Green Arrow #14 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Amancay Nahuelpan, Sean Izaakse, Artists; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: One of the most shocking parts of Absolute Power has been Amanda Waller’s right-hand man – Oliver Queen. We know from this title that he’s likely playing some sort of double-agent role, trying to undermine her from within – but his fellow heroes don’t know that, and how far he’s been willing to go has been shocking. That’s especially left his family, newly reunited, in the lurch. As the issue begins, Batman gets in contact with Roy Harper, fills him in on Waller’s attack – and then orders him and the Arrowfam to stay put on the island. While on the surface this is supposedly to protect them from Waller, Roy quickly figures out that Batman doesn’t fully trust them – and naturally, he immediately decides to disobey Batman’s orders and head out to try to figure out how to stop the Amazos. And it just so happens that Green Arrow had previously tangled with the original creator – Professor Ivo.
Williamson has been doing some impressive deep cuts over the course of this series, but none more deep than the character he pulls in midway through this issue – a character who only appeared in a few issues and stands out as one of the most tragic one-off antiheroes in DC history. It almost seems wrong to drag this character out for another unfortunate chapter, but Williamson’s writing is so good that I think we’re supposed to feel this way. There are also a lot of great smaller moments over the course of this issue, such as some of the interactions between the Arrow family and the presence of Bright, a mysterious friend-turned-enemy of Oliver’s from another world who has now become Waller’s second-in-command – and makes his plans to betray Ollie at the first opportunity very clear. We’re in a new world now, with characters on both sides of the war, and that’s looking like a very compelling story so far.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
