Green Arrow #2

From the last issue, it looked like it couldn’t get any worse for Oliver Queen. His love interest is a little doubtful of his methods, new found half-sister betrays him, oh and he dies. Somehow it still manages to get worse for Ollie.

Publisher: DC

Written by: Benjamin Percy

Artist: Otto Schmidt

Letterer: Nate Piekos

Cover Artist: Juan Ferreyra

Green Arrow three issues in (including Rebirth) has continued to hold a consistent level of quality and it’s exciting as a reader to see. The story has action, drama, and romance with sprinklings of comedy, all tied together with seriously gorgeous art. It’s a standard a lot of comics could look towards but we’ll keep it singular and just look at Green Arrow.

Those who are familiar enough with comics and superheroes probably could have guessed that Ollie wasn’t actually going to be dead at the end of the last issue, but just because he’s got friends who can help him recover doesn’t mean his life is about to get any better. Ollie returns to a city that no longer thinks of him as a philanthropic billionaire-- all he’s worked for, even his friends, are turning their backs on him. All except for the one thing that is his alone. The Green Arrow. It’s all very dramatic but it’s just the right amount of drama so it’s not to the point of ridiculousness.

It's a strong arc for Ollie’s character, and his dedication to his alter ego, how much of the two are bleed into each other, naturally. But he’s not the only one who’s getting some character spotlight. As much as this is Ollie’s story, it’s Dinah’s too. We catch a glimpse of her search for Ollie, despite Oliver thinking she’s lost faith in him, her actions say otherwise as she begins her hunt for Oliver and Emiko. There’s even a nice little call to the Birds of Prey as she utilizes some of Batgirl’s intel to assist her.

What Dinah ends up finding alludes to Dante’s Inferno and the nine circles of hell-- which should make for intriguing story along the way as Emiko and her mother Shado work towards the ninth circle as well. To see how this plays out in the future should be exciting.

There’s also a small snippet of popular Arrow-verse character, Diggle, as he makes his way back into Oliver’s story, somehow.

Percy’s storytelling isn’t his only asset. His dialogue also makes for a simple read in the  best way. It isn’t over complicated the way characters talk to each other and their choice of vocabulary is mostly relatable, as Oliver at one point describes his head as “swimmy”.

The easy dialogue also lends itself so that more page space is available to showcase Schmidt’s stunning art. Each page is a masterpiece with delightfully warm colours. And the composition of it all is dreamy, figuratively but also literally as Ollie has a couple of dream sequences where’s Schmidt’s talents truly shine.

Overall, Green Arrow is a dream of a series with stellar talent on its team and one can only look forward to what they bring us next.