Green Arrow #46 Review and *SPOILERS*

Breaking Bones

Written By: Ben Percy
Art By: Patrick Zircher, Fabrizio Fiorentino, Gabe Eltaeb, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: November 4, 2015

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Oh Boy!  It's time to get back to some bone loving, wolf-napping cults and the stories they encompass...... sadly, that story is Green Arrow, where I learned last issue that Oliver Queen doesn't seem to give a shit about people finding out his identity.  Yeah, I haven't been a fan of this story arc...... or the previous one and I'm mad as hell because there's no reason that a Green Arrow book shouldn't be fun and I've done nothing but dread this title since August.  Let me fill you in real fast.  We've got ourselves a bone obsessed cult, who kidnapped Oliver's wolf: George, after we spent an issue hearing his secret origins from a psychic and then Tarantula and Green Arrow made their way to Mexico to get him back............even though they were just in Seattle.  Bone Cults move faster than Flash apparently, but it's time to get into this, even if we're not happy about it.  Let's check out this issue of Green Arrow and hope for the best.

Explain It!:

It's pretty obvious to anyone who's been reading Green Arrow, that this current run of the book has had a darker tone and I think that's half the problem........ it's not that I don't like a dark feel to a book, it's just that it seems like more time was given in setting this dark tone, than actually coming up with a decent story.  As our issue begins, we get this backstory about the town of Juarez, Mexico and how after people began getting decapitated, a man named Miguel sent his daughter Catalina away to protect her.  Only problem is, the bone cult intercepted the bus she was on and they forced her to kill everyone else on board before kidnapping her......... plus some stuff with those moths from Silence of the Lambs showing up in town because I guess death's head moths equal creepy.  Anyway, after the backstory, we see Tarantula and Oliver showing up in Juarez and stopping by the bar that Tarantula owns and lives out of............where Oliver is immediately suited up after taking off his shirt and begins pouring himself a beer to get the taste of the Black Canary song he heard on the radio out of his mouth............. What the hell am I reading?  Nothing like our heroes trying to drink at a bar in costume when they're trying to take down a bunch of murderers......... who also steal pets......nonsense. 

Anyway, before Green Arrow can break into the theme from Cheers, we see that the bartender has been killed and that Tarantula and him have walked into a trap set by the bone cult.  This takes us directly to the bone cult's compound, where they're leader, "Jefe" monologues about how much he loves bones and what they mean to him and it's quite apparent since his place looks like something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with all the furniture made out of bones and whatnot.  

After Jefe tells Green Arrow how Tarantula planned on using him to swap for her niece....... that girl who was kidnapped in the beginning, Oliver breaks free and begins murdering everyone in the room.  While I don't agree that Oliver should be murdering people because it seems to spit in the face of everything we've seen of the character up to this point, I do have to admit that Oliver going at people with what look like tusks strapped to his arms from breaking free of his chair, is pretty awesome to look at, but I hate to see heroes, especially ones like Green Arrow just running around like they're in Kill Bill.  

In the end, Green Arrow murders what looks like most the cult and takes Tarantula and her niece Catalina and jumps out of a window, where he tells the two to go on without him, since Tarantula was planning on sacrificing him anyway and our issue ends with Oliver floating in water, waiting for the next round of fighting to begin.  

That's it for this issue of Green Arrow and like I said at the beginning, this series seems to hope that all anyone cares about is atmosphere because there isn't much to this besides that.  I'm serious, besides for Oliver killing the shit out of people and having an unnecessary hate-on for Black Canary's music that forces him to drink, there isn't much else.  I hate to disparage anyone for what they do, but I really hope that Ben Percy is off this book soon because even though people keep raving about how they love the horror feel of this book, it's not enough to keep actual Green Arrow fans happy.......because it's not Green Arrow.   For the art.......... well, I loved the art.  It's taken me awhile to warm up to it, but I'm back on the Patrick Zircher trolley here and I'm happy as hell because at least I have something to look forward to in this title.  

Bits and Pieces:

I never thought that I'd hate Green Arrow and thankfully after everything that I've read from this run of the character, I can safely say that this isn't Green Arrow, it's a terrible clone that only looks like our hero, so I'm still safe from the hate.  This issue continues to take Oliver towards nonsense that just tries to be creepy as a way to fool you into believing there's an actual story going on here, but let me assure you there isn't.  There's just characters acting in strange ways with a shit ton of murder and besides for the art, there isn't anything to feel good about in this book........ especially if you're a fan of the character. 

3.8/10