Green Arrow #27

Is this cover a Blue Shield joke? I suppose all of the clans are going to have an associated color! The shield equals hope while the arrow equals willpower!

Oliver Queen (I keep wanting to call him "Oliver North" or "Oliver Green") has finally found the Arrow Totem but the comic book ended before he could get his hands on it last month. Also not happening before the comic book ended last month: Green Arrow became interesting! Ha ha! Take that, you non-super-powered archer! You're worse than Aquaman! At least he can have tea and crumpets with dolphins. What can you do? Shoot a boxing glove at somebody's face and make a lame quip as you do it? What a jerk!

Now that Green Arrow finally has a competent writer, I feel like I can really hate him like I used to without feeling like I'm kicking him while he's down and bleeding out and not breathing and practically dead. I'd like to say I've never been a fan of Green Arrow but a much younger version of myself did enjoy seeing what kind of stupid arrows he would wind up shooting at the bad guys. He never seemed to think the time was right for a normal arrow through the heart though. That was disappointing.

This issue begins by pointing out that I was wrong about Green Arrow finding the Arrow Totem. It seems he found the place where the Arrow Totem once was.

Oh come on! If you know more than you've been telling, spill it! Stop being mysterious for the sake of being mysterious! And also for the sake of contrived plot tension!

Let me guess: everyone is going to jump out from behind some rocks and yell "Surprise!" now, right? It's Ollie's birthday and they've all pitched in and purchased him his own Arrow Totem! But nobody appears. Instead, Ollie shakes Shado and demands she tell him what she knows. But she only tells him that he already knows what she knows! But I don't think he does! And I don't really care if he knows or not! She should tell me! Maybe the Arrow Totem has been inside of Oliver all along! No, no. This isn't some happy-go-lucky Afternoon Special. Besides, that would be really uncomfortable. Before Shado can tell Ollie her secret (which I don't think she was willing to tell anyway), Lemire thinks up some loud drums to distract Green Arrow from seeking the truth. Whew, that was a close one! The readership almost found out too much too quickly! Thank goodness for Native Island Contrivances like war drums!

Or a bunch of maniacs banging on their shields.

The Shield Clan is the worst clan ever. So boring! I would be embarrassed to have become a part of the Shield Clan. I would have at least brought a Kite Shield.

Meanwhile in Japantown in San Francisco, Katana is breathing a sigh of relief that she's finally going to get the chance to be in a decent comic book. Magus visits her and says, "All the shit you've been through, it was all tied up with this group called the Outsiders. I need your help for mysterious and unclear reasons which I won't tell you. But I will promise you answers to all of your questions! And you will get to kill people! Are you ready to join me?" And Katana says, "You had me at no more Ann Nocenti." And Magus goes, "I never sai...." And Katana put her sword up to Magus's lips and whispered, "Shhh."

Meanwhile back on Arrow Totem Island, Green Arrow and Shado shoot a bunch of arrows at the Shield Clan. The results are...well, you know. What you would expect. A bunch of shields with arrows sticking out of them. But Green Arrow has more than just regular arrows! Remember how I remembered that about him earlier?! Remember?! He doesn't use his Boxing Glove Arrow which is the one that always needs to be mentioned because it's the most iconic. Instead he chooses his Explosion Arrow which would seem really fucking dangerous, especially for a guy who doesn't like to kill. I suppose he usually saves that one for when he's trapped behind a big steel door or when he needs to blow a hole in the side of a mountain to get to the Arrow Totem. He also uses a Net Arrow and a Fire Arrow and that Arrow that The Weapon Expert Formerly Known as the Alive Weapon Expert made for him. You know the one! The one that covers the person in hardening foam? I think the guy's name was Jax. Also, maybe he didn't invent that arrow. That one may have been invented by the Techie That is Overweight and Has a Crush on Naomi. I can't fucking remember his name at all but I think it began with a "P".

Anyway, Ollie defeats all of them except for their leader Kodiak who drops out of the sky! I guess he has a Hover Shield. Maybe that's what he calls his helicopter.

Don't your boys have to be conscious and/or alive to learn from your example?

Green Arrow and Shado flee from Kodiak because his shield is too powerful for them. Also, he broke all of their arrows when he crashed down on top of them. Now the only way Ollie is going to be able to defeat Kodiak and his Shield Totem is to find the last arrow left on the island: The Boxing Glove Arrow! I mean, The Totem Arrow!

Green Arrow takes Shado back to the place where he became a man. It didn't matter that he became a man by doing it to another man. That's how some men become men! It's just kind of weird because I think Green Arrow is heterosexual. But hey! What happens in college (or on deserted islands) stays in college (or on deserted islands)!

Sexual!

As Ollie and Shado near the place where Oliver became a new man, Shado decides to get mysterious again. "You know why you're here, Oliver! It wasn't a coincidence, Oliver! Just think about all the tropes that have gotten you to this point, Oliver! What's the last trope that you'd totally expect? Come on! Whose responsibility is it to make certain that the son becomes a man-fucker? I mean a man?! Well, don't think about it too long because he's going to answer the question for you, you stupid dishrag! I mean douchebag!"

Yay! It's Dicky Queen! Whose first name isn't actually Richard even though he was called Richard a few issues ago and then his name was corrected to something else that I can't remember because it was in no way as good as Dicky Queen!

Green Arrow #27 Rating: +2 Ranking. This ranking is mostly for Sorrentino's art which is fabulous. But that Shield Clan was shit. What a bunch of stupid assholes. No wonder they get sent in first! They get no respect and they don't deserve any! I suppose they showed how their "stability" was their downfall, resorting to traditional shield tactics while Ollie has entered the modern age with Boxing Glove Arrows. Anyway, Ollie still needs to deal with Kodiak but next issue can't be a Shield Clan cover again, so I suppose it's going to be an Arrow Clan cover since Dicky Queen just showed up with the Arrow Totem. Although it could be a Sword Clan cover since Katana is being brought in by Magus. Of course I'm the only one that doesn't know what the next cover will be because, before any internet assholes can scoff at me and tell me to take a look at the solicits once in a fucking while, I don't motherfucking look at the Goddamn motherfucking solicits. Get off my back!