Review - Green Arrow Volume 1: The Death and Life of Oliver Queen

With his sister as his comrade-in-arms and a new girlfriend by his side, Oliver Queen has dedicated himself to pursuing social justice as the emerald garbed vigilante Green Arrow. This life that he has built and his credibility as a hero dissolve as he is betrayed by those closest to him. Without money or allies to rely on, he must use his resourcefulness and sheer willpower to uncover the dark conspiracy that has torn his world asunder.

Green Arrow Volume 1: The Death and Life of Oliver Queen collects Green Arrow: Rebirth #1 and Green Arrow #1-5, written by Benjamin Percy and with art by Otto Schmidt and Juan Ferreyra.

Having cited former Green Arrow scribes Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell as his influences, it’s clear from the onset that writer Benjamin Percy intends to portray the Emerald Archer as a champion for the people whose political beliefs are a key part of his character. Unfortunately, the execution of this is admittedly quite goofy. The Death and Life of Oliver Queen sees Green Arrow facing off against an organization of evil bankers known as the Ninth Circle. They’ve stripped him of his wealth and have turned his allies against him, leaving him alone and ineffectual as a hero. Percy’s approach is very heavy-handed and relies heavily on some pretty tired tropes. In pulling from the oeuvre of O’Neil and Grell, he forgets to leave the problematic aspects of their work in the past. Percy undoes the work Jeff Lemire had done on Shado and Emiko Queen by reducing both to the stereotypical Dragon Lady role. Another example is that Black Canary ends up as a damsel in distress towards the end. There’s also something very campy about the antagonists, which leaves this arc reading more like a ‘60s Bond film than a biting critique on capitalism.

This collection isn’t wholly without merit. I appreciate Percy’s attempt to pare down the Green Arrow mythos and really focus on one of the more iconic portrayals of the character. Oliver embraces the label of social justice warrior and his leftist leanings are evident in his dialogue. In this way, he feels more like Green Arrow than Batman Lite (which is something Arrow is all too guilty of). Kidnapping aside, Black Canary plays a key role in the narrative and gets to be her own character outside of being Green Arrow’s girlfriend. She’s cooler than he is and is more in touch with reality due to her upbringing (even though she may be a semi-famous rock singer now). While I had a ton of issues with the direction he took her in, I at least appreciate that Percy didn’t abandon Emiko Queen. It would have been easy to write her out and replace her with a similar character. The familial dynamic between Emiko, Oliver, and Dinah is admittedly the thing I liked best overall in this trade.

While I had my share of issues with the writing, the art for The Death and Life of Oliver Queen was something I enjoyed consistently throughout. Otto Schmidt and Juan Ferreyra share the art duties. They are both tremendously talented, but their styles couldn’t be more different. Schmidt’s work is highly stylized and is more on the cartoony side. In fact, it almost gives off the vibe of a Green Arrow animated series (which would actually be pretty neat). I do have a couple of issues with Schmidt’s art – some of his compositions look a bit lazily done and he has a penchant for drawing butt shots for Black Canary. Ferreyra’s work has a painterly quality to it. It’s really atmospheric and is cinematic where Schmidt’s art was more animated. His Black Canary is breathtaking and he really captures both the hard and soft qualities of her character.

Green Arrow Volume 1: The Death and Life of Oliver Queen is far from being the return to form that I think Benjamin Percy had intended it to be. It’s often shallow in that it lacks the depth necessary to tackle political issues and is just as easily undermined by predictable tropes that are sexist and racially insensitive. I likely wouldn’t recommend this as an essential read for Green Arrow like I would with Jeff Lemire’s run. With that said, the artwork inside is stunning and is worth a browse.

RATING: C