Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Benjamin Percy, Birds of Prey, black canary, dc comics, dinah lance, emiko queen, green arrow, Juan Ferreyra, justice league, Moira Queen, oliver queen, red arrow, the ninth circle

Green Arrow #35 Review: Deep Green Sea

Green Arrow has left with his mother, Moira Queen, to search the bottom of the sea for the Inferno, the sunken bank-ship of the Inferno. The goal is to retrieve the Queen fortune to save Moira and the city of Seattle. However, Moira may not be as trustworthy as Ollie wants her to be.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor is tailing Ollie's lawyer, and a police detective is spying on Emiko. Black Canary is worried about Ollie, so she may be doing some tailing of her own.

The reconnection between Oliver and Moira Queen puts Green Arrow in a unique predicament. He has already revealed his secret identity to her, and he is putting a lot of faith in her good will. It also shows one of Ollie's weaknesses; he does miss having the money. That is partially fueling this wild search, and it may destroy him.

Emiko's attempts to bring Wendy Poole out of her shell are quite sweet, and it goes to further flesh out the increasingly awesome character of Emiko. However, for those who have followed Green Arrow's Rebirth run should remember, Emiko was complicit in what happened to Wendy, and, should she remember that, Emiko will be in an uncomfortable position with Wendy. Things may get worse for the both of them from there.

The comic is a bit slow and the story doesn't go too far. A problem like this may become something more apparent now that Green Arrow has (smartly) gone once-a-month. Slower pacing can be obscured by frequent issue releases, but it will be harder to hide now. And this comic does add some interesting new aspects to the story, but it doesn't move it forward very far. Also, there is minimal action, which doesn't exactly help anything. There is some tension in the claustrophobic space of a sunken battleship, but there isn't a lot of excitement.

The paneling layout of this comic is really good in itself. They are neatly spaced out, sometimes completely evenly across the pages. I know that's a weirdly specific thing to compliment, but it does allow for the comic to flow better and gives the art space to breathe. Layouts are important, and too often that is ignored in favor of putting as much content on the page as possible. Green Arrow #35 doesn't give in to that temptation.

Speaking of art, Juan Ferreyra returns to Team Arrow, and the comic looks beautiful for it. Mr. Ferreyra is one of the best artists to have worked on Green Arrow Rebirth, and, each time he returns, it is quite the treat. His figures are distinctive, and his characters are very expressive. He is a master of texturing, and his color art is quite gorgeous too. He is great at playing with pigmentation. He's an all-around master of comic book art and will hopefully have a long career in the industry.

Despite a lack of action and minimal plot advancement, Green Arrow #35 does entertain and introduces some intriguing plot developments. The coming trial of Oliver Queen should be a good story, and Juan Ferreyra's beautiful artwork helps bolster the comic, giving some solid visual storytelling to make up for where the written narrative may waver. I recommend this one. Give it a read.

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