Green Arrow is dead; long live Green Arrow (add that to the growing list of literary allusions I can't quite place--it's Shakespeare ["The King is dead; long live the King!], but I'm not sure which play)! Well, actually, Green Arrow isn't dead, but he was. Only he doesn't know that. Yet. So naturally, he's pretty confused. In short, this isn't your typical comic book storyline, but then again Kevin Smith (I say it again: yes, that Kevin Smith. Clerks, Clerks II, Chasing Amy, Dogma, the works. Also quite a few comic book credits to his name, including a memorable run on Daredevil) isn't your typical comic book writer, although he is a very good one. #1 Difference, Smith knows how to tell a good story (something lost on many contemporary comic writers, which is odd when you consider the graphic novel's recent elevation to a Genre Worthy of Literary Consideration). And tell a good story he does here. I like Green Arrow (as you may recall from an earlier post here), and I liked Quiver. It wasn't necessarily a ground-breaking story, the way the Green Lantern / Green Arrow team-ups of the '60s were, but it was a truly enjoyable story, which to tell the truth is all I'm looking for (Alan Moore aside) from a comic book (a somewhat ironically parenthetical apology for all the parentheses in this post, by the way). There's a lot of talking, I mean a lot of talking, but it's talking that tells a story. And the story is about relationships, and apologies, and learning to admit when you've totally fucked up and taking responsibility for doing so. But it's also about Green Arrow kicking ass, here and there. What more could you ask for? Quiver is a Grade-A piece of work (although I can't say I love the artwork).
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A note of correction: this post doesn't contain a literary allusion at all, but rather an allusion to a French-originating proclamation common to many northern and western European monarchies. Oops! My apologies to the Windsors, and anybody else who might've been offended.
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