Enemies List, Part 5: The Silence of Sounds
Writer: Andrew Kreisberg
Pencils: Mike Norton
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colors: David Barron
What the hell is DC doing to its characters?
Green Arrow/Oliver Queen and Black Canary/Dinah Lance, having been married for probably less then a year in the admittedly bizarre time frame of the DC Universe, are now visiting a marriage counselor. Come on DC! Can’t we let them be happy, just for a little while?
The story focuses mainly on a horrible retcon showing Dinah getting her powers for the first time, as we’re trying to set her up to feel angsty and guilty over the creation of this arc’s latest villain, Discord, a man deafened when Dinah accidentally used her Canary Cry near him and is now exacting revenge by nullifying all sound. If that plot sounds familiar, its because “Batman Beyond” did it first. And “Batman Beyond” did it better, too.
They seem to refuse to let these characters become who they almost were a few months ago, also. Ollie is back to being a standard asshole, something that he hasn’t been to Dinah ever since the OYL arc, and Dinah is suddenly an emotionally unstable woman who is having trouble telling Ollie what’s on her mind. Seriously? She’s been a fiercely independent woman for years, and is the chairperson of the freakin’ Justice League of America, for crying out loud!
The book is floundering and trying hard to find its ground. Let’s face it, they’ve already shot themselves in the foot. The supporting cast for GA/BC is gone, with Connor rejoining a monastery following his recent trauma and Mia running away to England with the teleporting thief they just met a few issues ago. And now DC’s immediate future seems set on breaking the couple up so the book can be a solo Green Arrow title, with Black Canary serving as a co-feature. The wedding took place less than two years ago, the couple wasn’t legally married for half of that and Ollie was first thought dead, and then missing. Maybe if DC would stop throwing so much crap at them, they’d be happier together?
Final Grade: D.
