After a fantastic Rebirth introduction
to Green Arrow's new solo series, Issue 1 dives headfirst into the
action as Ollie and Dinah team up again to track down the Underground
Men. There's a lot going on in this issue, what with the introduction of
Emika Queen (Ollie's half sister), and the web of conspiracy connecting
Queen Industries to human traffiking. But the story doesn't feel
crowded — the dialogue sizzles, the plot is taken at a good pace, and
the art is glorious.
There's some really interesting moral questions posed by Issue 1, which is fitting for bleeding heart liberal Oliver Queen.
As desperate as he is to convince Dinah of his good deeds, Ollie discovers corruption at the heart of his own company.
Cultural Commentary
This
is an interesting commentary on corporate culture, which is a hot topic
right now. Writer Benjamin Percy already revealed to Newsarama that
this new comic series will be tackling a lot of current social politics,
just as the old Green Arrow comics did back in the Silver Age.
"We're channeling the zeitgeist. If you've been reading the newspapers over the past few months, you've encountered headlines that we have considered filtering into — slanted versions of — into the series."
But
as much as Oliver wants to believe in his own philanthropy, and fight
the corruption within Queen Industries, he's still engaging in his own,
benevolent kind of corruption — bribing cops for "good behavior" and
claiming this is his way to combat high arrest rates and police
brutality.
It
all goes back to Black Canary's criticism of Green Arrow's hypocrisy
last issue, pointing out that it's difficult for him to fight the Man if
he is the Man. It looks like Oliver's about to learn a harsh lesson
about the shady world of corporate capitalism, as his company seems to
be controlling the Underground Men themselves.
Interestingly
enough, this is setting up a crucial moment in Oliver's history,
echoing the Silver Age comics in a really neat way.
Losing A Fortune, Finding A Purpose
Back
in the late 1960s, DC felt they needed to give Oliver Queen a bit of a
shock, so he lost his fortune after his former partner committed a spot
of corporate fraud. This sent Oliver spinning into a full blown identity
crisis, which naturally resulted in his inner self literally leaving
his body in because hey, this was the Sixties.
We
already seen the beginnings of this Oliver's identity crisis last
issue, as he commented on how he feels removed from his billionaire
persona. That was causing him existential angst before he knew that his
company was committing some pretty huge crimes, and it seems certain
that Ollie's primed to spiral down a dark path after Issue 1. This is
something Percy commented on to Newsarama:
"Green Arrow has lost his fortune before, but this will be the first time that he's complicit in that loss."
The
parallels between this story and what's come before are palpable, and
it's nice to know that Percy's hitting all the essential parts of Oliver
Queen's character development.
Back
in the Silver Age, the loss of his fortune caused Oliver to become more
reflective about how he fought crime, getting more in touch with the
people. It's nice to see this mirrored in the new series, but there
might be dark consequences down the road — in the Silver Age, Ollie
accidentally ended up killing a criminal in the aftermath of losing his
riches.
Of
course, Oliver's got plenty of other things to worry about to. There's
the fact that his half sister Emiko has teamed up with her mother Shado
to assassinate Ollie. Emi was a misguided but ultimately good hearted
figure before Rebirth, so we have to hope that she's not beyond
redemption. How's Oliver going to get out of this one? And how are the
Underground Men planning on painting him as a despot? There's a lot of
exciting threads set up in Issue 1, and we can't wait to see how it all
plays out.
Who do you think the man behind the mask is?
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