Retrospective on Green Arrow/Black Canary #6 to #14

While the first 5 issues of Green Arrow/Black canary where not directly bad, they where not what most people where expecting. We went from fake death to fake death to fake death (Literally), and it ended with rehashing elements from Kevin Smiths “The Sound of Violence” specifically  Connor Hawke getting shoot and having an entire issue set in a hospital.  Despite its flaws it did have some sweet moments, Oliver regretting not being there for Connor as a child, all the major players showing up to support Connor and so on. OK so they did rewrite Connors origin from a kid that accidentally got into 2 fights as a kid to one that was a trouble maker, but over all Kinda sweet.

However! the next Arc in where Oliver, Dinah and Mia go looking for the kidnapped and comatosed Connor, now that was a story that was pure sh**. I won’t go into details but i will tell you this, Any story that end up with one character aged by 10 years (Robert Queen), one  ”depowerd” and given new powers (Connor Hawke), one turned from a stoic Anti-hero into a bawling bitch who would rather kill the man she loves then ask him for help (Shado) and lastly one ends up falling in love with a man that is by all accounts the spiting image of the man who abused her and made her turn tricks (Mia Dearden/Speedy), Now this can’t be good now can it..

 

The reason for giving Connor his new powers (healing factor) and removing his archery skills is a huge mystery for me and judging by the forums.. everyone. Why have his powers come from splicing his DNA with Plastic Mans DNA? why not just say it was from the Dragons Blood? after all this art did in fact made that miniseries canon.

The reason for ageing  Robert by about 10 years and (possibly) giving him powers is  a huge mystery for me and judging by the forums.. everyone.

The reason for Shado going to Sivana, someone she would never have associated with or even known hot to contact, and not to the father of her child, a man with access to the best medical facilities and doctors in the world  is a huge mystery for me and judging by the forums.. everyone.

The reason behind Sivana wanting Oliver dead  is a huge mystery for me and judging by the forums.. everyone. (Deathstroke never gets anyone to do his killings for him, he does it himself, that’s what he does, he is Deathstroke The Terminator after all.)

The Reason behind Shados emontional outburst is, well normal for just about anyone. But NOT HER!

Just how the amateur Assassins managed to infiltrate, Kill nurses and Kidnap Connor from a house that was at the time being guarded by both superman and Batman, is one Gigantic mystery to me  

And the reasoning behind having Mia fall in love with Dodger, a man who made it possible for snipers to shoot Connor. A man who by all regards is a spiting image of her ex- boyfriend/pimp is one gigantic mystery to me.

 

Given the enormous plot holes and changes made to characters it makes me think that Judd Winick was forcibly removed and decided to act out by ruining as much as he could before he left the title. In fact the only characters closely associated with Green arrow and Black canary not permanently damaged in this story was in fact Green Arrow and Black Canary. 

This was a good bye that came with a huge kick in the crotch to Green Arrow fans from around the world. So from all Green arrow fans I have this to say to you Judd Winick, “Yo mama!”

Origins and Omens Review…

First off Read the Green Arrow/Black Canary Origins and Omens Backup here

There is nothing directly wrong with the writing here, the dialog seems fine and the Art is fine, the problem only really shows up on the third page. Thats right, New Writer and newcomer to the DCU Andy Kreisberg decided to rewrite Black Canarys origin.  Forget the past 25 years of this Black Canary there is a new boy in town! and he wants to ad more drama! on this page Dinah accidentally unleashes the canary cry on her high school friend “Sam”. Now there are lots of reasons why this is just wrong soo wrong.

But First was it an accident or was this a retcon as to when she first got her powers? Well here is the thing either way its wrong.

A: First use of her powers: If so then throw out all your issues featuring black Canary from the last 25 years, they are now worthless.All the stuff about having her powers since childhood and defeating Wildcat with the Canary Cry (without injuring him) as a child is all gone now, Dinah is not just another “I got my powers at puberty” hero, shes effectually just a run of the mill Meta human, Not to talk down other Metas, Like Thunder and Lightning who both got their powers at about 16.But Dinah was different, since COIE she has had a clear origin.

Young Dinah Drake wanted to become a Cop and got some training from her GCPD Detective father Richard Drake, She did not get to be a cop because she had cooties (It was the 1940′s), Her father dies and young Dinah starts a florist shop and at night  fights crime in fishnets and even joins the JSA. When the “Keene Act” was passed and the JSA was forced to disband Miss Drake married her sweetheart Detective Larry Lance, they settled down and later had a child, Dinah Laurel Lance, Dinah jr was special she was born with a gene that gave her powers, powers that manifested itself in the form of a supersonic “cry” later dubbed the Canary Cry. Dinah Sr did not want her daughter to follow her footsteps, but growing up with a Superhero mother and superhero “uncles” did set her on her way to become on herself, secretly getting traind in the use of her Canary cry and in hand- to-hand combat from a young age, she eventually took on the name Black Canary and the costume that went with it.

B: Accidental use of her powers:  If this is the case, then i would like to congratulate  Andy Kreisberg for officially turning a Intelligent and respected character into a bumbling moron. First off Dinah has control of her powers and has had so since she was a child (See above), Secondly she would never have “screamed” if she didn’t have control of her power.

So what is it? stupidity from the Writer in form of rewriting her origin or Stupidity from the writer in form of making the character a total moron?

I’m not even gonna dignify the next pages with a comment since it relates to the man that Dinah accidentally hit with the Canary Cry in issue #15, the musician that is now deaf. I’m going to pretend it didn’t happen , and thats hard as he shows up again on the Omen page

The Omen page!

Ahh yes.. the Omen page, a page that shows snips of what we can expect to find later in this series this year! Let us first have a look!

click for larger image

I desided to number every scene on this page to make it easier to complain about it

1. Ollie being forced at gunpoint to kiss “Cupid”: Ok…So Ollie is getting raped at gunpoint this time, I guess that beats getting shoot and then raped like last time, Ohh wait.. No, and why isn’t he just kicking her ass?
2. Ollie in handcuffs : How original.. because he has never been arrested before.
3. Speedy bing held hostage by someone with white/gray hair: Why isn’t she just kicking his ass? she went toe to toe  with Robin One month after putting on the costume, and has since then spend a year on an island getting trained by the best, and of course she lives and gets daily training by two of the best in the DCU (Connor and Dianh)
4. Deaf-Men shooting at Dinah: I’m surprised she dodges the shoot, I half expected her to stand there going “Duuuuur”..
5. Ollie punching a man with a knife sticking out of his head: Ok this is just… how do you even get a knife into someones skull?
6. Ollie Aiming at Dinah:  I’m guessing this has something to do with the JL and JLA..

I dont know whats worse, this clichè omen page or the horrors that came before it!

Also if you want a short rundown of Black Canarys origin  Click here!

Green Arrow/Black Canary #17 Review

So lets start off this Review by noting that the Review of the Origins and Omens backup will have it own post, as its kinda important, not just to the characters but hinted by Dan Dido that its important for the whole DCU this year.

Now onto the issue!

It Actually start off kinda ok-ish with a walk and talk between two cops, One of the cops was introduced last issue as the classic “I’m new to town and I don’t trust the local Superhero that has protected the City and become an icon for its citizens for the last decade or two” character, Its Extremely Cliche, but thats Andrew Kreisberg in a nutshell. As the Two cops do their walk and talk a moving truck is very clearly shown driving past and into a parking garage, its almost too obvious that the truck is important somehow, the cops continue their walk and talk and eventually wind up at Merlins’s cell that has a nice view of the parking garage. Suddenly at the truck smashes out of the parking garage flying over the street and into the police station, Not badly done actually just waaay to obvious.
Green Arrow spots the Smoke from a few blocks away, prissoners breake out of their cell at the station but are stopped by Green arrow and Black Canary, who suddenly appear, so either the Prisoners took a very long time to get out of their cells after the truck smashed a hole or they can teleport, Ohh and Black Canary used her Canary Cry again.. Twice it seems like, to stop prisoners running towards her in a non threatening way, Thats right.
Merlyn is helped out of the rubble by the mystery woman from the last issue, this time sporting some fishnet on her arm, While this is happening a few cops are trapped by flames but have no fear! Green Arrow is here! using one of his freeze arrows to put out the flames.
All of a sudden Green Arrow is smashed by a desk flying across the room! it was thrown by the Random big thug from issue #15, he is out and is ready for round two with black canary, who jumps away and tries to get up a big hole in the roof. But “Dregz” catches her leg and she is trying to hold on while he is dragging her back, She reaches out for a shotgun thats on the floor of the room above, kicks loose from the walking cliche and shoots the truck suspended above her loose which falls down onto “Dregz”. .
This scene raises two questions, One: Why was there a huge hole in the concrete floor below where the truck smashed into? it was not a lot of debris there soo…? not quite understanding how concrete buildings work? I know.. kinda lame thing to nitpick over..
But how about number two: Why the hell would Black Canary Use a shotgun to shoot loose the truck? She was already free of his grip when she fired the shoot, and she has a natural weapon that would do the job, in fact it would have been far more realistic that the Canary Cry could have done the job then a shoot from a shotgun.
Moving on we see Green Arrow, Black Canary and Lieutenant Hilton (The new in town cop) looking at the remarkably undamaged truck and noticing that the gasspedal is rigged, This was no accident! and Merlyn is Gone!
Next we see the Mysterious woman getting a haircut, after the hairdresser is done she takes a picture because she was pleased with her job but the lady then killers her because she didn’t want anyone else to get the same haircut or something. Its was kinda awesome I have to say and somewhat scary , but I also have to admit that I kinda read to much into it , I suddenly imagined the Hairdresser to be Gail Simone and the Mysterious lady to be Kreisberg and that he was symbolically killing Gail who made Black Canary AWESOME, to prevent her from ever fixing Black Canary again. I know.. I scare myself sometimes.

Later we see Black Canary screaming Green arrows name in front of a random prisoner, when Green arrow comments on this she just blows it away, because if there is one thing we know, Its that the Leader of the JLA is the dumbest person in the JLA.
Green arrow is mad because Merlyn got away, and sets off to find him again. Then we get a short scene with the Mysterious lady holding Merlyn prisoner and learn a bit about her plan, she plans to deliver Green arrows enemies to him for Valentines day. On the wall behind her we see lots of pictures of Green arrow and a big one of Black Canary with her eyes crossed out and the words “Die Tramp Die” written on it, and again I can’t help but think of that woman as Kreisberg ..

After this we get the Origins and Omens backup story, buts its So bad it deserves its own post with a detailed rundown of the Omen page.

How Black canary should have acted in GA/BC #16

As commented on by  ScottyQuick , This is how Black canary kicked Merlyns ass just 1,5 years ago in Black canary #3.

The entire fight is really Smasshing two arrows and two kicks from Black Canary. Merlyn is no match for Dinah in any way shape or form. Next time mister Kreisberg, read up on a character.. atlest go as far back as 2 years..

Review of Green Arrow/Black Canary #16

Let jump right into this less shity bag of crap, I say less shity because this comic is ok for about the first half of the issue, infact it has some things that must be adressed  because they are done correctly!

Lets start with Ollie and Dinah in bed early on in the issue, they are playing scrabble and having a jolly good time. Whats special here is that Ollie does NOT make a sexual refrance with his word in the game, only a snakry comment about Batman. This is one of the very few times in the last …. 6 years that i can sey that we see the good old side of Ollie. Good work!

However!

Later in the issue We see Ollie destroying evidence (One of Merlyns Arrows, that he used to kil a man) and we get Black Canary, using her canary Cry when she does not need to, and geting taken out by MERLYN!, Fine he is a high ranking  “Leauge of Assasins” member, but he is still kinda a joke. and as usuall its up to Ollie to save Dinah ! And why was it so “Dramatic” when she called Oracle?  I just dont get why DC wants to breake up Black canary and Oracle, Are they seriusly trying to undermind all that Dixon and Simone have done over the years? they ahev allrewady ruind Black canary by ignoring everything they did, like her massiv training to be one of the top fighters at DC and the fact that she tends to only use the Canary Cry when she absolutly needs to, just how many times did she use the cry during Simones run on BOP? Three times? maybe four? tops! and is she really needed to use it she woulkd have never missed a target like merlyn who was standing still no more then 10 feet away. and seriusly, after all those years of dating and living with Ollie, you would imagine that she would have traind a lot on dodging multiple arrows bings shoot at her. Now i wont say she is fully on the same level as Connor Hawke, but if he can be shoot at by 50 Ninjas and not just dodge them but grab the arrow in flight and throw them back, it makes you wonder why the hell Dinah cant just.. dodge  4 arrows. and she would have never let her guard down even with an arrow thrugh her arm!

No Pictures this time, but I promise iIwill have PLENTY! for the next issue, now that issue is filled to the brink with Horrible HORRIBLE stuff..

One hint: Retconning Black canarys origin!

Just a quick comment on Brave and the Bold #22

Excuse me mister Arrow sir.. didn’t that com off a little wrong, almost abit Marvel Universe-ish?   You live in the DCU, and fight/work with “Mutants” every day, you know there are millions of them around the world, Hell you are even married to one!    And you should know that “Mutants” are politically incorrect, they prefer to be called “Metahumans”

Review of the almost Ok-ish Green Arrow/Black Canary #16 will be up later, maybe tomorrow.

Review of Green Arrow/Black Canary #15

There are certain rules to follow when you do your first issue of a series that has been going for a while, and to list them all, I made a list.

1. You do not show the characters to be weak
2. You do not show the characters to be stupid
3. You do not ditch the supporting cast
4. You do not show the characters to be Criminally negligent (unless they are supposed to be)
5. You do not focus all the attention on one character if it is a series about a duo

All these things and more new Green arrow/Black Canary writer Andrew Kreisberg got wrong,Not only does he show Black Canary as a victim of a random thug on the first page.. no first panel! but he continues to show primarily Black Canary as a useless  damsel in distress. But first lets go back to the random no name thug.

Black Canary, Trained with the likes of Wildcat during her childhood and teenage years.. Expert in Judo (And boxing) with a powerful sonic scream, who spent a long time being trained by Lady Shiva, the greatest martial artist in the world………. Ok?  Well Mr.Kreisberg believes this lady would be taken and held at knife point by this nameless thug, and would have to rely on a distraction (and Weapon) from Green Arrow so she could take him out. The worst part is that the (awesome) art (by Mike Norton) clearly shows that she already has him in a grip that would make it very very easy for her to knock him out.. even if he was a powerful meta.

Anyone with a days worth of training could get out of that grip, but she does not.

And did we really need yet another run down of Green Arrows origin? what is this.. the third time in two years?

But lets get down the the BIG problem with this issue and Black Canary,  The ending. I will not bore you with the minor detailes, so in short.

Dinah uses the canary cry against the nameless thug after a rescue from Green Arrow of course and the last panel reveals this.

Black Canary Everyone!

The Chick that spent most of her life training to use her Canary Cry for good (JSA training) shows off her to be criminally negligent in the use of her powers..

I wonder why no other writer have sver tried this with her before.   Might it be becaue they do reserch and discover that it would just not work given the level of training she has done to be able to controll and aim her powers? or is it because most other writers have an original idea now and then instead of rehasing the old “Heroes make mistakes and create a new enemy”. Six fucking years of this CRAP is more then enough.. I had high hopes for this new writer, but it seems he might in fact be worse then Judd “Mr Stereotype” Winick

Andrew Kreisberg is WROOOONG

Hey guess what Mr Andrew Kreisberg  your take on Black Canarys Origin is

More Stuff to come, This is just a test post