Green Arrow #14, 15, by Ann Nocenti (writer), Freddie Williams (penciler, inker #15), Rob Hunter (inker, #14 & 15), Robin Riggs (inker #15), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists), Rob Leigh (letterer) - It seems like it would be a good idea for either Ollie or Hawkman to watch their back, instead of both looking the same way. I do like covers that incorporate the title of the story into them. Don't know why, but a big stone carving of "The Fall of Green Arrow" with dudes with guns shooting at Green Arrow in front of it is cool.Things pick up where 13 left off: Ollie jumping out of his jet and into the middle of a fight between bird-people. Hawkman's trying to defend himself and a lady named Emma from 5 guys, so Ollie helps the underdog. Things go all right at first, but eventually the Thanagarians cut their losses and take off with Emma. Hawkman collapses, Ollie takes him home to recuperate and regroup. While Jax cooks up something to act against the Nth Metal, Ollie meets with Emerson, who claims Ollie destroyed the company, not him. And for some reason, the stocks in Ollie's company haven't come back to him. They're held somewhere in Seattle. That's set aside while the boys go rescue Emma and learn where Shayera is. So Hawkman can clear his name, I guess. That's where it ends, only to continue in some other title I'm not reading.
I don't know how it played out, other than Ollie didn't die, but he does have a head injury. Which didn't stop him from grabbing a shipment of illegal weapons and dumping them in the ocean. Which earned the ire of the owner of those guns, a rather angry fellow named Harrow. Ollie's fairly blase about having a hit put on him, which might have something to do with his head injury. All his friends are worried about him, but Ollie brushes that off, too, setting out after Harrow. Who's busy yelling at his guys to kill Green Arrow, when he isn't running dog fights. And losing those fights, because his little lackey Pike beats his best dog, and Harrow's lady beat on Pike. Then Ollie barges in and things gets a little wild. We'll see if the old "the first 10 guys get dead" threat saves Ollie's bacon or not. Next month.
I could have done without the Hawkman crossover. Nocenti generally managed to work it into her stuff. Ollie's still rushing in, not thinking things through, refusing to listen to things that don't jibe with what he wants to hear. Even so, the Hawk stuff is still a disruption, and more critically, I just don't care about Hawkman. In any iteration. Doesn't matter if it's John Ostrander, Tim Truman, Joe Kubert, it's Hawkman, so I don't care.
As for #15, it's interesting to watch Ollie fall apart. He's just about out of money, but he either doesn't notice, or doesn't care. Little of both, I think. His friends are getting fed up with offering advice that's ignored. I guess Ollie needs to take lessons from Batman on how to manage that. He does seem to have the city on his side, though. We see one person greet him cheerfully, another express concern for his health, and a crowd cheers when he stops a gunman. He's got the public with him, just as everything else is falling to pieces. I do wonder if the public really cares, or if Green Arrow is just some flashy tourist attraction to them. That first lady was pretty unconcerned that Ollie was in a standoff with Harrow.
I don't know why #15 needed 3 different inkers. I don't think Williams should ink his own work. The anatomy and the faces get looser on the pages he did (7, 8, 11, 20), especially compared to the pages Hunter inked (1-6, 9, 10, 12, 13). Williams also goes heavier on the inks, so the lines are a lot thicker, but there's less detail. It's a simpler, more exaggerated look, but it doesn't work so well with the other pages. Riggs' inks look good when it comes to Green Arrow, but for everyone else, the art is more similar to the Williams' inked pages than the Hunter ones.
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