Writer: Kevin Smith
Artist: Adam Kubert
Colors: Frank Martin
Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Characters:
Daredevil- Marvel
Green Arrow- DC
The Hand- Marvel
Count Vertigo- DC
The Red and the Green stars Daredevil-Green Arrow in an 8 page action packed story that pits our heroes against Marvel’s The Hand and DC’s Count Vertigo. Can our heroes work together and win the day?
Story:
Steve: Eight page stories present a challenge to writers because the traditional three act structure can be difficult in so few pages. Kevin Smith wisely throws us into the middle of the action. We don’t need to know the backstory; readers who picked this up will know who Daredevil and Green Arrow are. In typical Smith form, the dialog is witty and clever as the two heroes banter back and forth once they meet each other. Smith uses villains from both companies: the Hand from Marvel and Count Vertigo from DC. The choices are perfect because the Hand presents a hand to hand combat problem for Green Arrow and Count Vertigo presents a huge issue for Daredevil disrupting his “radar sense.”
Most of the issue is focused on the battle and the banter between the two. The issue closes with a clever throwback to Matt’s early days. As Count Vertigo has Daredevil right where he wants him, Green Arrow comes to the rescue with his patented boxing glove arrow. This time, with Fogwell’s Gym in the background, we see that Ollie crafted the arrow from Matt’s fathers boxing glove- Battlin’ Jack Murdock.
While this story was fun and had a neat, tidy ending, I do feel that Smith missed a great opportunity to tell a more meaningful story. Daredevil and Green Arrow are characters that fight for the oppressed, the little guy. There is definitely a story there where Ollie and Matt work together to right wrongs and stick it to the man!
Randall: Kevin Smith! Daredevil! Green Arrow! Awesome team up! First off I’ll admit I’m a big fan of Guardian Devil! Yes, yes it has some flaws but the magic it hit with was amazing! ! I did also enjoy Kevin’s GA run and the heart infused in those arcs was superb. So yeah I was all in on this team up when I heard Kevin was coming back to these characters for a short story in this company crossover special. Soooo, I enjoyed the jump right into the action and I enjoyed the blending of heroes ninja villains! Steve did a great job breaking down the story so I won’t repeat it for time saving measures, but it was a fun little romp. I loved the banter back and forth between Matt and Ollie and the characters really made a connection in an 8 page story. On the flip side, I do agree with Steve, Kevin missed a bit of an opportunity to really hit a homerun with these two characters but there’s only so much one can do with 8 pages. I am imagining this story (and issue!) really had a lot of editorial oversight given its work from two companies combined.
Art:
Steve: For me, the art is the star of the story! Kubert handles the action, and all of the characters, with great aplomb. The fighting is kinetic and the layouts are beautiful. Kubert delivers and inverted two page spread that is gorgeous and allows for Matt’s and Ollie’s inner thoughts to be on display as they are flying in action. He also handles Matt’s radar sense in a clever way as Ollie is briefly knocked out of commission and Count Vertigo steps in to put Matt out of commission. In the bottom corner is a very imposing image of Vertigo with a foreshortened gun nearly coming off the page. Absolutely spectacular!
Randall: The art was really great! Kubert found a way to pack in the details and panels for an 8 page story. I did really like the creative use of a double page panel (don’t want to spoil the surprise!) and wish more artists would do the same. Great coloring too! All and all, the art was amazing.
Overall:
Steve: 3.5 Billy Clubs
Randall: 3.5 Billy Clubs
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