DC took the right approach in starting off the Green Arrow/Black Canary series. Any series featuring (slightly) lower tier characters is a struggle to keep going, even moreso if they happen to be a married couple.  But GA/BC kicked things off with a clever plot device, and the end of the first arc used another tragic ploy to swing us into this new arc. And damn it, it’s worked like a charm.

This issue is a great “couple” mystery/adventure series. Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance are finally working together, hunting down those who have taken Connor Hawke, Oliver’s son. The issue moves fast, like a movie, an opening set piece leading into a chase scene. The storytelling is dynamic and clear, and the issue ends with a cliffhanger that adds more questions than it answers. Good stuff.

However, it’s not perfect. There are a couple of weaknesses apparent. First, is the dialogue. Winick generally has a decent handle on dialogue, but we had a couple of passages here that just stuck out to me. In one passage, Dinah says to Ollie, “you are going to have to push back that ocean of rage, that monsoon of emotion that kicks around in your body like a rabid bear on steroids.” Really, Judd? Really? Three metaphors in one sentence, and you even had to tack on, “on steroids” to that? I think I got the point after the ocean of rage, thanks. The flipside of this would be Ollie’s line at the end of the book. Now, I understand that Oliver Queen isn’t as “old” as he was when I was reading him in the Mike Grell era. But…I dunno, he just doesn’t strike me as a guy who is call somebody “Butt Monkey.”

The other weakness in this series is Winick’s handle on Black Canary. It’s by no means terrible, but to make a “partner” book work, I think you have to have a really great take on both characters and their dynamic together. Thus far in the series, Winick seems to have a great handle on Oliver as a character. His feelings for Dinah, for Roy, for Connor. However, Black Canary, particularly in this issue, seems to be here to calm down Oliver and give him pep talks when he needs them. And while that works for the current storyline (since it’s truly Oliver’s tragedy here), it’s not going to work in the long run. So in future stories, I hope that we get to see insight into Canary’s character and why she needs Ollie, just as he needs her.

Lastly, I have to mention that I’m soooo glad to have Cliff Chiang back on the art. And I’m very saddened to hear that he may be leaving this title soon. Chiang’s artwork makes up a huge part of the package here, and this issue is no exception. The storytelling is clean and easy to follow, and the characters are dynamic and expressive. Truly great to have in an adventure comic.