Green Arrow #15 review

‘Action-packed’ is a fair way to describe this issue. ‘Green Arrow-packed’, less so. As with last issue, Ollie Queen is barely in his own book. Sure, his son Connor Hawke is around and dressed in a Green Arrow outfit, but no one buys this book for Connor Hawke.

It’s a shame we don’t spend much time with the title character, as Ollie is one of the most interesting players in the current Absolute Power event, a turncoat against the world’s heroes, in the service of Earth dictator Amanda Waller. Well, apparently. I don’t believe he’s really a convert to her cause, and Waller’s people don’t either. But he’s proving useful to her as cataloguer of requisitioned super-weapons and souvenirs, so is allowed to roam around her Hall of Order base.

You’d expect that in his own series we’d see whether Ollie is playing Waller or not. It’s not looking good for my theory that he’s still onside with Superman and co as we join him this issue, in a page set in three moments in time, starting with the present.

We don’t see what’s inside the box with the Green Kryptonite glow, but it has our hero cursing. And that’s the last we see of Ollie until the final page. Before that we’re with his ever-growing army of sidekicks, who aren’t dwelling on the current doings of their patriarch. Nope, they’re busy trying to capture Professor Ivo, creator of the original Amazo androids Waller has had upgraded to the level at which they don’t just copy super powers, they steal them. Catch Ivo, find out his secrets and they’ve a chance of turning the tide of the war. But first they have to get past one of Ivo’s other creations, the confused Tomorrow Woman.

In Tomorrow Woman’s sights are Conner, Arsenal, Red Arrow, Speedy, Arrowette and Red Canary. Last time they looked, the young allies also had Arsenal’s ex Cheshire and their daughter Lian by their side. So where are they?

Follow us? Well, they do have an Arrowplane, with handy straps allowing the well-balanced Arrow Family members to hang tight.

Impressive! Even more impressive is the fact that they manage not only to use their skills to slide down onto the jet they’re pursuing, but to hang onto the plane while fighting Waller’s thugs with not a strap in sight.

Maybe the jet is just going very slowly.

What the heck, we’re in a superhero universe, and this is a very entertaining comic. There’s no room to give everyone a character moment, but the set pieces are great – I’ve not even mentioned what the gang get up to before the Tomorrow Woman fight. And there’s a great scene as Cheshire and Lian catch up with Ivo.

The moment is beautifully staged by artist Amancay Nahuelpan, Ivo is the epitome of sinister, and the moment is effectively lit by colourist Romulo Fajardo Jr. The artists make a fine pairing, with page after page of sharply drawn moments, all beautifully coloured. The splash page, especially, is superb.

Troy Peteri, in a rare DC appearance, contributes lively letters, with some cleverly chosen fonts, all sitting sympathetically on the artwork.

The classic Green Arrow art team of Phil Hester and Ande Parks are joined by colourist Ryan Cody on the jolly cover.

My meta-moment of the issue comes as Ivo reacts to the brutish Bright’s revelation that he’s not of this Earth.

Amen, brother. Multiverse, Multiverse, Multiverse, it’s all we seem to get in popular fiction these days.

So, what’s in the box? Why would Martian Manhunter have an anti-Justice League plan, hasn’t Batman already been there, done that? Who’s the person in the parka Ollie is aiming at? Questions, questions.

The chapter ends on a promising moment, and I think next issue will be the last Absolute Power tie-in. Hopefully we’ll see plenty of Ollie then, and he’ll have a quiver full of answers.