How can you fight the man if you are the man?
Creative Staff:
Story: Benjamin Percy
Art: Otto Schmidt
Colors: Otto Schmidt
Letterer: Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
What They Say:
Together again for the first time, the Emerald Archer meets Black Canary. Questioning everything Green Arrow believes in, Dinah Lance throws the hero’s world upside down, forcing him to question what he cares about more: his morals or his money?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having long enjoyed this character, I’ll easily admit to having had a falling out on the comics side years ago. Partially because I left comics in the 90’s, filled with fond memories of the ongoing at that time and coming after the Longbow Hunters and more. When I attempted to reconnect with the New 52 version, which I attempted to read the first two trades for again this past week, I found myself repulsed by the character. I enjoy the TV show a heck of a lot, even as it samples heavily from Batman Begins, but at its core, it’s a character that I enjoy because it’s so strident compared to other more middle of the road characters. So with Rebirth, having avoided reading anything about the plans for characters, I was curious to see what they would do here.
By and large, it feels like there’s been a wholesale rejection of what came before in New 52, though I have no idea how that turned out along the way. Here, Oliver Queen feels far more like his older self, just younger, as he works to make things better for the city and people of Seattle. It’s something that he believes can’t be done without money but he also puts in the hard work on the ground and in the streets. Sometimes it’s just cash on hand to the poor, other times it’s getting into the muck and really fighting the dark forces that work over those invisible people in every city. Oliver embraces who he is as a social justice warrior, which is what he became in the 70’s, and is certainly a strong believer in what he does and his positions. It’s always a little dangerous when comics play in politics and has always been, but the opening pages made me wary with some of the partisanship that we get since that can be its own flashpoint that detracts from the story.
Coming from writer Benjamin Percy, my first experience with his work, and artist/colorist Otto Schmidt, also my first experience, Green Arrow: Rebirth takes us into his world well as we see the Green Arrow element as much as the Oliver Queen side – a side he’s feeling less and less comfortable with but understands is a necessity to fund the other activities and all the charities. Things take a rough turn for him when he gets caught up in some homeless people that are being kidnapped at night as he recovers a young boy he had helped earlier. The boy was actually in the hands of the Black Canary, who is on her own journey away from her band for a while in order to find herself and reconnect with average people a bit. With her own background similar to some of the invisible folks here, she plays the proper foil to what she sees as the disconnected Green Arrow with all his wealth that he can escape to.
The book delves into a fairly interesting story of an underground auction group that sells transients and undesirables for all kinds of work around the world. It’s a solid setup that Otto Schmidt delivers on really well through the use of the creepy masks, the underground element of it all, and the darkness that’s hued in some great blues. The story itself is fairly predictable in this plot, but it’s getting to watch Oliver and Dinah together again, for the sorta first time, that works. Schmidt really captures both characters as I want to see them – though Dinah is an adjustment as I couldn’t connect with her ongoing book before – as they have the youthful side to them but they’re not gangly teens running around trying to figure all this out. Oliver’s dealing with things being more complicated and Schmidt nails that expressiveness about him that’s almost a unique trait compared to other characters with his reactions. The artwork here is the kind that really deserves that second and third pass through just for it alone, especially digitally so you can zoom in and really appreciate the backgrounds and character artwork but also the creative layouts that enhance as opposed to detract.
In Summary:
I had no idea what to expect going into this book considering the struggle I had with the New 52 version and I found myself treated to a reworking of what I had grown up with to some degree with what I’ve been experiencing with the core/first season of the Arrow TV series. That feels like a good mix of things all wrapped up in some fantastic artwork from Otto Schmidt. As a way to reconnect with the characters and establish the tone and intent of the series, this Rebirth book hits all the right notes as it makes it engaging and accessible. Some of it feels a little heavy-handed, as politics and partisanship always does in superhero comics, but the overall work is one that has me really interested in revisiting it down the like. If it was a monthly book I’d be all over it but bi-weekly books are just not my thing.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: June 1st, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
