Green Arrow #8

Is this Skylark's father? Or pet?

Last issue, Green Arrow had been captured by Skylark, the triple woman. But they also hinted that they were playing out King Lear, of a sort. I supposed that the one acting like an individual must have been Cordelia. For those who can't stand Shakespeare, King Lear is a play about an old king on the verge of death who tells his daughters that he will give his kingdom and inheritance to the one that most loves him. Cordelia is the good daughter who truly loves her father. But the other two, Regan and Goneril, plot to earn their father's love by disgracing Cordelia. Also, at some point, Gloucester gets his eye stomped out while the stomper says, "Out vile jelly!" I'm sure there's a Douglas Coupland list that describes the quality of his characters in some certain book by the Shakespeare lines they can quote. So what does that say about me?

This issue begins with Green Arrow running through the arctic tundra pursued by wolves. He has somehow escaped but where the hell is he going to go? His method of escape is shown on the next page.

So it looks like that beast on the cover probably is their father.

Keeping with the King Lear theme, this may not be true. It may have been the other two Skylarks that let Green Arrow escape to put the blame on the Cordelia Skylark and make her father angry with her. Or it could just be that she, as the Cordelia, is the nice one and actually did let Green Arrow escape. Being that they're bad guys, it's hard to tell if Cordelia Skylark is supposed to be extra bad because she loves her father and his badness the most or if she's the good one in a way that actually goes against her father. I think she's going to be the baddest because she deserves her father's kingdom the most. So my guess is the other two Skylarks released Green Arrow.

Confused yet? Welcome to Shakespeare!

The Skylarks and King Yeti notice on the monitors that Green Arrow is fighting the wolves. And he's winning.

As opposed to being full of fifteen year old girl?

Green Arrow drives away the wolves and then runs into some weird fella with a big gun. Green Arrow disarms him as one of the Skylarks is riding toward them in the distance. The guy with the gun says, "Mess wit' the Leer spawn, didja?" So I guess this guy is literally King Leer (and figuratively King Lear) and his daughters.

Oho! So this is the guy representing the guard that ground out Gloucester's eyes!

Green Arrow willingly goes with the Skylark that picked him up. She says that her dad thinks he's a great wolf tamer and seems to have some sort of respect for Green Arrow. It looks like the reason the Skylarks kidnapped Green Arrow was to bring their father some of his blood, probably for his genetic experiments. The kind that created his daughters (they mentioned earlier that "Daddy" toyed with them while they were in their mother's womb). Daddy probably also created the Dwarf with the gun that Green Arrow just encountered.

Now that he's going back with this Skylark, is this another trap? Or is everyone going to feel happy go-lucky about Green Arrow being with them? Do they expect him to live with them forever and ever and ever? If they do start treating him as a guest instead of a prisoner, I'm sure he'll stumble upon the laboratory and turn against them. I think that will probably happen because of the cover!
Skylark gives Green Arrow the actual reason he was taken. Unless this is a lie as well!

There's suddenly a lot of hanky panky going on in this comic! Is this what happens when a woman writes a male superhero? I have a feeling in a few issues, it's going to become slash fiction. The only question is, "Who will get pierced by Green Arrow's love shaft?"

Green Arrow has Cordelia Skylark take him to her father's lab once he's back at the mansion and settled in, well accepted by everyone. In the lab, he sees all kinds of bioengineered creatures, many with metal grafted to their bodies. Green Arrow thinks Daddy Leer is mad and needs to be stopped. He thinks the girls' need saving. But I'm willing to bet they don't want to be saved!

Daddy Leer's dwarf notices Green Arrow and Cordelia Skylark in the lab and runs off to tattle. Green Arrow notices a mutated polar bear that is supposed to be Daddy Leer's next body and declares that it should be put down. Daddy Leer hears this and decides that Green Arrow should be put down! And then Green Arrow says, "Nuh uh! YOU should be put down!" And then they fight!

After a few panels of somewhat confusing fight scene, Green Arrow escapes with Cordelia Skylark. They head off across the polluted tundra following a murder of crows. Green Arrow says it's because crows are smart so their must be something interesting where they're circling. Also, the tundra and the surrounding area is severely polluted from all of the mining that has been going on. Daddy Leer has also been mining for gold, so he might be behind most of the pollution. He's certainly behind all the grotesque animals. And the hot women. And probably the gun toting dwarf as well.

Meanwhile, back in Seattle, Emerson finds out that Naomi forged one of Oliver Queen's memos after he had already been reported dead. So he tells her he'll accept her resignation. Naomi and Jax still believe Queen may be alive and they find a line from King Lear in Queen's encrypted correspondence that may be a clue to where he went: "Gold rush, flying north with the crows". So Jax and Naomi begin searching for old mining towns in Canada and Alaska. They'll probably find him next issue since this issue is over!

Aside from some confusing fight scenes, another decent Green Arrow comic book. I don't think this one was good enough to raise it in the ranks again, especially after the two rung leap I gave it for last issue. There's a lot going on and I hope I can remember what's happening next month! Maybe I'll end this blog with a few notes for my future self. Anybody else reading this can stop now!

Cordelia Skylark is apparently the good sister and is trying to help Green Arrow escape. But she also wants to help her father gain his mind back since she fears he is going mad.

As Cordelia and Green Arrow flee, Daddy Leer tells the other two Skylarks that Cordelia Skylark cannot survive for long separated from them. So when she dies, Daddy Leer wants one of the sisters to take her place and break Green Arrow's heart while having him believe she is Cordelia Skylark. Whichever one can manage that will gain his realm. Hmm. Perhaps Cordelia Skylark is already planning this, right? Because she's the daughter who truly loves daddy!