Review: Green Arrow Vol. 7- Citizen’s Arrest

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline is moderately exciting. The Justice League: No Justice tie-in is good and the Heroes in Crisis tie-in is great. The volume’s artwork is mostly positive.

Cons: The main storyline has some problems that leave it feeling average instead of good.

Overall: Despite a few small positives, this ends up being a pretty middle-of-the-road collection. The most significant positives come from two solid tie-in chapters that connect back to major DC Comics events. However, the main storyline, which takes up the bulk of the collection, is somewhat mediocre and fails to impress. Fans coming to this volume for the tie-ins will find plenty to enjoy but fans coming for a standalone Green Arrow tale may be disappointed, especially if they come here after reading earlier volumes in this series.

Story

Green Arrow Vol. 7: Citizen’s Arrest, by Julie Benson and Shawna Benson, is a mostly average collection, with a few bright spots here and there. The main arc here is a decently exciting story about Green Arrow protecting the city from a murderous new villain. However, Green Arrow’s approach to activism is a bit of a contrast to what was developed over the last six volumes and undercuts this story’s message, bringing it from pretty good to just average. Outside of this, the collection fairs a bit better. The Justice League: No Justice (Review) (Reading Order) tie-in provides a unique perspective on that event and the Heroes in Crisis tie-in is excellent. Overall, this is alright for the way it ties in to other events but doesn’t impress much on its own.

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Citizen’s Arrest opens with a tie-in to the Justice League: No Justice (Review) (Reading Order) event. This tie-in has Green Arrow team up with several of the heroes who were left on Earth while most of the superhero community was either taken off-planet or otherwise subdued. This provides an interesting perspective on the event as a whole that suits Green Arrow’s character well. It also closes with Martian Manhunter putting an extreme level of trust in Green Arrow, which also suits both characters well.

Then, Citizen’s Arrest goes on to detail its most significant story arc. The arc follows the rise of a violent new vigilante who is killing members of the upper class. The confrontation between Green Arrow and this new villain is moderately exciting and has some great moments for the hero, in both his civilian and heroic identities. It also touches on an interesting point in questioning when populist unrest becomes mob justice.

However, the entire narrative contrasts dramatically with Green Arrow as a character. Having Green Arrow go from protecting society’s downtrodden to protecting its elite is a delicate process that this arc does not maneuver well. In its attempt to admonish mob justice it fails to seriously bring out the “power to the people” attitude that has been baked into Green Arrow’s character, especially over the past few volumes. Instead, Oliver Queen makes a throwaway line about peaceful protests while generally avoiding any call for meaningful change, which the Oliver Queen of just one volume ago would have been all about. In general, the change in tone from the past six volumes to this one does not work well.

The one seriously bright point of Citizen’s Arrest is its connection to the Heroes in Crisis event. Roy’s funeral is incredibly emotional, as Oliver struggles to deal with the pain he is feeling and briefly projects it on the members of the Justice League. I felt like Roy’s death was not handled well in the main Heroes in Crisis narrative so I was very happy to see it receive some well-written spotlight here.

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Art

The quality of the artwork in Citizen’s Arrest is mostly positive and works out well for the volume as a whole. Javi Fernandez’s work makes the characters look good and gives the action some nice energy. This allows the fights between Green Arrow and the Citizen to play out well, which is one of the main storyline’s biggest positives. Additional energy also comes from the page structures, which can go from neatly laid out to more chaotic depending on the current situation. In addition, John Kalisz’s colors are great at reflecting the mood in this story. This is particularly true in the Heroes in Crisis tie-in, where darker and more muted colors are a perfect complement to what is happening in that issue. All in all, this volume has nice visuals that make for a solid reading experience.

Continuity

Green Arrow Vol. 7: Citizen’s Arrest continues the story from Green Arrow Vol. 6: Trial of Two Cities (Review).

The story here continues in Green Arrow Vol. 8: The End of the Road (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Green Arrow Annual #2 is a tie-in to the Justice League: No Justice (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Roy mentions going to “Sanctuary”. This happens in the Heroes in Crisis event.
• Green Arrow #45 is a direct tie-in to the Heroes in Crisis event.
• Green Arrow #45 references a time when Green Arrow and Green Lantern confronted Roy Harper about his drug use. This happened in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86, collected in Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard Travelin’ Heroes.