Short Review: Green Arrow #20

The third part of the Ollie and Roy reunion arc.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Back in that not so-good old days Ollie still had a staggering loss of empathy for Roy once he finds out about the drugs. He says he's one big bad decision and too weak to trust. Roy begs for help admitting he has nothing and no one else. Count Vertigo takes advantage of Roy and uses his powers to get him high. Eventually Ollie stops them thanks to an arrow Roy designed.

In present time our heroes  work together to beat up the Watchdogs. Working together still doesn't mean Roy and Roy have patched up their relationship.

I really like the flow of Big Bow's lesson about being free of distractions to Vertigo talking about Towerkill. Drugs and alcohol have kept Roy from focusing on important things and after confronting the sheriff he finally remembers what happened. The sheriff killed Big Bow and made Roy think he did it. Before he can get some karmic revenge Ollie stops him. Roy asks if Ollie needs help.



Overall: The art for the flashback scenes in this issue makes Roy look like a ten year old which is troubling since last issue had him in bed with a girl. I was especially confused with the three faces of Ollie, Big Bow and Roy Sr. being merged into one. Bad lighting I had didn't help.

The ending did feel like it crammed in a fast solution. Bird doesn't find out the truth from his brother. Roy decides to help Ollie after Ollie says he's proud of him. Roy ditches the bracelet from Big Bow that was just introduced this arc.

The flashback also seems to attempt to half heartedly shrug off Ollies' responsibility as Roy, for no real reason, snaps out of his drugged stupor and rejects Ollie help. Despite saying in this same issue that he had no money, ID or anyone else turn to he rejects actual help. If the Killer Croc part is still canon, which I hope it is because it was a great story twist, it means Roy suffered because of his pride.

The Big Bow and Bird stuff was interesting but sadly we don't get enough of them. Dinah was barely in this and this is one of those stories I think needs to be longer to work better. I was entertained but the ending fell flat. If you love the characters it might be worth a read but I could have skipped this without feeling too bad.



Say What?: According to Roy he started drinking at ten.

This time both of Roy's parents are said to have died in a forest fire.

"Not a killer"? Is DC trying to retcon the fact Roy killed in RHATO and RHA?