complex plots where the sometimes insane moments are always grounded by believable characters, and that nothing is ever sacrificed for the sake of expediency. DC editor Bob Schreck knew it too, and that's why Meltzer was hired to write six issues of GREEN ARROW after Kevin Smith left the title. Now okay, I admit it, until Grant Morrison's run on JLA a few years back, I had never heard of Green Arrow, and I wasn't sufficiently impressed by him to think he warranted his own series. I mean, c'mon, a guy with a bow and arrow? What next, a superhero with a boomerang and an Australian accent? Maybe a guy in trunks and a mask screaming, "I am The Boxer"? When Kevin Smith relaunched Green Arrow, I didn't know or care who Oliver Queen was. Smith's run on the series was as much a tribute to the character as it was a tribute to the DC Comics he's read over the span of his life, and while was interesting, I never found the character compelling. It was when reading Brad Meltzer's arc that I actually found myself enjoying the character. The story does delve into Queen's past, but it doesn't get into too many extraneous details. If you know that Green Arrow used to be dead, and now he's alive again, the rest is pretty much laid out for the reader. It's that lack of extraneous detail that really helps make a story that could have been a continuity-heavy burden to slog through into a fascinating character-driven narrative. THE ARCHER'S QUEST begins as a mystery when Queen examines the photographs of his funeral and sees a face he doesn't recognize. With the help of Roy, his former sidekick, he follows a trail back to immortal villain turned sort-of-hero the Shade, who, it turns out, was Queen's "porn buddy." You see, according to the BBC comedy COUPLING, when you die, your porn buddy collects all the porn from your apartment before your family arrives. In Queen's case, he asked the Shade to track down various items and equipment and destroy them. The Shade didn't find them all, so Queen drags Roy on a road trip to find the last few items. This leads to a confrontation with Solomon Grundy, a visit to the JLA's Satellite Headquarters, a trip to the Flash Museum, and a visit to an old airplane hanger where he left the truck that he and Green Lantern took on their famous cross-country trip. This last trip isn't purely nostalgic, though its real purpose is one of the few points in the story where Meltzer stretches credibility a little too far. There's a great deal more to the story than a scavenger hunt, though. Meltzer wants us to consider the emotional impact of Queen's journey, and though those of us who don't know much about the character may not appreciate it the way long-time readers will, the heart is still there. The last page of the book sees Queen and his son going out on patrol together, which sounds fairly standard on the surface - like a restoration of the status quo rather than a resolution - but that's the image Meltzer chooses to leave us with precisely because so much has changed. Meltzer doesn't want his readers to forget everything good and bad that's gone before, but he wants us to remain alive to possibilities and hope. That's usually the beat his novels end on, too; characters make major decisions that turn their lives upside down, but are left with the realisation that almost anything is possible. Phil Hester and Ande Parks are one of the best artist teams around. I remember their incredible run on SWAMP THING back when Mark Millar wrote it, and they've only improved over time. What makes them so good is that they don't take shortcuts. There are no sketchy panels; nothing seems rushed or underdone. When the scene calls for a fearsome Solomon Grundy to rampage through a cave, they nail it, and when the script calls for emotion and nuance, they make it look easy. Maybe they're not as flashy as some artists, but that's a small price to pay for being leaps and bounds above of the pack for sheer versatility. Hester and Parks have been on GREEN ARROW since the relaunch, and it's been announced that they'll be leaving the title soon after almost four years. Whatever they do next will be worth looking out for. Both of them have written various projects for other publishers, so maybe they'll team up and take over the industry. In his introduction, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (yes that's right, a United States Senator wrote the introduction) wrote that Meltzer "takes a timeless character and remolds him as a perfect reflection of our time". That may be a bit overblown, but Meltzer certainly manages to build a touchingly sentimental story around a man who's still a bit of the old-fashioned hero, a screwed-up man riddled with doubts about his second chance. It's sad, it's emotional, and it's heroic, and I didn't expect to enjoy it half as much as I did. To my surprise, I'm now a fan of Oliver Queen. Alex Dueben is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer. Ninth Art endorses the principle of Ideological Freeware. The author permits distribution of this article by private individuals, on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice. Back. |