Green Arrow #25

by Hussein Wasiti on June 21, 2017

This week sees the release of a few over-sized anniversary #25 issues. They either end or begin arcs, and this title made mostly good use of the format.

 

Benjamin Percy spends a lot of time having characters talk exposition and explain what has happened in the series so far. We even see Diggle, who we haven't seen since he ran off with Malcolm Merlyn all those issues ago.

 

The back-tracking and exposition became a bit too much, however. It got to the point where certain characters explained their entire journey in one word balloon. It's not too invasive, but it was a problem. This is a fantastic jumping-on point for new readers, however, as the entire series is basically explained.

 

Percy is playing the long game, even at this point. The Ninth Circle is still at large and have plans to expand to other American cities, like Gotham and Metropolis. They have turned Seattle into Star City, which I thought was a bit contrived but is the perfect representation of Oliver's defeat at the hands of his nemesis, Broderick.

 

The last half or so of the issue was pretty great, however. We've seen Oliver in this kind of situation so many times but Percy is doing it with a twist. Not to spoil anything, but he'll be interacting with some other characters soon. There's even a great twist at the end of it.

 

As for the art, Juan Ferreyra isn't here and instead we get the series' other artist, Otto Schmidt. Schmidt's style is really unique and I've missed it; he hasn't been on the book in a while and I suspect they wanted him to draw more arcs consistently. In any case, this title has two of the best artists in the industry at the top of their game.

 

This over-sized issue is light on new developments and heavy on exposition. While not necessarily a bad thing, it does get in the way of providing a proper epilogue to The Rise of the Star City storyline that just wrapped up. Schmidt's art was missed and it's as gorgeous as ever.

Our Score:

7/10

A Look Inside