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A review by rhganci
Green Arrow, Volume 1: The Midas Touch by Keith Giffen, George Pérez, Ignacio Calero, J.T. Krul, Dan Jurgens, Ray McCarthy
2.0
This volume has seemed the weakest of The New 52 by far. While the action sequences showed a wide range of arrow-types and the story dealt with some really current and interesting social themes, the writing of this book and the general direction of the plot really struggles to find its footing among the high quality of its other counterparts.
The first element of this volume that was weak was the dialogue. I seemed cheesy, even wooden at times, and during the fights especially out-of-place. The endless quipping, betting, ribbing, and blabbing banter between Oliver and his two compatriots got in the way of the suspense and tension of the Green Arrow's struggles. I found myself uneven on the role of Naomi and Jax; sometimes they seemed crucial to GA's operations, and sometimes they seemed an obstruction to the storytelling, which also struggled to communicate with me. What we have in GA Volume 1 are two separate stories, a sort of allegory about voyeurism on the internet paired with an ill-defined revenge narrative that featured a toxic monster and his robot wife. They don't really go together, and either one might have been better developed into something more sensible--as they stand, they both form two below-average stories that in the end didn't do much for me as a comics reader.
The art, however, was a separate story, though I found myself wishing that they would have either stuck with George Perez (can you go wrong with him?) or the other guys who did some finishes the whole way. As a result, the art, though great at times, was as hodge-podged as the plot and in the end served as only a passable addition to the uneven narrative. What I got out of the book was a clear re-introduction to Green Arrow with some interesting potential, but after six issues it's still just potential.
The first element of this volume that was weak was the dialogue. I seemed cheesy, even wooden at times, and during the fights especially out-of-place. The endless quipping, betting, ribbing, and blabbing banter between Oliver and his two compatriots got in the way of the suspense and tension of the Green Arrow's struggles. I found myself uneven on the role of Naomi and Jax; sometimes they seemed crucial to GA's operations, and sometimes they seemed an obstruction to the storytelling, which also struggled to communicate with me. What we have in GA Volume 1 are two separate stories, a sort of allegory about voyeurism on the internet paired with an ill-defined revenge narrative that featured a toxic monster and his robot wife. They don't really go together, and either one might have been better developed into something more sensible--as they stand, they both form two below-average stories that in the end didn't do much for me as a comics reader.
The art, however, was a separate story, though I found myself wishing that they would have either stuck with George Perez (can you go wrong with him?) or the other guys who did some finishes the whole way. As a result, the art, though great at times, was as hodge-podged as the plot and in the end served as only a passable addition to the uneven narrative. What I got out of the book was a clear re-introduction to Green Arrow with some interesting potential, but after six issues it's still just potential.