Green Arrow, Vol. 1: The Midas Touch by Dan Jurgens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
So Green Arrow is not the best thing to come out of the New 52, but it’s not the worst thing, either.
It lives in the Land of Meh.
As other people (Sam) have pointed out, the Billionaire Playboy/Costumed Avenger thing has already been done. And, let’s face it, done better. In a world where Iron Man and Batman reign supreme, Dan Jurgens is going to have to work hard to carve out a niche for Oliver Queen.
Did he manage to do it in The Midas Touch?
Ehhhh. Not so much.
I will say that Jurgens tried to make him cooler, and there were a few things that I really liked about this new Green Arrow. Unfortunately, they were mostly cosmetic changes.
The retarded goatee? Gone, and replaced by stubble.
The goofy Robin Hood hat? Gone, and just…gone, thankfully.
Beyond that, however, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
For starters, I’d like to see GA fight a villain that wasn’t totally lame.
Reality TV Killers?
Are you serious, Mr. Jurgens?
As much as I think reality tv will be the downfall of modern civilization, I don’t think the idea worked well in this story. The villains came off more like punks, and less like a threat to be taken seriously.
Midas (the toxic swamp dude), was just pathetic. Really. You felt sorry for the poor guy. Not sure what we’re supposed to think about his ninja/cyborg girlfriend, but I’m assuming the story will unfold a bit more in the coming issues.
As a side note, I was somewhat annoyed by the abrupt outfit change when they switched artists toward the end. On the last page of one issue GA is facing off with Ninja Rose (or whatever her name was), and their costumes were one way. In the next page (new issue, and artist), the look of the costumes were different. I understand what happened, but since the scene flowed between two issues, it was jarring. Not to mention, Oliver Queen went from a handsome young man, to a slightly older dude that looked like his nose had been broken in too many bar fights. The petite ninja chick suddenly looked like a stocky bodybuilder, and Naomi (Queen’s own personal Oracle) was transformed from a tech-geek in a vest, to a chick who painted her clothing on. I was not a fan of the new look.
I’m not giving up on Green Arrow or Jurgens, but there are definitely some things that can be improved on in this comic.
Here’s hoping Volume 2 will be better!
Shallow Readers 
Dan Jurgens is the male Ann Nocenti, but with a longer track record of crap. (He singlehandedly ruined Superman in the 90s. Seriously…go back and read one of his books from that time.)
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Nope! Not gonna do it! I’ve read enough crappy comics this year, thank you very much. Maybe 2015?
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