The Fall Of The Citizen In Green Arrow #47
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
The Citizen has captured Oliver Queen, and the vigilante is putting Ollie on trial before his audience. Black Canary sees this and plans a rescue for Ollie. Soon, Green Arrow arrives to rescue Ollie. Of course, it turns out to be Black Canary, and she turns over the gear to Oliver Queen. Black Canary lets Green Arrow take down the Citizen on his own.
Green Arrow #47 finishes out the Citizen conflict, with Ollie trying to make a statement by taking him down on his own.
The Citizen doesn’t really stand a chance against Green Arrow, so it’s not much of a fight. However, that doesn’t take up most of the comic either.
Green Arrow #47 mainly wants to make a statement about how best to fight the ruling class. The Citizen is very much like the Batman antagonist, Anarky (which I’m surprised I haven’t mentioned in any previous review of this arc). Like Anarky, the Citizen is a condemnation of outright warfare against the ruling class, and it hedges its bets with a jab at social media–which, okay, yeah that’s fair. I spend way too much time on Twitter, and it’s a hellworld.
The timing of the Citizen does seem like a criticism of Antifa, though it’s worth mentioning that there’s not been a recorded incident of an anti-fascist activist killing someone in the recent protests. Ollie’s speech still falls a little flat though, as it gives more of a “keep voting” message–and, given what’s going down right now, that seems a little milquetoast and weak.
Politics and praxis aside, it is still a solid issue that falls in line with the Green Arrow mythos quite well. The Citizen is a bit of a trite villain, but this issue still concludes the story well.
The artwork of German Peralta highlights action and motion quite well, and that benefits the comic. The combat between Ollie and the Citizen is a kinetic and enjoyable exchange, and the costumes look especially good under Peralta’s hand. John Kalisz’s colors are well-balanced and dynamic throughout the book as well.
Green Arrow #47 has a pretty underwhelming message to send to the reader, but it is still a fun and compelling issue about Ollie Queen and Dinah Lance. Plus, the romantic resolution between Ollie and Dinah is pretty damn sweet. This one is worth a recommendation. Check it out.
Green Arrow #47 comes to us from writers Julie and Shawna Benson, artist German Peralta, color artist John Kalisz, letterer Deron Bennett, cover artist Alex Maleev, and variant cover artist Kaare Andrews.
