Green Arrow #33

I'm having trouble figuring out what the white image is. A profile of Cookie Monster eating a cookie?

Today, my cat Judas sharfed all over himself. That's where you shit and barf at the same time. I'm surprised I was able to clean him up without sharfing myself as well.

The less said about the sharfing incident the better. Let's just read Green Arrow!

Four years ago, Ollie's mother died so he was having a rough time with things for some reason. I think it's because he suddenly had to run the corporation or something. Maybe she still bought his clothes so he was worried about dressing himself. It couldn't be because he loved her because, as a super hero, if he loved her, he'd want to stop cancer from ever happening to anyone ever again! He wouldn't be getting drunk by the pool refusing to do anything but mope. Unless his mother's last words were, "With great power comes great responsibility. Lucky for you, you have no power." Then Ollie stamped his foot and went running from the room crying, and he didn't stop until he found a bottle of whisky and a swimming pool. Didn't stop running, that is. He kept right on crying.

Diggle decided he would have to be Green Arrow for a bit. Does that mean that four years ago is when Diggle humiliated Dick Dragon's father? Dick seemed so young at the time! Is he only seventeen now? I guess that's why he only earned the title "Kung Fu Fighter" as opposed to "Master of Kung Fu" which is the title I really wanted to give him. Must be a Marvel character that's the Master of Kung Fu.

Back in the present, Killer Moth provides evidence that he's earned the title "D-Lister."

Oh no! Two people who can shoot arrows! It's the end of the world!

As Ollie and Emiko flee the scene, Ollie reminds everybody he can find in the past four years that nobody wears the hood except for himself. When did the hood become the iconic bit of Green Arrow? Shouldn't it be the arrow? Or the bow, at least! Maybe even just the color green. I'd argue that the goatee which he doesn't have anymore is more iconic than the hood! It's not like he's Robin Hood! He's not even a fox!

Brick attacks Ollie once more. Brick must be pissed. Red Dart had Ollie dead to rights and then she toyed with him and waited for Brick and Killer Moth to come along. So instead of Green Arrow unconscious and in a sack and ready to be turned in for thirty million dollars, now Brick has about thirty thousand dollars worth of dental bills and facial reconstruction surgery ahead of him.

I think begging like this makes you worse than a D-Lister. Reap what you sow, bitch.

Ollie also takes down Killer Moth while Naomi and Henry arrive to knock out Red Dart. I don't know where they came from. They probably have a tracer on Green Arrow and it was probably mentioned last issue and I went and forgot all about it. Anyway, they help save the day. But now they have to babysit Emiko as Green Arrow takes down Dick Dragon all by himself. Because that's always the best idea. Fuck working together as a team! It's better to go alone!

Actually, I meant that! Green Arrow doesn't want to have to protect these other people. They'll just get him killed! I like to play Safeguard on Call of Duty by myself. That's where you fight never ending waves of bad guys. With the right team of four (and the right map), you can last for as long as you have time to play. But I have one friend that plays with us that counts as negative two people. You constantly have to save his ass as he runs out and takes all the perks and guns and level ups. Then you lose your shit trying to save his ass and then the whole fucking thing collapses and everybody winds up dead in a heap. So I'm with Ollie on this! Alone is better!

Except the flashback seems to be making the opposite argument! I guess alone is only better if you align yourself with incompetent spazzes! Pushing people like Diggle and Roy away just makes fighting crime harder because then you wind up with teammates like Henry and Naomi.

See? They just get in the way! Useless distractions! Also, if I were just shot in the stomach, I'd hope the woman I loved wouldn't scream out my last name.

Green Arrow #33 Rating: No change. In this issue, we learned that only one person wears the hood and that person works alone. I think Ollie is supposed to be learning that he can't work alone and he can't protect everybody. Unless we learned that since he can't protect everybody, he really needs to just work alone. I think we didn't actually learn either of those specifically. I think we're, along with Ollie, supposed to think long and hard on where to go from here and what compromises need to be made. Does he allow Emiko to train with him? Does he rehire Diggle (if Diggle survives the fall)? Does he allow Naomi to work closely with him again? Does he pay for Fyff's burial? Those are the questions we're left with! And in the immortal words of one (or two (unless it was all of them)) Comicsverse reviewer, "It's all very, very interesting and I'm quite interested in seeing what happens next." Maybe that wasn't a direct quote but close enough to every video review I wasted my time watching!