Green Arrow Volume 1:The Midas
Touch (The New 52)
 |
| "Next person who calls me Hawkeye gets an arrow in the jugular!" |
Facts:
Writers: Dan Jurgens, J.T. Krul and Keith Griffen
Artists: Dan Jurgens, Ignacio Calero, George Perez and Ray
McCarthy
Read as trade paperback
Background
Information:
You’ve watched Arrow,
right? Yeah, this is that guy.
... What?!
Okay, I admit it; I haven’t actually watched that much of Arrow. I always get tired before airs.
With that in mind, Green Arrow was first introduced to me in the Justice League cartoon of last decade. I
was interested in this Batman-like archer (in the sense that he has no super powers), and appreciated the cartoon’s
attempts at forging a relationship between both him and his bat-totemed other.
It was cool to see two powerless heroes acknowledge each other in a “got your
back, bro” kinda way.
Put simply, Green Arrow is what Oliver Queen calls himself when he goes vigilante at night. He carries a bow with all sorts of crazy, high-tech arrows (a classic is the arrow that contains a boxing glove- physics be damned). When he's not vigilante-ing, Queen runs Q-Core, a technology company that basically functions like Apple in the real world (right down to QPhones and QPads). Yep, he's Steve Jobs cross Hawkeye.
Does that make Bruce Wayne Microsoft?
Review:
So it’s with that knowledge that I sprung into The Midas Touch, the New 52s offering
for Oliver Queen’s adventures. I borrowed this one from my local library, and I
must admit, was a little wary of the title- wasn’t keen on Green Arrow’s look,
for starters. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. The book isn’t rubbish.
In fact, it is very much not rubbish.
The Midas Touch is
divided into two stories- one of which is definitely stronger than the other.
The First half of the book sees Queen take on a group of villains led by a man
named Rush. That doesn’t sound to interesting at first, except when you
consider the groups motives. In true Gen Y fashion, these guys aren’t interest
in global domination (so 90s). No,
they want to film Arrow getting clobbered and rake in the ill-deserved fame
that comes from a viral video. It’s a fun look into just how twisted the social
media trend can be, and delivers a story that really couldn’t have been done
ten years ago- y’know, back when we had dial-up modems.
It’s a good thing the first half is so entertaining, because
the second half of the trade is pretty bland. This one focus on two villains,
the toxic, deformed monster known as Midas, and his lover, Blood Rose. Blood
Rose, it seems, has some beef with Queen- beef enough to try and kill the man.
It’s a pretty nonsensical story and if it wasn’t for the first half of the
book, it would be enough to write Green
Arrow off altogether.
The artwork in The
Midas Touch is decent- it’s definitely not anything to write home about,
but it captures the action and kookiness of Queen’s character and successfully
manages to make Queen and Green Arrow look like completely different people;
proving, in a way that secret identities can be done right. Somehow, I found
myself not suspecting Queen of being Green Arrow- and this from a guy who had
seen him actually change costume in the book. Imagine how well Queen would have
the rest of Seattle fooled!
The Midas Touch is
a fun romp at Green Arrow’s character. It would have been spectacular had it
not been for the dry second-half. It gets a four out of five dial-up modems.
****
+ First story is awesome.
+ Artwork convinces us that the Green Arrow persona is
actually a disguise.
- Dry, dry, dry second half.
Alternate Pick:...
um...
I actually have no idea. Any suggestions, readers?
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