"You Can Talk Yourself Into Anything, Can't You?!" - Green Arrow and Black Canary in "Green Arrow #1"

Warning: The following post contains spoilers.

Green Arrow #1

“The End”

Writer: Benjamin Percy

Artist: Otto Schmidt

Publisher: DC

I have to admit I’m a relative rookie when it comes to Green Arrow comics. Oh, I’ve been a fan of the character for years, indeed, some of the earliest DC comics I ever read were the trade paperback collections Green Arrow: Quiver by Kevin Smith and Phil Hester, and Batman: The Ring, the Arrow and the Bat by Dennis O’Neil, Greg Land and Sergio Cariello (which, despite its name, is actually about Green Arrow). I’m a huge fan of the character on Justice League Unlimited, Smallville and, of course, Arrow. But, for some reason, it’s only with DC Rebirth have I finally jumped on board collecting Green Arrow each month.

Getting to know Ollie mostly through other media means that I’ve seen him portrayed a number of different ways – the down-to-earth everyman grounding the powerful and sometimes distant League on Justice League Unlimited, the proactive but cynical foil to the optimistic but reactive Clark Kent on Smallville, and as the morally-grey atoner trying to overcome his own darkness in Arrow. All of these Oliver Queens have some differences to each other, but they also have a fair few similarities (beside the whole wearing green and shooting arrows thing) and elements of all three can be found in the Oliver Queen here.

Like in all three, we get to see Green Arrow compared to another hero, in this case Dinah Lance, the Black Canary. In this case, rather than see Oliver as a foil to someone else, such as Clark Kent or Barry Allen, we see Dinah as a foil to Oliver. While the two work well together, they’re quick to clash over Oliver’s methods –

Dinah: Are you insane? First you pay off the cops, now that scumbag? He should go to prison with the rest of them.

Oliver: I’m not paying them off. I’m enlisting them. Tipping them. We’re created a prison factory that creates career criminals… I’m not condemning or rewarding anyone for bad behaviour! I’m encouraging goodness!

Dinah: You can talk yourself into anything, can’t you?!

It’s easy to understand Dinah’s position. It’s likely that a lot of heroes would go easy on the supervisor who gets paid off to turn a blind eye to the Underground Men’s business, since the supervisor makes it clear he needs the money to pay medical bills for his sick son, but at the end of the day (literally), said supervisor is still corrupt and willing to aid human traffickers. As far as Dinah’s concerned, the supervisor is a criminal and should be treated as such. Oliver, however, takes a more morally grey approach. He sees the supervisor as someone who’s made bad choices, even arguably been pushed into making those bad choices by circumstances beyond his control. By bribing him double than the Underground Men are to keep him informed of their activities, not only does Oliver feel he’s helping out the guy and his son – since the supervisor is getting even more money for his son’s medical bills now – but he’s giving the man a chance to atone for his misdeeds. As far as Oliver’s concerned, it’s better to give the supervisor a chance to atone rather than him ending up in prison; something Ollie feels is a “factory that creates career criminals”.

Oliver’s actions with the cops pushes into either further morally grey areas. It’s hard to imagine someone like, say, Batman bribing corrupt cops into helping him. But Oliver is focused on what he feels is the bigger picture. He feels that the Underground Men are a bigger threat to Seattle than a few police on the take, and so is willing to use that corruption to his advantage. It’s an understandable sentiment, but it’s easy to understand Dinah’s shock at Ollie paying off the cops. Police corruption is something they, as crime-fighters, should be fighting against, not using to their own ends.

It’s clear that Dinah sees the world in a very black-and-white way, while Oliver sees more shades of grey. Oliver is willing to make what he sees as small, morally grey choices, such as the aforementioned bribing corrupt officers, because he feels that ultimately it’s in service to the greater good – in this particular case stopping the Underground Men, and in the general sense of making Seattle a better place.

We see more of their clash of ideals later in the comic. Oliver tries to prove to Dinah that he’s “making Seattle a better place” by taking her on a whistle stop tour of all the things he’s done to make help the people of Seattle, not as Green Arrow, but as Oliver Queen, including places for the homeless, children and abused women.

Oliver: People say money can’t buy happiness. But they’re wrong. Because happiness is a shower and a meal and a bed. Happiness is a kid – both three months too early – surviving. Happiness is a ten-year-old with grass-stained knees and a well-oiled mitt. Happiness is a battered woman who no longer has to fear a fist.

Dinah’s counter –

Dinah: I don’t doubt you good intentions, Ollie. But do you realize that your relationship with Emi is the only one in your life that isn’t based on money?

Oliver: That’s not true. I’ve got Henry.

Dinah: He works for you.

Oliver: My C.F.O., Broderick. He’s a kind of mentor, as close as I have to an uncle or fath-

Dinah: Again, he works for you.

It’s clear that this is quite a revelation of Oliver and that he hasn’t ever really thought about this before. Dinah can effortlessly cut through all of Oliver’s bravado, all of his self-conviction. She makes his question and doubt himself, and that’s not a bad thing. In any version, Oliver’s a good person at heart, but his main flaw is that he’s all too often quick to ignore or, worse, self-justify his own failings. Dinah doesn’t allow him to do that, and this will lead, hopefully, to him confronting his own failings and growing beyond them. It’s why Dinah is such a great foil to Oliver, and it’s something I hope to see more of as this series continues.