An awkward family meeting, for some values of family, awaits Green Arrow as his city clashes with the future world of Kingdom Come, and an elder Black Canary (plus two children who may or may not be related. There’s time travel, things get complicated.)
Your Major Spoilers review of Convergence: Green Arrow #2 awaits!
CONVERGENCE: GREEN ARROW #2
Writer: Christy Marx
Penciler: Rags Morales
Inker: Claude St. Aubin
Colorist: Nei Ruffino
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Marie Javins
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in Convergence: Green Arrow: After a long career using gimmicked arrows, Green Arrow became a Longbow Hunter, and turned to the more brutal method of traditional broadhead arrows. Moving from Star City to Seattle, he became a much darker and more dangerous vigilante hero, ending his relationship with longtime lady-friend Black Canary. G.A. even discovered that he had unknowingly become a father, as the mysterious Shado bore him a son, Connor Hawke, who was raised as a Buddhist monk. Barely reunited with his son, he now has to battle the Black Canary of the future known as Kingdom Come for the survival of his entire city…
PARENTS AND CHILDREN AND TORTURED ANTECEDENTS
Our story opens with future Dinah Lance-Queen and her daughter, the new Black Canary, teleported from their city to the Metropolis of the Pre-Flashpoint DCU, where they are thrown into a battle with Green Arrow and his estranged son, Connor Hawke. This version of Oliver and Connor have barely even met, and Connor is thrilled to find that he has a “half-sister” in the future child of a divergent Oliver, while Ollie is confused and Dinah is pretty much in control and exasperated at dealing with foolish youths. (That is counting Oliver, by the way.) They declare a truce, long enough to discover that there seems to be no way out of the city, and that the battle is inevitable. Worse, Telos appears to announce that two of the other cities have already been destroyed (Electropolis is one, destroyed by Parallax, but I’m not sure which other city has been taken out), leading Black Canary to end the truce with a sudden sneak attack.
Fortunately, Green Arrow keeps his feathers numbered for just such an emergency.
FORCED INTO CONFLICT
The crux of this issue is the battle of wills between Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance, a battle which is pretty satisfyingly played out here. Oliver is resourceful, but the canny Black Canary uses her ace in the hole (read: the daughter whose powers Oliver has no knowledge of) to take the win. Some hours later, the Arrow awaken to find that they and their world still seems to exist, leaving them (and us, the readers) unsure of what has happened to end the Convergence. The art this issue is quite good, with Connor’s facial expressions standing out as especially well-handled, but kudos must be given to Rags Morales for taking the weird cybernetic rig of future baby Canary and making it look not only good, but workable and even heroic. (I mention this solely because it’s something that many of the Kingdom Come suits have never actually been able to do.) There is fun character interaction, and a sweet ending where Oliver and Connor express how happy they are to have met only another, but then…
THE BOTTOM LINE: THE NON-ENDINGS CONTINUE
…it all just fizzles out, with the promise that Convergence #7 (or maybe #8, so you’d better buy ’em all) will tell us what actually happened. Still, Convergence: Green Arrow #2 delivers on the premise of “come see your old favorites one last time”, with nice Green Arrow/Green Arrow and Green Arrows/Black Canaries interaction, and some lovely art throughout, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. If only there were SOMETHING that felt like closure of the story, this issue could have been even better…
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