A Crossover done right
The Forest is rebelling, a demon is loose and all that stands between those two forces of nature and the rest of the world are Oliver Queen and a ragtag group of powerless heroes.
The Good:
- Avoiding the Crossover-itis: This book does right what every other book seems to do wrong. J.T. Krul takes the chance and gives us new characters in a crossover. Where other writers would just have thrown Batman and Superman in this one - thus making it another boring "Trust me, Superman, even without our powers, we can do good." - "Yes, Batman, I see that. Look, there's Green Arrow." We've had that a million times already and we don't care. However, if you add characters we rarely ever get to see, have them do all the heroics, that's when it becomes interesting and very exciting. It's not like publishers have shied away from killing off second-stringers lately, so readers can't be certain that their hero will get to live. Besides, they're Mr. Terrific and Dr. Mid-Nite. They're both awesome.
- The Art: Diogenes Neves does beautiful art. It's light, dynamic, detailed and he manages to give every character a distinct look of his or her own.
The Bad:
- Do we really need that bit where Etrigan is redefining himself? isn't he an amazing foe/hero on his own?
- How does Ollie know that the White Lantern Bow is draining him more and more with every shot before he even fired it once?
- Despite all the epic battle-scenes and the handling of the crossover, I see neither Etrigan nor the woodland creatures as big threats to anyone. They're just not menacing at all.
- It is really sad to see that Ollie won't get to be the big hero in all of this. And it's made evident from the get-go, by having this silly box that says "This takes place before the finale of Brightest Day", basically telling readers "Yeah, you know, we won't have the decency to finish it here, so go buy some completely unrelated book that nobody cares about to see how this hero's going to be not even acknowledged once or even alluded at to see how it all ends." Nice...
The Verdict:
Buy it. The entire series so far has been a strong book. This issue is no exception. I see no reason why you shouldn't buy and like this comic in general. It's one of the few comics I actually look forward to every month and so should you.
