World Famous Comics: Green Arrow: Straight Shooter (Vol. 3)
Green Arrow: Straight Shooter (Vol. 3)
By: Judd Winick Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 144 Publication Date: April 01, 2004 Release Date: April 01, 2004
Product Description: Following a much-acclaimed revision of this classic series by director-turned-comics writer Kevin Smith (Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), Green Arrow continues to hit its mark! When the Elevast corporation attempts to tear down cheap housing in favour of expensive condos, Oliver Queen - the Green Arrow - sides with the poor trying to keep their homes. But when Elevast workers start dying, tensions begin to rise and Queen must stop the killer before a fireball of violence burns the whole city down! Green Arrow is undergoing a massive rise in popularity, and with this latest addition to his quiver its not hard to see why!
The Beginning of the End for Green Arrow This was the story where Judd Winick first proved that he had no idea how to properly write Green Arrow.
Fresh from the grave, having turned his back on Heaven to save the life of his son, do the right thing and put right everything he failed to do in life before his untimely death, what does Oliver Queen - who not a few issues earlier in a story by Brad Meltzer almost proposed to his long-time girlfriend Dinah Lance.
He sleeps with a woman he barely knows - the niece of an alleged old friend - and is indirectly responsible for the same woman getting killed.
Even ignoring the continuity problems with this story (a google-search for "Tony Isabell +Judd Winick" will bring up multiple sites that will tell that tale), there's a wealth of other characterization problems. Not only is Oliver Queen party to a horribly out-of-character act of carnal knowledge but Jefferson Piece (aka Black Lightining) - the man who once retired from heroism when he thought he couldn't safely use his powers after he accidentally killed a woman - kills a man in cold blood.
Graphic SF Reader Green Arrow is fighting an ethically challenged, or even evil corporation who will stop at nothing to get the sort of real estate deal and development that they want, through.
His head is turned by a woman that it should not be, and this causes tragedy and a confrontation. He still has the criminals and the monsters to deal with.
A great sequel Strait Shooter picks up where archer quest left off. It shows the even green arrow is human and makes mistakes. Also a seceond string chararcter like Black Lighting can be dangerous when provked.
By the numbers . . . This is the 4th TPB collecting the new Green Arrow; I just wanted to help clear up any confusion anyone might have when looking around at the trades and trying to figure out what happened with the missing issues.
Issue #22 was a stand alone story, and Issues 23, 24 and 25 were part of a crossover story with Green Lantern's book, which does not seem to be released in trade form at this date.
AS to whether any of these are worth reading - they definitely are. I started collecting the book simply because Kevin Smith resurrected the character and based on his movies and his work on the Daredevil character, I gave it a shot. Oliver Queen quickly became my favorite DC comic character, with great apologies to the Bat, but the writers have just done a great job with this character.
Give it a try. the Amazon prices for the trades cannot be beat.
The Adventure Begins! "Straight Shooter" is actually volume FOUR in the Green Arrow series rather than volume three as indicated on the cover. It follows the two volumes by Kevin Smith ("Quiver" and "The Sounds of Violence") and the volume by Brad Meltzer ("The Archer's Quest"). This book collects issues 26-31 of the regular series and marks the debut of new writer Judd Winick. The artwork on all four volumes are by Phil Hester and Ande Parks, an artistic team that is fast growing into the *definitive* Green Arrow artists of our generation (following the greats of the past generation: Neal Adams, Trevor Von Eeden and Mike Grell).
The *new* Green Arrow adventures actually begin with this volume. Kevin Smith brought him back from the dead and Brad Meltzer brought him back to LIFE after a self-examination quest. Judd Winick picks up the baton and runs with it, giving us the first new adventure of Oliver Queen in his own title. Winick understands the challenge of writing someone like Ollie and in my opinion, he's doing a fine job with his first outing. We have a story of Ollie going up against a "fat-cat" corrupt corporation in Star City, flirting with a young lawyer, stuggling with his doubts and childishness and finally the introduction of a scary villain in Drakon (a first step in creating a "rogues gallery" for Ollie).
"Straight Shooter" shows a lot of promise by the new creative team. I'm looking forward to future volumes by Winick and gang.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
