Green Arrow #3 Review

Burn Me Once...

Written by: Ben Percy
Art by: Juan Ferreyra and Nate Piekos
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: July 20, 2016

Green Arrow has suddenly become one of my favorite books out these days and because of that, it is easily my biggest surprise of Rebirth.  Ben Percy has turned this book into something special and has won me over big time.  I've enjoyed the hell out of Otto Schmidt's art and while I am upset to see him go for now, getting Juan Ferreyra on the book is sure to make up for that real quick.  So, does Percy and Ferreyra keep the good times rolling along now that Oliver has lost everything?  Let's find out...


The issue opens with Oliver high among the Seattle Skyline talking about how he always was in-tune with the heart of the city because that was where the Queen Industries Skyscraper was.  I know it goes a bit deeper than that, but I love the way that Percy throws the whole "You have failed this City" cliche that everyone loves on its ear and also how damn good Juan Ferreyra makes everything look.

In my opinion, the Rebirth series has excelled because of Oliver working with a team, but for now, he is on his own and Percy makes up for that by giving us a pretty good inner monologue narrative and an Ocean's Eleven type caper as Oliver breaks into his family's business.

Of course, he isn't after money here (though he could use some!), but instead is looking for answers and right before he finds some, Percy sends us off to Italy where Diggle is looking for exactly the same thing.  As both Diggle and the reader do get some cryptic information on the Ninth Circle, we look back at Oliver fighting off the Burned to reach his target...Broderick.  This is a pretty cool scene, but i'm not sure why Oliver would want Broderick to know he is Green Arrow.  Maybe I'm missing something here, but it felt off.

Issues aside, Broderick is a piece of shit and Percy writes him exactly as such.  He casually drops the Ninth Circle name to Oliver and you know he doesn't care because he's convinced Ollie will be dead within minutes. That's because Shado crashes the party, but it's a pretty quick fight with Oliver leaping out a window with Broderick's laptop after causing some explosive damage.

After a quick scene with Black Canary that sets up a pretty cool future storyline, we see the head honcho...Dante.  Pretty appropriate name, huh?  He's a guy who is all about balancing the checkbook and as he sees it, Oliver being alive means someone owes him big time.  On cue, Shado starts round two of her and Oliver's fight and we find out why she is doing what she's doing, but I have to say that the scene is diminished a bit by some pretty horrible dialogue.  It kind of picks up at the end with an early cliffhanger with Oliver being surrounded by some of Seattle's finest.

That bad dialogue problem continues to rear it's ugly head as Dante decides that since Shado can't do her job right, she is now enemy number one...or at least two.  That's when Emiko steps up and we get the actual cliffhanger that spells out what type of bait to use when trying to capture and Arrow.  Spoiler...it's not cheese.

I hate to say it, but this is the worst issue of Green Arrow since Rebirth started.  It's not just because the issue is mainly setup, but more a case of awful dialogue.  I have liked the cheesy fight scene dialogue that we've gotten up until now, but this issue turns it up to eleven and just keeps on rocking the house.  It just snowballed from the first page on and by the end, I had had enough.  I have enjoyed this book so much, so I am chalking it up to a rare miss.  I hope it remains that way.

I mentioned the art a bit at the beginning of the review and I will tell you right now...Juan Ferreyra kicks ass.  Everything looks stunning and I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that his color work may even trump his pencils and inks.  Seriously, Juan may be one of the best colorists at DC right here, right now.  He is indeed a triple threat!

Bits and Pieces:

While we get some answers in this issue, it is mostly setup and is unfortunately filled with forced, over the top cheesy dialogue.  The art is great, but that can't save what is easily the worst issue of Green Arrow since Rebirth started.  I still love the book and look forward to the next issue, but I am hoping that Ben Percy rights the course before everything goes way off course.

6.5/10