Green Arrow #4 REVIEW - John Diggle vs. Oliver Queen

Don't let the cover of the issue fool you. Yes, with the betrayal of Emiko to the Ninth Circle and their excessively creepy human trafficking operation that Black Canary is poised to take a shot at, it does set up a high stakes confrontation soon to be had between Oliver Queen and Shado, one that has the entire story arc with the Ninth Circle hanging in the balance. 

But the real fun of this one for me personally is John Diggle catching up to Oliver face to face. 

I'll admit, since this is my first foray into Green Arrow comics, I really don't have much of a frame of reference here other than the TV show, and usually that would be a problem except in this case where loosely similar to Harley Quinn with Batman, Diggle is a character created for the Arrow TV show on CW that has now been made comic canon since his appearance in an issue of Green Arrow in December 2013. So to see him here in this story arc really wasn't a surprise to me, but I also don't know what happened between him and Oliver that set them apart for a time. 

Yes, David Ramsey's delivery is in my head when I read Diggle's lines especially in this issue as he finally meets up with Oliver after his own pursuits elsewhere, but this John Diggle is a different, more assertive version than his TV counterpart and also isn't so refined in terms of his personality or how he treats Oliver. It's very much a buddy cop type of scenario where Diggle is the "Hawk" to Oliver's "Spencer." I know, I'm dating myself with that Spencer for Hire reference (really old, like 80's detective show on ABC). 

Ultimately this arc is about the Green Arrow's quest against the Ninth Circle who is using Oliver Queen's fortune to fund some most nefarious exploits including a massive human trafficking ring in Seattle. After spending almost a whole issue without any focus on Dinah Laurel Lance, the Black Canary is front and center for this issue getting caught in the crosshairs of the Ninth Circle's efforts and their connection to Shado and Emiko. 

I've enjoyed this series from the beginning and I still think it's one of the better DC Rebirth series going right now. Benjamin Percy continues to give me a Green Arrow story filled with characters, plot lines and dialogue that I wish I could see in live action on the CW, but it's still great to have it here in this book which blends timely humor and a few lighter moments with the ultimate seriousness of what is going on with Oliver's battle against the Ninth Circle. 

5 out of 5 - DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH - Green Arrow #4

This series runs twice a month, next issue due out August 17.  

Green Arrow #3 REVIEW - It's still making me hate Arrow on the CW

It's getting harder and harder for me to keep reading Benjamin Percy's Green Arrow series under DC Rebirth. It's so good and so compelling and so well written that it keeps making me think the same thing every time I read a new issue:

I wish this was the CW show. So badly. I mean damn, that would be a FANTASTIC show. 

I mean, Oliver's in the thick of it this time for sure. He's been bankrupted out of Queen Industries by his own CFO in the name of a nefarious organization known as The Ninth Circle, who apparently is into all manner of criminal enterprises including human trafficking, money laundering and outright murder, and they've framed Oliver for the death of his secretary who was snooping around too much. 

In Issue #1 they sent Shado to kill him. In Issue #2, we see that she failed. Now in Issue #3, Oliver's out for answers and he's a force of nature in trying to get them. 

This series has so far been very well paced, brilliantly executed and appropriately tense at moments. This is a FUN book to read right now and it's everything that Arrow on the CW just isn't anymore: compelling, action-packed and expertly constructed. I would even go so far as to say that Percy's writing here rivals anything that was even done in the first two seasons of Arrow, which most fans consider to be the strongest seasons of that show. 

I really don't like that I feel this way about it, but that's not Percy or Juan Ferryra's fault. They've created a masterful story so far that really grounds Oliver as the true social justice warrior he's always been meant to be. They've even managed to make John Diggle a stronger and more aggressive character than he is in the show. While Oliver is attempting to break into Queen Industries to get some answers from his CFO's office, Diggle, who lost a client to The Ninth Circle earlier and is most displeased with the notion that they killed Oliver, is actively tracking the organization down, all the way to The Vatican, to get some answers on who killed his friend. 

So you've got Oliver, bankrupted, wanted for murder and presumed dead in Seattle looking for answers as to why it all went down, and Diggle halfway around the world thinking him dead and going to forcible measures to get his own answers on the matter. 

Doesn't this just sound like it should be the damned TV show right now?! Seriously?!

Look, I'm still going to watch Arrow because I enjoy the DCTV Universe and I'm excited to see all of the crossovers this season with the addition of Supergirl and what Flashpoint is going to do everyone, but right now I have to give the Green Arrow award to Benjamin Percy and his team on this Rebirth series because they are just telling a solid story right now, one that I am really having a good time reading and can't wait for the next issue. I promise going forward that I won't keep comparing it to Arrow because quite frankly right now, Arrow is not even in the same league with this book. Not even close. 

Bravo, Benjamin Percy. Green Arrow is right now one of the shiniest examples of excellence in the DC Rebirth line, without question. 

5 out of 5 stars - DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH: Green Arrow #3

This is a bi-weekly series, next issue due out August 3rd. 

Green Arrow: Rebirth is making me hate Arrow on the CW

The first two issues of this series have been fantastic and are miles ahead of what's happening on The CW show right now, sad but not totally sad to say. 

I had this rule back when the Harry Potter movies were coming out every other year. I said I wasn't going to read the books until after I had seen the movies because I wanted to judge the movies on their own merit without judging them against what had been done in the book. I knew they would be different because adaptations always require some liberties to be taken on screen. 

Now that I'm reading the entire DC Rebirth run, I'm officially breaking that rule when it comes to the DC Comics shows and movies and my first "victim" is Arrow on The CW. Surprise, right? 

Now, I've been a defender of the show from the beginning even through these last two seasons, but I've noticed just like many others have how off-kilter things have been with this show particularly since The Flash TV show started. I was blown away by the first season of that show and the second season didn't disappoint one bit, but it created a HUGE problem for Arrow, in my opinion. When Arrow started, it took the Christopher Nolan Batman approach to the Green Arrow, stripping him down to the nitty gritty and making him a minimalist Batman-style vigilante in a dark setting. This was working pretty well until The Flash started, which is the completely opposite tone of that and since both share the same universe and crossover frequently, that left Arrow in a bad spot in terms of how to adjust and adapt to that kind of storytelling. 

They changed the costume and look for this past season and even started calling him The Green Arrow, but the show still struggled with that balance of what it did before The Flash and what it's doing now. 

Mind you, this is what I thought before I actually started reading any Green Arrow comics, so I was unaware exactly of what Oliver Queen's universe looked and felt like on the page. In fact, all of my knowledge of his world at the time came from Arrow, which I know isn't a good thing for a mega-geek like me, but that's why I wanted to read his Rebirth titles specifically, and I have so far. What an eye-opener. 

SPOILERS from here on out for both Arrow AND Green Arrow: Rebirth. Turn back now if you are somehow behind on either or both. 

To begin with, my feelings on the show's decision to kill Laurel Lance has completely changed. At first I was only mildly sad and bothered by the decision to do that. Now I'm flat out pissed off that they did it and I want to know what their logic was for doing that. Oliver and Laurel have great chemistry so far in the Rebirth series and in just two issues of the comics, their relationship plays out in a way that never hit home the same on the TV show at all, not even in four full seasons. There's an understanding there between them both, a tough love kind of understanding. They are not diametrically opposed to how the other operates, but they don't completely see eye to eye either. Laurel is extremely critical of Oliver's methods and motivations in the comic, but she does it as a moral voice instead of a moral impediment like in the first two seasons of the show. That just feels better because she knows what has to be done, she just doesn't see Oliver as the perfect person to do it. 

Maybe it's because I miss Laurel on the TV show now, but it's been great to see her and Oliver in action in the Rebirth comic series. They have a chemistry so far in these books that the show hasn't been able to match. 

In addition, Oliver is himself again, at least as far as I know from those who have read Green Arrow in the past. He was never intended to be a stripped down Batman clone of a vigilante, he was always more of an idealist and less heavy handed and judgmental in the comics, at least he is in this one. He uses bribery of criminals to further his means on taking down a human trafficking ring, a tactic that neither Batman, nor the TV Green Arrow would sanction so quickly. He's also so far less conflicted and more sure of himself and his mission than The CW version is, and I don't know if you can attribute that entirely to the "adaptation rule" about taking liberties. Something like that could seemingly be demonstrated on screen, you would think. 

This isn't a knock on Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy or any of the cast of Arrow either. They have all done a fantastic job with their characters in the show, that is not in question. The issue is really how the writers of that show have approximated the characters and adapted them for TV proper. It seems as though they were headed in one deconstructionist direction in the beginning and now are in a holding pattern almost, uncertain what to do with the show at this point in time while its other CW counterparts, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and starting this fall Supergirl, all race ahead of it. 

Meanwhile, Benjamin Percy and the team behind the Rebirth series comic are returning the Green Arrow character to its roots and telling a story that the TV show is struggling to even build the right universe for. It's a sharp contrast for fans of the Green Arrow that are torn between his on-screen likeness and his on-page representation. 

Of course there is the infamous "Olicity" controversy with the show that only seemed to grow in intensity with some fans once Laurel died. 

Again, I really don't mean to take potshots at the show because I'm usually the guy that defends reboots and remakes for being bold enough to take another angle and tell another version of a story that we already know and love and in the end, this is no different than that. For me though, it's really taking a different turn after reading some of the comics. Maybe I am personally growing weary of the show after the last two seasons like many others have, but I will still watch it even if I go all-in on the notion that the Rebirth comic is superior. I support DCTV especially now that they have taken over The CW in the 8pm hour every night except Friday starting this fall. 

I am just now building a very different perspective on Green Arrow after seeing both sides of how his character is portrayed, which is something I didn't really consider when I started reading the series, despite the fact that I was aware of it with Harry Potter like I said before. Was I really treating comic books differently than standard books? Shame on me if that's the case, but at any rate, I'm looking forward to more of Green Arrow: Rebirth and I'll still keep a light on in the window for Arrow, hoping that it can one day soon catch up to its comic book counterpart at least in some form.