Green Arrow #18

Why is this guy named after an island? Does he have super island powers?

This cover makes me laugh because Seattle is just fucking lazy. Over on the East Coast, Gotham is spilling out crazies left and right. Metropolis is churning out super villains in gigantic super-villain sausage links. Central City has a club of goofy looking misfits that keeps growing (and monkeys!). And way over here on the West Coast, Seattle has a jerk with a bow. But that's just enough evil power to match their hero: another jerk with a bow. At least the city doesn't take much damage when they battle. A few broken windows. A few dented cars. If Portland gets into the super hero business, our big villain will probably be a slap tagger, stickering the hell out of street signs and mail boxes. Of course if that's the case, we already have a huge problem with super villains!

Oliver Queen is still dying in that desert in Arizona. He almost succumbs to fatigue when a stupid memory with his stupid dad about stupidly not giving up saves his life. Goddammit, you dumb memory! Couldn't you have kept to yourself for another fifteen years? You had to go and ruin the best moment of The New 52 so far!

Three weeks earlier, some guy named Magus played the part of the stupid memory, saving Green Arrow just before Komodo put an arrow in his head. I wonder if that would have been ruled a suicide? Magus left a note for Green Arrow to head out to Black Mesa, Arizona, and to go by way of Emerson's bookshelf. But first he needs to call Steve Trevor (on a pay phone! Oh, Seattle! Do you keep them around for the irony factor?) and check in with the Justice League of America since that's now a thing he's into. He convinces Steve Trevor that he's not dead like he was at the end of Justice League of America #1 (what jerk saves him there?! So many chances to rid the DCnU of this guy in the last month and he's still alive!) and that he didn't shove Emerson out of a window. Trevor calms down and tells him he'll hold off sending the Justice League to help him out of this mess.

Way to emasculate him with the "big guns" comment, Steve. Even though the only member of your new team to carry a gun is your Green Lantern!

Meanwhile Komodo is busy with a meeting of uptight business men as they purchase up majority shares of Queen Industries in the wake of Oliver Queen supposedly murdering his business partner Emerson. Didn't we already read this story but in a more entertainingly badly written way? Big fucking deal! Queen has lost his business. Again! I think the most important part of this scene is when Komodo's daughter Emiko comes in and asks:

Aww! They're so cute and bloodthirsty at that age!

Before Ollie can get to Emerson's bookshelf, he makes a stop to recruit some guy named Henry Fyff that he had to fire from Queen Industries three years ago for being super smart. But now he needs him to stalk Naomi. Unless it was the other way around. I've had a migraine for about 24 hours now and I just can't concentrate anymore. Actually, the migraine finally went away with a few more hours of sleep on top of a lot more hours of sleep. But now I've got a sinus headache on the other side of my head! But at least that's manageable. It's pretty telling how awful a migraine can be when a sinus headache is good fucking news. I used to get migraines fairly regularly until about eight years ago when I took a part time, overnight job and was able to begin sleeping on my own terms and not those dictated by a forty hour job that insisted I be at work by nine in the morning. Now I own the business that I began working part time for eight years ago mainly because it allows me to live by my body's schedule and not a fabricated one based on the society I was born into. In the last eight years, I've probably had less than a dozen migraines whereas before that, twelve was easily a low count for a year.

So now that Jax and Naomi may be dead, Ollie recruits Henry Fyff to be his Weapons and Communications Expert. He immediately tells this new kid that Oliver Queen is Green Arrow! He might as well. If things don't work out, he can always have Katana kill this guy. Henry Fyff is smart enough to realize the footage of Oliver Queen pushing Emerson out of the office building window was doctored, so he agrees to join up with Green Arrow. I guess Lemire didn't want to have to use a couple of crappy characters created by J.T. Krul. Especially Naomi since she was always blaming video games and masturbation and comic books and candy and pornography on violence. Geez. I think I'd be a serial killer if all those things led to violence.

Actually, Naomi and Jax aren't dead! At least not yet! Komodo has them bound inside his office building because he needs their help to find Green Arrow.

Oh that traitorous shrew! I guess I would buy some time by agreeing to help Komodo and his daughter, Hit Girl Emiko, too.

With the help of Fyff, Green Arrow manages to find a way back into Queen Industries and discovers a secret world behind Emerson's bookshelf. Ancient weapons, maps, and photos all revealing that Emerson and Ollie's father, Robert, had a life of adventure that he never knew about. One picture of them shows them on the beach of the island where Ollie was stranded for over a year. There's also a third man in the photo of that beach that Ollie doesn't recognize. It's Komodo.

And then Magus teleports in to tell Green Arrow to get to Black Mesa or he's going to die at Komodo's hands. As opposed to dying of thirst in the desert of Black Mesa which is more preferable somehow.

Ooh! Ooh! I've heard of The Outsiders! Me! Me! They were like only my favorites ever as a kid! With Aparo's goofy looking people and Barr's jokey sense of humor! I need to reread those now that I'm done rereading Shade the Changing Man.

As Green Arrow is busy talking to The Magus, Komodo is busy telling the police that the vigilante that caused all kinds of extra paper work for you on Ocean Parade Day was busy rummaging through the Emerson crime scene. Green Arrow tries to get away sliding down the cable of his grapple arrow but Komodo shoots the line. The issue ends with Green Arrow falling to his death.

Green Arrow #18 Rating: No change. I kind of feel I should give Green Arrow a boost in the rankings since it's actually readable now. But the character has been tainted by all of the previous crap and I'm just not very interested in him now. Maybe that will change over time but when I find myself more concerned with Lemire nearly killing him because I know Ollie will survive rather than being filled with tension about how Ollie will get out of the predicament, I know my interest in Green Arrow (what little was ever there) has nearly vanished.