Green Arrow #16 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Amancay Nahuelpan, Sean Izaakse, Artists; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Josh Williamson is wrapping up his run on Green Arrow with next month’s oversized anniversary issue, but the main thrust of this entire run has been putting the Arrow family back together for the first time in over ten years – only for Absolute Power to rip it apart as Ollie sided with Amanda Waller. It’s clear that he has some sort of ulterior motive, but by now it may not matter, as he’s gone so far to preserve his cover that he may have caused irreparable damage to some of his relationships. But as this issue kicks off, the Arrow fam fights side by side once again – against Bright, the demented, scarred and armored villain from Earth-3 with a blood vendetta against Green Arrow. A flashback reveals his identity – sort of – but while there is no big shocking twist to the character, I enjoy how utterly deranged and vicious he is. He makes for an interesting foil amid this much bigger story.
One of the best parts of this run has been the spotlight for Connor Hawke, who is one of the best fighters in the world and gets to show that off in a big way here. But there isn’t much time to celebrate the victory, as the escape from Bright is followed by a shocking betrayal, as Ollie makes clear he’s sticking with Waller until the bitter end – for whatever purpose, as their deal is still to be fully explained. The Arrows have given him all the rope they can, but now it’s time to bring in the big guns – Black Canary, who’s devastated speech to him delivers one of the biggest emotional gut punches of the run. Ollie has a new run coming by Chris Condon, and I’m sure he’ll be a hero there, but whether he’ll still be the head of the Arrow family is a very different story. This has been a run that did a lot in just over a year, but there’s still a lot more to reveal – with only one oversized issue to go.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
