Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Green Arrow #45

By Koppy McFad
December 27, 2004 - 10:14

Judd Winick doesn't even try to be subtle. After making HIV the main focus of his last issue, he opens this one with the character Mia, giving a long lecture about living with HIV. Nice after-school special material. He follows this up with Green Arrow confronting the villain, Brick and challenging him to a fight-- and Brick inexplicably, accepts. It is clear that the writer is trying to revive the Daredevil-Kingpin dynamic in this book. It just doesn't work, seeing as how Brick is, uh, made of rock and Green Arrow shoots trick arrows. What would a fight between them prove? Anyway, at the very end of the story, we finally have Ollie consenting to accept the HIV-infected Mia as his new sidekick, to be named "Speedy." This book has been trying to be very informative about AIDS but it fails to convince people that fighting street crime with sharp, pointed objects is a sane way of dealing with the disease. Well, for once, Green Arrow isn't the preachy character but is actually the rather thoughtful one. That is a sign of progress.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12