Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #1 – Brandon Thomas, Writer; Ronan Cliquet, Artist; Ulises Arreola, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Both Green Arrow and Aquaman were left without solo titles in the Infinite Frontier era, but I don’t think anyone was expecting their return to look like this. Written by Brandon Thomas, the writer also behind Jackson Hyde’s turn at the Aquaman mantle, this is a hard-sci-fi comic filled with bizarre twists that doesn’t even really star Aquaman and Green Arrow—at least the ones we know. The story opens with a new villain, General Anderton, reaching the conclusion of a long experiment to warm time and bring life from the past to the present. He successfully conjures a dinosaur—and then proceeds to shoot it in the head for research purposes. Meanwhile, two years later, Green Arrow begins a descent to Atlantis where he tears through their defenses and invades the palace to attack Aquaman—except nothing is what it appears to be, and neither are the two main characters.
So, the main concept of this series is genuinely bizarre. The twist here is that the two heroes are reversed—somehow, reality has been altered due to Anderton’s machinations, and one of the results is that their entire history has been rewritten. Oliver Queen now rules Atlantis and has all of Aquaman’s powers, and Arthur’s only defenses are the trick arrows Ollie left behind. The two hot-headed heroes are as confused as anyone, and that leads to an elaborate fight between them as Arthur just doesn’t know when to quit and proves Ollie’s arrows even more effective than they usually are. By the end they’ve begun to work together, of course, but the threat isn’t what it appeared to be either. Anderton’s been through some changes, just another insane detour in this first issue. This isn’t like anything else DC is putting out—it’s an oddity that never fails to surprise, and I’m curious what craziness awaits us in the next six issues.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
