by Michael DeLaney
This article will contain SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!
No man is an island — even an archer who spent a decent amount of time in solitude on an actual island. I like to think of Green Arrow as this solo swashbuckling hero, but in the pages of Green Arrow he’s not that, amd maybe he never was. It’s difficult to separate Oliver Queen from the many lives he has affected.
A good example of this is Juan E. Ferreyra’s first double page spread in Green Arrow 36. He establishes three separate settings with nearly identical panel layouts.
Though it’s played for comedic effect, the jury’s bias against Oliver Queen proves how connected he is to his city — for good or ill. On the meta level, this also illustrates how many creators’ lives have been affected by the fictional Emerald Archer. The Judge is clearly named after Mike Grell, writer of Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. Likewise, Ferreyra has acknowledged that the jury is visually based on the Green Arrow editorial team.
In Benjamin Percy’s run, there might not be a better example of Oliver’s influence than his sister Emiko. Once a spoiled and murderous brat, Emiko has embraced the selfless life of a hero. So selfless it seems…that she spares Oliver’s life for her own?
That remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely. Leave it to Percy to have the withholding Oliver Queen finally refer to Emiko as her preferred codename — Red Arrow — when she seemingly has died. Emiko certainly milks her “final act”, adding some humor to the situation by calling out the soap opera drama that is Oliver Queen’s life.
The conversation doesn’t stop there. What do you wanna talk about from this issue?
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