Green Arrow #2 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Sean Izaakse, Artist; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Last issue kicked us off with a packed issue, as Roy Harper and Lian were finally reunited—only for Lian to be spirited away by some sort of teleportation device, being deposited with Ollie in an alien landscape and leaving Roy swearing revenge against Amanda Waller. How is Amanda involved in this? We don’t know, but given that she’s being set up as the next main villain of the DCU going forward, it seems a safe bet. In working with the Arrowfam, Williamson is giving himself a challenging task—this family is one of the most tangled in the DCU, but it’s also the one where there is the least defining material and there has been so much time since they were last explored. Given that, he gets all the big things very right, such as the unique bond between Roy and Dinah. There’s even a cameo by Barbara Gordon that called right back to those fan-favorite Birds of Prey comics.
As for Lian and Ollie, they’re currently stranded in deep space, in a sector neither of them recognize, as they try to find their way home and battle some evil space criminals right out of Star Wars. A deadly assassin hired by an evil cyborg space cat? No problem. It’s fun watching Ollie slip right into the mentor role again with Lian, although Lian herself has a lot of unanswered questions. How did she get this old (roughly Damian’s age)? No answers yet, but she’s certainly got her father’s reckless heroic spirit and skill with a bow. Ollie has developed some strange ideas about why they can’t go home, but being reminded of his son—who was retconned away for a long time—leads to a very emotional scene that delivers. This is an incredibly promising issue, and the second great one in a row. It could be the A-list run Green Arrow hasn’t had since the heyday of Kevin Smith.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
