Article:
The Rise and Fall of Green Arrow

Why are we supposed to care about Green Arrow killing somebody?

It’s not like it’s unusual in the comics universe for a hero to go on a blood hunt and start killing. I mean, in the Marvel universe it’s par for the course, and I’m not even talking about the Punisher’s monthly bloodfest with a killcount in the thousands, I mean even Wolverine doesn’t give a damn about who he slashes to tiny gobbets and it’s not like his adamantium claws are a less than lethal option.

But over in the DC universe everybody’s had a turn at killing people, Batman might not have gone out of his way to kill somebody but plenty of bad guys have died on his watch, and Superman has been torturing himself for decades over his supposed killing of General Zod as the only way to stop him from killing all of humanity. Green Lantern went bonkers not so very long ago and destroyed all of existence.

Most recently Wonder Woman snapped Maxwell Lord’s neck with her lasso of truth, an act that pulled apart the entire Justice League for a good ten minutes until everybody just decided that enough time had passed and forgave her.

So I ask again, why should we care about Green Arrow killing a villain? In the latest story arc with the ‘Cry for Justice’ and now the ‘Rise and Fall of Green Arrow’, Green Arrow puts a shaft right through Prometheus’ brain in revenge for previous misdeeds.

I’ve been a fan of Prometheus since he first showed up in the Justice League titles a few years ago when he took out the entire JLA single handed, including Batman and Superman, but I can get past that if it involves a good story. I’m just not seeing the point of this current witch hunt.

Superman and Wonder Woman both killed people to save the humanity, the universe or even Perry White’s collection of spoons, so why is it so wrong to get rid of somebody in a preventative strike to stop them from future evil deeds? I mean, it’s worse than that since Prometheus had literally just destroyed a city, Green Arrow’s home city no less, brutally killed any number of other heroes and sliced off the right arm of Red Arrow. (and there’s a name that could do with some psychological analysis).