Green Arrow #45

The aftermath of Heroes In Crisis.

SPOILERS AHEAD


At Roy's funeral Ollie remembers his time with Roy and his own failures as a father. He's angry at the League for their role in Roy's death.


Overall: First and foremost to those fearing the rumors of Nightwing and Starfire making a baby during the funeral it doesn't happen. It wouldn't make sense anyway given their timelines. He has amnesia and she's in space. Hopefully no one is doing it at Wallys' or the other victims funerals either. Anyway Roy's adoptive brother Bird is present, he was in Percys' run and I always wanted to see more of him but I'm glad the Bensons remembered him.

They actually do a good job at acknowledging canon from Percy, a bit of Titans and RHATO. Which is something of a miracle considering how most titles ignored RHATO. It's a little hard to tell who most of the characters are at the funeral. Partially because Lilth is a blond for a panel and has lighter hair than Barbara. I see most of the Titans from Titans Hunt, Dick isn't there highlighting the fact this takes place after he has his head injury.

Helena and Barbara are there to support Dinah (who didn't really know Roy as long in this canon.) There are people I think are Arrow family members, Diana, Clark and Jade in the distance. Jade didn't say a word but her presence says a lot.

Ollie blames Sanctuary for killing Roy which I can't fault him for. I'd be disappointed if I didn't see him get mad at them. Not because it's deserved but it's that classic Ollie spark. The Trinity are the ones truly to blame for not making Sanctuary a safer place rather than the League it's self. I feel like Bruce would be the a good person to yell at since he financed the whole thing but he's not there. I love that Ollie calls that out since Diana talks about their friendship.

I don't like how quickly Ollie changes from being furious at Clark/Diana/Bruce to wanting to stop the killer to begging Hal to bring Roy back. The last one feels like something Ollie should know anyway. Even if the ring could bring Roy back it's not like Hal is a doctor and he'd be pretty dumb--inhumanly dumb not to think of it before the funeral. I mean I know I don't think too favorably on him and he has done some stupid things but he knows his ring. Yeah Ollie is grieving but his breakdown feels all over the place. Once Hal explains he can't do anything due to the way his ring works Ollie swings back to blaming the league.

I feel like it would have been stronger if Ollie stayed mad without the Hal bit to bring up more of the League's faults. As is it feels disjointed just to have J'onn stop Ollie from murdering the League in his grief. Seriously J'onn, why did you give a weapon like that to Ollie?

As nice as Donna's speech was about how he treated her, his willingness to take a bullet for others, etc. it feels a little mean. The Titans might have been his family before but they shut him out of the team after he literally saved the world. After the Titans and League dismissed him. And saying he desperately wanted a family he never had...look Ollie was an ass to Roy at times. I get it, but it feels a little thoughtless to say that in front of the Arrow family and his tribe. In front of Roy's adoptive brother that he was estranged with for years because everyone thought Roy killed their dad in a drunken stupor. A brother he only semi-recently made amends with.

The best part has to be the scene where Ollie talks to Roy's civilian friend Annie (who doesn't realize Roy was a superhero) that Roy helped get sober. She tells Ollie that the spot for Roy's funeral isn't as random as he thought. It gives some nice depth to Roy and makes Ollie realize how much he truly missed out on in his life. It dawns on Ollie soon after that he really lost him but all he can do is think of the bad times.

Ironically since only this issue and RHATO (to my knowledge) deal with the fallout of HIC we actually get a lot of similarities Roy shared with Jason. In fact Winick once had Bruce and Ollie bicker on who was the worst mentor which this reminds me of just because he's dealing with his faults as a father. Which naturally makes me wonder how Ollie and Jason would interact after what happened with Roy.

One of the biggest problems with HIC for me is the lack of impact of the deaths. If you know the characters you see that their confessionals are off. I don't feel like Roy or Wally died because their DOA and Roy gets one page trying to retcon his history for no reason. That puts it in the hands of other writers to make you care which shouldn't be the case. I don't care for DITF but you at least got to see Jason as a person before he died. The emotions felt real and this issue has to pick up the slack of showing those affected by Roy's death. At least those that could make it.

I did sympathize with Ollie especially his anger but Roy's death still doesn't feel real to me. Which I can't really blame on the Bensons because they essentially have to clean up after King. I think the story could have flow a little better but overall the tone was right. This isn't one of those stories where the hero died saving the world and his spirit smiles at the end. Roy had plans, he was trying to better himself, they all thought they were going to see him soon. It's a tragedy, more so for Ollie who realizes too late that he wasn't a good enough father and wasn't there for Roy enough.



Questions Raised?: Shouldn't Ollie have broken his hand after punching Clark? He mentions being willing to break his bones but he never reacts to pain.

Who are the people who their hiding their IDs from? Ollie asking Hal to resurrect Roy would have been hard to miss. Donna's speech about Roy not treating her like a freak of nature might also raise an eyebrow.

Why does Ollie blame the League in general instead of just the Trinity?

Roy died surrounded by people who loved him? Just Wally that we know of, we don't know if he even knew the others in this canon.

Is Barry off investigating with Bruce? You'd think Flash could show up for a little while. No mention of Wally.



Say What?: I didn't know what J'onn gave Ollie but apparently the box can kill the League. Ollie makes a veiled threat to use it before J'onn has a private talk with him as a reminder that he wasn't given it for revenge. Which is exactly how I feel. As much as HIC angers me the JL shouldn't die because Ollie lost his temper.

Ollie reciting the serenity prayer is a nice connection to the RHATO Annual. It makes everything feel linked.



Did You Notice?: I don't have the hate for Roy's hats that some have. I honestly don't get the hate. But the photo at his funeral makes it look like he never took it off. Which is unintentionally hilarious.

Likewise the silhouette of Donna saving Roy from falling looks like Roy is grinning.

I would have liked to see all the items everyone left for Roy. It doesn't even look like everyone left something for him.