Green Arrow #33 Review

Trial by Something

Written by: Ben Percy
Art by: Jamal Campbell and Deron Bennett
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: October 18, 2017

Now that the Hard Traveling Hero arc (and a Metal tie-in) is over, we can get to some important matters like proving that Oliver Queen isn't a murderer.  Yea, that's pretty big whether Ben Percy wants to deal with it or not.  Of course, finding out Wendy Poole was a big deal so I'm not really afraid that Oliver will go to jail for life, but crazier things have happened.  So, how does this new arc start out and is it good?  Let's see...


The issue starts off by showing us this whole Star City thing is not working out for everyone.  The Rich seem covered, but the middle and lower classes are bailing and I'm not sure if the powers that be are upset about that.  We do get some SJW stuff at the beginning, but once Emi and Ollie showed, I was good.

After a quick Ninth Circle vote of no confidence for Moria Queen (I forgot she showed up!) and Broderick, we head back to Oliver as he meets up with Dinah, gets a shave and a little chicka-boom-boom!  We jump quickly to Japan and get an extended fight scene between Shado and a bunch of ninjas before seeing that Dante is still alive.  Now that is a callback to earlier on in this series!  He wants her to kill Moria and when we go back to Star City, we see Moria has killing on her mind herself. 

We then get Emiko taking Kate Spencer to see Wendy Poole, but it looks like Wendy won't be as much help as they hoped.  I understand she's scared, but after all we've dealt with getting her, to pull her away like this felt really forced.

We get more forced with Kate and Ollie at his grave discussing the upcoming trial.  Why isn't Oliver in jail for skipping bail?  I am no McGruff the Crime Dog, but this feels off to me.  The issue ends with a family reunion and me wondering when this book will get back to being good.

This issue is just average, through and through.  For the first issue of a new arc, it felt rushed and the way Percy writes, nothing feels big or important.  He jumps from scene to scene without giving the reader anything to sink their teeth into and at the end I was left feeling...well, I didn't feel much at all.

Jamal Campbell's art was good, but a bit inconsistent.  Some panels looked great while others looked okay.  That equals out to a decent looking issue.

Bits and Pieces:

The Trial of Two Cities arc is underway and it's a lackluster start.  The story jumps around too much and nothing seems to stick.  The art is okay, but by the end, that can't save this mediocre issue.

5.5/10