Review: Green Arrow Vol. 2- Triple Threat
Quick Summary
Pros: There are brief moments where the story looks like it might be interesting.
Cons: Nearly every story is chaotic and confusing. Both sexism and racism can be found throughout the book. Nearly every meaningful message either plays out poorly or has the opposite of its intended effect.
Overall: This is not a book anyone should read. All of the stories found within this collection are confusing and present very little merit even if you are able to understand them. Even those able to move past this will be lost by the book’s overwhelming sexism and casual racism. This is a book with so little going for it that there is honestly no reason to recommend it to anyone.
Story
If you took various aspects of Green Arrow’s character, mixed them around, sprinkled in some sexism and racism, and threw all of it together in a random order, you might have something close to resembling Green Arrow Vol. 2- Triple Threat. This is chaotic and unappealing mess that somehow manages to get everything wrong at once. Every story starts out as a below average tale of adventure but then doubles down with strange plot twists and illogical shifts in tone. It misses the mark on nearly all of the themes it tries to use, which, in some cases, leads to a message that is quite the opposite of what was intended. I’ve read a lot of books from this era of comics but few have really reached the level of poor structure and writing that this one achieves; it was honestly a struggle to even get through reading this collection.
(spoilers start here)
The book starts out with a story about triplets who trick Green Arrow into coming with them to their base in Canada. Soon after their arrival, they capture him so that their father can use him for completely unexplained reasons (the initial explanation is that they used him for his blood, yet they obtained that before even getting to Canada). He is then freed by one of the triplets, brought back by that same triplet, and escapes again with the triplet. If things weren’t confusing enough, at this point the story shifts tone and becomes some kind of strange Western movie parody, complete with cowboys and saloons. The whole thing is a chaotic mess that left me grappling to understand what was going on most of the time, while I spent the rest of the time bored or upset with what I was understanding.
On top of all of this, the triplets’ role in this story is one of the more sexist things I’ve seen in this era of comics. Their entire value to the story seems to be either to please their father figure or to have sex with Oliver. This ranges from their unnecessary, incestual foursome with Oliver to when one locks the other in a closet while she has sex with him again. The only one with any individuality effectively kills herself after learning she and Oliver have no chance for a relationship. The entire ordeal is horrible and is sure to repel anyone with an understanding of normal male/female dynamics.
The book doesn’t get better after this arc though; what follows are two short stories with equally unappealing premises. The first one attempts to be an insightful look into the relationship between humans and robots but ends up just being a frustratingly enigmatic mess. The second attempts to connect with Occupy Wall Street but completely loses any potential through a muddled message and an overly preachy tone.
The closing arc is just as terrible as the opening arc. Oliver goes to China to negotiate with a businessman about the fate of his company. The man tries to have Oliver killed when he refuses to do business with him, ends up letting him go, almost immediately has him captured again, and then fights him in a final battle. Just when things look like they can’t become any more confusing, the otherwise street level battle suddenly involves ghosts and demons. This story is an utter disaster with almost no redeeming qualities.
(spoilers end here)
Art
Unlike the story, there are actually some redeeming qualities which can be found in this book’s artwork. Harvey Tolibao has a unique style that looks rather nice when depicting scenery or inanimate objects. It starts to looks worse though, when depicting humans, especially when it comes to faces. As this is a book that relies heavily on character interactions, this flaw is definitely noticeable and has a rather large impact on the book. The end result is a collection that does not look terrible but is certainly not good either.
Continuity
Green Arrow Vol. 2: Triple Threat continues the story started in Green Arrow Vol. 1: The Midas Touch.
The story here continues in Green Arrow Vol. 3: Harrow.
This volume also makes a reference to another comic book, detailed below:
- Green Arrow’s potential for Justice League inclusion is mentioned. This is a reference to Justice League #8, which is collected in either Justice League Vol. 2: The Villain’s Journey (Review) or Green Arrow Vol. 3: Harrow.