Green Arrow #19 – Chris Condon, Writer; Montos, Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: After a run full of family and high-octane superhero adventure, the new creative team of Condon and Montos are plunging Arrow into a noir mystery set in his new hometown – the corrupt metropolis of Freshwater Kills. To say this new run is darker is putting it lightly – for the second issue in a row, this show opens with the sad tale of a child who gets poisoned due to corporate malfeasance, and the result in this issue is him falling into a coma while convulsing in front of his horrified mother. Now, multiple people linked to the company are being killed in elaborate and gruesome ways, including a US Senator, in a plot that likely feels a lot more current than it did when it was greenlit. While Ollie partners with a Freshwater Kills officer (and her dog), he starts slipping back into the persona he used to have and repeating a lot of lines Hal Jordan is all too familiar with.
But don’t think this is some kind of sober political book. It’s a thriller first and foremost, and as the two agents of the law investigate the footage and work with two other officers (a grouchy vet and a hyperactive surveillance expert), they realize they never saw the Freshwater Killer leave the building. And that’s because he’s still there. What ensues is a chase straight out of a horror movie that shows off why Condon is one of the best suspense writers in the business, and a great showcase for Montos’ appealingly dark art. While the motivation for the killer, if the reveal at the end is to be believed, is a little predictable, their words seem to indicate this might just be the beginning. This run has some very interesting ideas so far, but it boosts them with a sense of tension that’s very hard to pull off. This is likely going to be a slow burn of a storyarc, so I expect things to pick up even more next issue.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
