Green Arrow, Volume 8: The Nightbirds

Green Arrow (2011)

by Benjamin Percy (Writer), Patrick Zircher (Illustrator)

It's a scary-good new direction for the Emerald Archer in this, the first volume from acclaimed horror novelist Benjamin Percy (Red Moon, The Dead Lands)!
Oliver Queen is back in Seattle and he's not only got to keep the city safe, he's also got to look out for his half-sister Emiko, who's now under his guardianship. But balancing the life of a superhero and a family man is hard when horrifying threats like the mysterious Night Birds are snatching people out of the sky at random. Green Arrow must find out whether the Night Birds are indeed monsters from above, or if there's something even bigger and even more terrifying behind their sudden appearance in the Emerald City.

Collecting: Green Arrow 41-44, Annual 1, Sneak Peek

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Crime

168 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 2016

About the author

Benjamin Percy is the author of seven novels -- most recently The Sky Vault (William Morrow) -- three short fiction collections, and a book of essays, Thrill Me, that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. He writes Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider for Marvel Comics. His fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, the iHeart Radio Award for Best Scripted Podcast, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly interesting, considering the story was made entirely of ridiculous characters and plotlines.
And I truly mean that in the nicest way possible.



I stopped reading Green Arrow after the 5th volume, The Outsiders War, because I simply couldn't take any more of the dumbassery. And I'm not even sure how I ended up requesting this one from the library, but I'm assuming there was some sort of disconnect happening between my finger and my brain, because when I went to pick up my pile of books...this sucker was in there.

I'll be the first one to admit that I inwardly cringed a bit when I saw the title, but what's a girl to do? Even I'm not rude enough to throw something like this back across the counter at a helpless librarian.



Ok, so I'm going to try to explain a bit about the plot, hopefully without spoiling anything, but if you don't want to know anything about what happens in this one, now would be a good time to stop reading.



The entire volume has a magical legend sort of vibe to it, and if you're into that sort of thing in your street-level superheroes, you might really enjoy this one. Usually, I find that sort of It's maaaaagic, so nothing needs an explanation storyline to be a big steaming pile of bullshit. And a lot of this was no exception.

First, Ollie is on some journey to find himself in Alaska by drinking whiskey.
Whiskey that is being used to preserve The Drowned Man, who was apparently some dude who wouldn't leave when they flooded the town. His version of sticking it to the man obviously didn't end well (you can confirm this by checking out his above mentioned name), and he's on permanent display in a bar. Apparently, the patrons aren't grossed out by the dead guy floating in the glass tank behind the bar, because one drink from his mystical whiskey preservative and you get...answers.
*nods sagely*
I'm not sure if the writer realizes this, but you get marked off by health inspectors for not having a hairnet on in the kitchen, storing your frozen chicken above your frozen fish, and not having hand wash stations every few feet. I somehow doubt you'd keep your liquor license with a dead body on the premises. Much less by pickling him in alcohol and serving his juices as some sort of vision quest disguised as a frosty beverage.
I'm just saying.
That whole issue made my eyes roll so much they were starting to hurt. Especially the part where he referred to a bartender as his Alaska Girl.
Apparently, this is a girl that you would go to Alaska with, no questions asked.




Then while he's tracking an albino white supremacist (really?) he saves a wolf yes, a motherfucking WOLF! from a guy who's using it in dog fights.
Now he has a pet wolf named George.
And of course, George has a magical backstory.



But George isn't the only new face (or at least new to me) in this lineup.
There's a weird bird woman known as the Wart Lady (<--self explanatory once you get a look at her) who can tell the future, see the past, and just generally spout cryptic nonsense on the street corners.
The partner/love interest, Tarantula. The romantic part felt really forced, and I wish that whole bit had just been left out.
Then there's his little sister, who seems to be some sort of nicer version of Damien Wayne, in that she's half assassin...half tweenager. To be fair, I've skipped two volumes, so I'm not judging little sis. In fact, I really like her character quite a lot.
The first villain left a lot to be desired, simply because he was a fairly generic white dude (not the albino, a different one) trying to purge the streets of those he felt were undesirable. Plus, it looked like he ripped off Batman's O.M.A.C. Project to do it...



The second villain, however, was definitely better. It was some crazy guy who worshiped the Mayan death god, Puch, and the whole story had a pretty creepy feel to it.



Ok. Now I know that it may not sound like I thought this was very good, but I was really pretty shocked at how well this thing flowed. Yeah, when I pull it apart, it sounds stupid, but while I was reading it? Not bad!
I'm not sure that I've ever read anything by Benjamin Percy before, but I can guarantee you, I'll be on the lookout for his stuff from now on. I mean, if he can take my least favorite title, toss it together with a bunch of crazy nonsense, and still manage make it palatable? The guy has to have some serious talent!
I'm almost curious enough to go back and see what I missed in the previous volumes.
Almost.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun read!

Ollie goes after thee enw enemies Nightbirds who are targeting peple only for us to find out us that they are like monitoring drones called "Panopticon" ledy by a man named Aaron Zimm who Ollie's company funded and well he is after him and the whole reveal of whats happening and all is facinating and I just love the way the whole thing plays out! And yeah great focus on emiko too! 3/5 to this.

Then the story with some new enemies called "the bonehunters" led by a man named Jefe who believes in the death god, Puch and we get the origin of the villain and why he is after Ollie's dog and the theme of supernatural enters and how Ollie deals with him is the story and saves his dog and also a team-up with Tarantula which was nice and makes for a good pairing, honestly the story had some neat ideas but ended quickly but regardless good read.

Overall an okayish decent volume which introduces some cool new concepts and with great art, one time read maybe.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Read as Single Issues, and note that the Description is wrong - this includes 41-47, not stopping at 44).
Nothing says 'scary' like a misshapen crone shouting gibberish about evil birds.
This entire volume basically ignores the previous one, resetting back to Lemire's backup team and forgetting about Diggle and Smoak and the TV version of Arrow entirely. We get Emiko back though, which is a plus. but we also get Star Wars Probe Droids refashioned into a Panopticon, a genetically superior Huskie/Wolf mix who basically gets his own issue, and another uninspiring climax. 44-47 features a second story with Tarantula as an interesting addition who gets poorly used, a Dia de Los Muertos theme that is borderline racist, and a supernatural bent that seems out of character for the series. The Annual really fits more in line with the next volume than this one
One thing I will give this volume - someone did their location research - the areas of Seattle featured (Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square) are fairly well represented, and the art is strong overall. I'm not sure how I feel about the wholesale creation of Pennytown, but it's probably better than setting the slum area in a real portion of the town.
Ultimately, neither of the major arcs here stands strong, and this collection is further weakened by shoehorning in the annual that is more in relationship to the following story. You kind of have to keep reading to figure out why, but that's about the only reason you would - the story and the characters as provided here aren't much motivation.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green Arrow Vol. 8 The Night Birds collects issues 41-47 of the DC Comics series written by Benjamin Percy with art Patrick Zircher.

A distracted Olliver Queen approves a project that allows for algorithm controlled drones to police Seattle (Think Robocop ED 209 but inside a Matrix Sentinel). Of course the robots start to racially profile and over punishing simple crimes. In the second arc, Green Arrow teams up with Tarantula to save his new wolf/dog hybrid George (Yes... His name is George), from a Mexican cult that worships the power that resides in bones.

This volume was pretty out there, but honestly, it was pretty fun and entertaining and leans to an almost horror-like setting. It's nowhere on the level of Mike Grell's run on Green Arrow, but there were moments where it felt like the author was channeling that energy with the book exploring socioeconomic, racial, and policing policies. The book also didn't have any villains from Arrow's usual rogue gallery which added to the feeling I got about Grell's run. Only one more volume left in the New 52 continuity.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green Arrow Volume 8 is actually pretty solid, and a lot of that comes down to the great chemistry between Oliver and Emi. Their brother/sister dynamic is one of the highlights, and I really wish we got more of that in present day stories. It’s fun watching Oliver try to balance being a good role model with taking down street-level crime.

The first arc kicks things off strong: people are mysteriously getting snatched and killed, and we don’t immediately see who’s behind it. As the story unfolds, there's a clever twist where a supposed protector turns out to be more about control than safety. Really cool idea.

The second half, which dives into wolves and vampires, doesn’t hit quite as hard story-wise, but it's still entertaining thanks to the action and fun fights.

Plus, Emi continues to be the best little sister archer anyone could ask for.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable enough volume with some nice ideas, but too many pages of just fighting and no dialogue.

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly this wasn’t that bad. I enjoyed the very short section of Oliver Queen going to Alaska, which closed out the scene with a trip to the fictional town of “Drown, Alaska” (the single panel shown of the town looking pretty similar to the spit of Homer, Alaska). I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll say that while the stories weren’t especially great, I liked that they felt like good ‘ol fashioned comic stories with big bad villains with plans of domination, tragedy, and heroic comebacks. The comic issue dedicated to the wolf was different, but I actually thought it was entertaining enough to read and it does contribute to the story.

I was confused and a little frustrated with the continuity of Green Arrow’s support staff. In the previous collection we had the arrival of Felicity and Diggle, while Green Arrow’s regular support team getting side-lined. Now, Felicity and Diggle are nowhere to be seen (or mentioned) and we are back to the former team.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good book after the previous shit show. I guess the Arrow-esque changes from volume 7 have been forgotten about. No Diggle or Felicity, thank g*d.

I have liked Percy's Rebirth GA, which I've read already, and here in his first volume he's setting up a few plot points he'll expand upon in Rebirth. There is certainly a horror vibe to this book, and it makes a nice change of pace from the usual street fighting in Seattle.

Zircher's art is a good fit for these stories, as are the colors.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strano ma vero, Benjamin Percy mi è piaciuto di più qui che nella sua successiva seconda parte della sua run di Freccia Verde.
L'ho sentito più padrone del personaggio. Forse perché gli interessava di più affrontarlo in questa maniera, piuttosto che la successiva che mirava prettamente a riportarlo ai fasti del pre-New52.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pretty impressed with this volume. Benjamin Percy is a horror writer, so he's taking the series into his field and turning it somewhat into a horror book, which is working with this character. The Nightbirds arc starts off very creepy and while it ends up a little more sci fi than horror it's still an eerie ride and a good read. It does seem a little disjointed as it jumps around, but not so bad to bring the story down much. There's also an upcoming storyline where the setup reminds me of the battles between Daredevil and the Hand, but that remains to be seen. I'm not sure about the pet wolf as it seemed to come out of nowhere and was a little rushed, but still, a pet wolf is pretty cool in and of itself. And then to make things worse, Green Arrow ends up bitten by a..werewolf? Well, sort of. The underlying theme of the entire volume was racism, and it extends beyond skin color.

The art fits the story well and while it's not truly exceptional it's still good. We'll see where things go from here as this felt more like a prelude to something bigger.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, the artwork is a definite step up from the previous volume, and the addition of Tarantula was welcomed; but the story left much to be desired. It was odd, disturbing, gross, and incredibly anti-climactic.

[J.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out really well, but it also wrapped up way too quickly. The end of the second story of the book was very rushed. That being said, I'm glad Ollie has a good writer and artistic team again. Now if they would just get him back to before everything was redone to match up with "Arrow."

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nightbirds is another new direction for the New 52 Green Arrow. Gone are Diggle and Felicity, from Kingdom, which tried to do more of a TV tie-in with CW's Arrow; and Emiko and Henry rejoins the cast. Oliver suffers from a quarter-life crisis and goes to find himself, leading him to motorbike all the way to Alaska. While searching for a new direction, Oliver realizes that being Green Arrow is not just a side job, it's his whole persona. His return to Seattle is marked by changes with the crime watch taking a much more radical form and a death cult running around, tainting the city's divisions even further. Arrow is ready to defend his citizens, but is he ready to meet his match against forces who greatly outranks him in numbers and weapons?

If Volume 7: Kingdom was meant to make the comics closer to the TV series, The Nightbirds undoes that attempt with two different story arcs. Instead, some notable characters make a return here and Green Arrow gains new allies in a wolf-dog hybrid named George and a vigilante named Tarantula. The tone of the series also takes a turn towards more of the sci-fi and horror thriller aspects with mechanical threats, a possible vampire, and a death cult with a rising army. These all sound very interesting, and add to that, the series takes some notable jabs at how government handles red zones and brutality. Even further, Oliver/Arrow comes off more jaded here, having endured a lot throughout previous volumes, now it shows how he's handling it, while still remaining somewhat optimistic. Interesting also is how the series also amps up the violence here, almost bringing the tone similar to Lemire's run with the clans, but this one is outright bloody. While there's a lot of explanations going around with the conflict and the new characters, I believe the villains from the first arc are a little undercooked, in that they're motives are somewhat generic and the characterizations is left hanging. For an antagonist that is supposedly a vampire, you think he would have a bigger role there. Additionally, Green Arrow's costume gets a small makeover, simplifying it down a bit while giving some resemblance to the CW counterpart at the same time.

But even with these character flaws, I found myself liking The Nightbirds a lot more than I did Kingdom, even if the story was solid on that one too. It does seem weird to have some new characters introduced somewhat late here, there's only one more volume left in this 2011 series before DC's Rebirth starts, they do have greater prominence here so I can accept that. With this new direction, I am excited to see how the final volume plays with Green Arrow's story in its final set for the New 52.

[Vince M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goes off the rails with weird magical storylines and Oliver acquiring a wolf-dog in Alaska.

First half sees Seattle uprooted by a white supremacist who Oliver unwittingly supports monetarily for advanced security technology. The tech is a series of Doctor Octopus War of the Worlds flying devices called Panopticons which have powerful profiling scanners, built to identify criminals before they engage in crime. But of course, the inventor being a supremacist, who do you think the machines target? Interesting concept with a less interesting villain.

Second half involves Bone Hunters kidnapping Oliver’s wolf and bringing it to Juarez, Mexico. Green Arrow drives there with his new love interest Tarantula (where did that come from?) and they have to fight a villain sponsored by the powers of a Mayan god.

And we can’t forget Wart Lady, Seattle’s consummate maniacal vagrant who has the power of Sight. Weird, weird volume, but at least it wasn’t written as a companion to the TV show.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad at all. After the last collection felt like I was reading the CW's Arrowverse, this brought it back to the original feel of DC Comics.

Oliver Queen and his sister Emiko are doing what they can to move on as they also deal with trouble in Seattle when Queen Industries gets involved in an urban pacification deal that turns out to be too good to be true. As Oliver does what he can to rectify the situation, he gets unexpected help from an old lady offering him advice, especially when a dog gets involved, as he ends up following up in a caper involving the new 52 version of Tarantula, who is super hot and amazing in a kidnapping situation that takes Oliver across the border.

This was pretty cool. It moved slowly at first. I didn't like how the people Oliver had to deal with were white supremacists; I wish it were just some run-of-the-mill greedy corporation. I did love Tarantula, and I hope that DC handles her better than her infamous run with Nightwing.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nocne ptaki" początkowo mocno mnie zaskoczyły i to na plus, bowiem historie jakie prezentuje Percy w tym tomie są mroczne, miejscami krwiste i niepokojące. Zwłaszcza początek, kiedy widzimy jakieś nieznane zagrożenie, które atakuje z powietrza i robi krzywdę Bogu ducha winnym mieszkańcom Seattle. I to trwa do pewnego momentu, aż na jaw wychodzi, co i kto za tym stoi. Nie ukrywam, że zastosowane tu rozwiązanie mocno mnie rozczarowało. W dodatku jest tu kilka elementów, które wywołały mój śmiech. Szyderczy, przesłaniający pewne rzeczy.

Bo gdy wystrzelona z łuku strzała wyrywa w powietrze przestępcę, wieszając gamonia wysoko w powietrzu, to nie da się zachować powagi. Taki kontrast do historii branej całkiem na serio, nieco wpływał mi na odbiór, a to nie dosyć głupotek, jak absurdalna historia dotycząca pewnego psiaka.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nightbirds" gets off to a rather disjointed start and then takes Arrow in a notably different direction than the version we got from Lemire not long before. Percy's horror influences show through in some of the subject matter and, as good as the art is, I still miss Sorrentin's visuals (yes, I know I keep saying this. I'm not ashamed.)

That being said, there's some good, albeit episodic storytelling here, and Percy definitely brings strong talent to the series. It's a fair start to his take on the character, and I look forward to seeing what he does in upcoming volumes as I have heard his work on Rebirth is excellent.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nightbirds was a really interesting kind of Green Arrow book. Benjamin Percy delivers an extremely dark and violent spin on the Emerald Archer, which kind of (thankfully) ignores the previous volume in the series. Gone are the similarities to the Arrow TV show, which is really for the best, because forcing them into the middle of an ongoing series really didn't work. The horror undercurrents really work for the tales being told here and the art is waaaay better. I'm cautiously optimistic about where Percy takes things in subsequent issues.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects 41-47, correcting description of book.

What a great opening by Percy!
He's quickly becoming a favourite writer of mine.
Very much in the same vain as Mike Grell's run with hate crimes and cartels.

Every couple of issues Oliver has his bow broken which is funny, particularly as it isn't treated as a joke.

The police story is very much just a few steps into the future, we aren't far off from there now. The bones story is genuinely creepy at times.
Art by Zircher and company is better than average.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Benjamin Percy has done a lot of fun projects but this is a struggle. The fall of the Oliver Queen character continues as this book is poorly written, Oliver is uninteresting, there are insanely bad choices (a giant wolf), and a weirdly placed love interest. The book made strange connections and almost everything from the near perfect Lemire run has been taken away. Patrick Zircher's art was good and the art througout keeps this from being a one. Overall, a truly bad book that doesn't do anything to elevate a great character.

[Maeva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hum.... Pas vraiment ce à quoi je m'attendais et on voit clairement qu'avec le changement de scénariste ça part sur un autre type d'histoire, mais bon, pourquoi pas. J'ai préféré les arcs précédent mais ça ne m'a pas empêché d'apprécier ma lecture.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stories, one about a racist bad guy (but Ollie throws a racist joke around before the bad guy shows up, so that's weird and bad?) and then the next is about a bone cult. They weren't bad! But they weren't great!

[Abernathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What started as a cool horror-tinged story unexpectedly turned into something about . . . I don't know, Black Lives Matter?

[superhero fan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emiko is a great charchters I'm glad she's still in the series

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3.5

Percy writes a fine GA story :)

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of an inauspicious start to what was a strong run by Percy on this title.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not to thrilled about the horror direction Benjamin Percy is taking Green Arrow. I do give DC Comics an "A" for the effort of bringing something new to the table with Green Arrow. After all it was hard to follow up Jeff Lemire's fantastic run with the character. The story here is very ambitious but it just didn't excite me enough. The artwork is not bad it worked really well with the gritty feel to the story. The first story dealing with the ethnic cleansing bad guy was well developed but I felt that Oliver should have been able to handle some killer machine without needing to be rescued. The second story was not paced I felt well and moved a little to quickly especially since we really do not get any background development on who Tarantula is or how she came into being. That was my other problem with the second half of the book so Oliver has a girlfriend but than quickly jumps to Catalina by the end of the book. I know Oliver Queen can be a playboy but it all happened to fast. I feel like DC Comics were just allowing Mr. Percy to do this tale just to buy some time for DC Rebirth. Overall it had its good moments but I want a capable Green Arrow who can handle himself just as good as a Nightwing or Batman. I don't mind the supporting characters helping out but Green Arrow should dazzle the reader with his escapism and skill. That is what makes Oliver tick. He is a survivor.

[Daniel Sepúlveda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Al parecer es la primera reseña en español que tiene este volúmen así que hay que hacerle honores.
Me fascinó! GENIAL GENIAL GENIAL!
No se que tiene Green Arrow pero es un personaje que me encanta, sus historias son tan diferentes, más oscuras que las de otros heroes (Como Flash, por ejemplo).
El puntaje de 5 estrellas se lo tiene muy merecido, es más yo le daria 7 estrellas.
Lo que viene se ve bueno... AYYYYY DIOS!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This creative team gives the latest Green Arrow iteration a fresh and interesting voice, but the second story ends pretty quickly and doesn't give the depth to the antagonist that another 4 pages would have easily added. That said, the writing is very strong, and it's obvious that Percy's experience as a horror author benefitted these darker tales.

[Joseph Kirchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

thank you Ben Percy for saving my favorite series this is the beginning of Oliver Queen returning to his glory.