Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Green Arrow & Black Canary #19


This was another generic issue of GA & BC, but this one had some redeeming qualities. Green Arrow faces off against Cupid, the obsessed lady who has fallen in love with him. After she killed off some of his villains, she set up an opportunity for GA to kill Merlyn at the end of last issue. Thankfully, GA spots the set-up immediately and moves on to facing off against her. I was a bit surprised how quickly she took him out (with an explosion), but that seems to be a given in Andrew Kreisberg's run, the incompetence of his heroes. GA wakes up chained to some train tracks, where Cupid plans for the two to die together, "romantically." I liked having Black Canary show up for the save. When it becomes clear that she can't cut GA loose, she acts like she's willing to die with him, replacing Cupid in the romantic death scenario. It was a fun way to resolve the fight with Canary using her brain to take advantage of the crazy Cupid. I was disappointed in the bloody finale though, with Cupid slashing Merlyn's throat so she could get away. At least he lived, and while the issue ends stating that he will never speak again, hopefully that will be disregarded, just because it is unnecessary. I will note that it is interesting that GA and BC couldn't actually defeat Cupid, they had to outsmart her and then she escaped. Some failures humanize the heroes, but the pair is in danger of looking incompetent.

Mike Norton has a nice clean style. I like the design for Cupid, particularly the green veil she wears as GA's "bride."

Average

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