Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Amanclay Nahuelpan
Colors by: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by: Troy Peteri
Cover art by: Phil Hester, Ande Parks, Ryan Cody (cover A)
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: August 28, 2024
Green Arrow #15, by DC Comics on 8/28/24, continues the Arrow family's mission to capture Professor Ivo so they can learn how to defeat Amanda Waller's Amazo robots.
Is Green Arrow #15 Good?
One of the odder aspects of the Absolute Power event is Oliver Queen's all-in alignment with Amanda Waller, despite her clear lack of moral foundation for depowering and imprisoning powered individuals. Joshua Williamson appears to be taking steps toward demystifying Ollie's turn by hinting that he's been acting as a double agent. Is Ollie's turn a true fake out? Let's find out.
When last we left the Arrow Family in Green Arrow #14, despite warnings from Batman and the remaining refugees from Amanda Waller's sneak attack on all powered individuals, Roy Harper led the team on a covert mission to find Professor Ivo. Why? Roy hoped the team could use Ivo's knowledge to defeat the Amazo robots of Task Force VII and give the heroes a fighting chance. The team found Ivo, but Ivo was protected by a reprogrammed Tomorrow Woman, and Bright arrived to snatch up Ivo on behalf of Amanda Waller.
In Green Arrow #15, we begin with a flashback to a private meeting between Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter, where the latter gives Green Arrow a box with the key to defeat the Justice League if the need ever arose. Now, we see Ollie digging up the box from its hiding spot and calling for a Task Force transport. Unfortunately, the transport is otherwise in use by Bright on a mission that Bright says Ollie assigned to him.
Yeah, context is important here. In a previous issue, Ollie suggested to Amanda Waller and her team that collecting weapons from captured heroes and villains isn't enough if the people who created those weapons are roaming free. Although Ollie didn't specifically tell Bright to go after Ivo, Bright acted on Ollie's great observation. Further, the flashback with Martian Manhunter is the strongest hint that Ollie is planning a surprise for Waller.
The issue shifts to the Arrow family falling out of the sky during the battle with Tomorrow Woman. The members use parachute arrows to survive the fall, except Red Canary, who needs a helping hand. Tomorrow Woman hero-lands in the middle of the group to continue the brawl. Connor Hawke steps up to convince Tomorrow Woman was a hero once and could be again if she chooses to override Ivo's programming. Connor's words get through, causing Tomorrow Woman to shut down.
Admittedly, the conclusion of the fight with Tomorrow Woman is a dud. That's not to say there isn't a way to get through to Tomorrow Woman by non-violent means, but telling a woman to "calm down" probably wasn't the most progressive choice.
The Arrow team spots Waller's transport speeding off, and Ivo is nowhere to be found. Roy surmises that somebody on Waller's team snatched up Ivo, so they decide to head to the Arrow jets to give chase. Roy notices Cheshire and Lian aren't around, so he contacts them to catch up. That's when they announce they're already on the transport and moving to free Ivo.
On board the transport, Cheshire and Lian move to free Ivo while Bright isn't looking. Ivo isn't eager to go with Cheshire out of gratitude, knowing he'll be used as a pawn, regardless of who he goes with. In a surprise move, Ivo offers Cheshire a large sum of money to free him and take him where he wants to go. Even more surprising, Cheshire agrees, but before the two can escape, Bright returns to capture everyone.
The structure of the preceding scenes makes sense, but the details are odd. Cheshire has traveled a long way, literally and figuratively, to get back into the good graces of the Arrow family, so for Cheshire to quickly agree to Ivo's offer seems out of place.
Outside, the Arrow family catches up to the transport via an Arrow jet. What follows is a battle between archers and Waller's stormtroopers with jet packs, Bright arriving with hostages, forcing Roy to make a deadly choice and a last-minute assist from an uncertain ally.
Overall, Joshua Williamson delivers a high-flying issue that leans heavily on action to make the Arrow family's contribution to the Absolute Power event seem meaningful. The issue is generally fun, but the net contribution to Absolute Power is negligible except for the brief tease that Ollie has a secret plan cooking to defeat Waller.
How's the Art? Amanclay Nahuelpan's art looks great. Since Green Arrow #15 is an action-heavy issue, the weight of the issue falls to Nahuelpan to keep the scenes moving with smooth transitions and energy. Visually speaking, there are no complaints.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Final Thoughts
Green Arrow #15 jumps into a heavy-action issue as Roy and the Arrow family fight Tomorrow Woman and Bright for control of Ivo. Joshua Williamson's and Amanclay Nahuelpan's action-heavy issue is largely engaging, even if the net contribution to the Absolute Power event doesn't amount to anything important.
7/10
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I don't want to nitpick but guns really mean nothing in this issue. I know, I know, it is like a lot of movies and comics where several people fire 100 bullets and a single person won't be hit anywhere but at least with for example Batman and most vigilantes nowadays which are more serious, they are fighting at night and these guys maneuver and jump around or are completely covered in bullet proof armor or use smoke bombs or something to make it work!!! But the Arrow family are on top of a jet in broad daylight where they can't jump around much and have air pressure as an obstacle and in full view against guys clad in heavy armour with heavy guns all of them specifically shooting them and none of them even get a scratch. The artist also makes it worse by doing a wide shot of the fight several times in the issue and specifically showing the bullet impacts near the characters. This crosses my limit for ignoring these stuff, at this point guns are completely useless, what is the point of them even going through this fight when there is no tension or danger?? Cause having them take this more seriously by showing the danger and the sacrifice they have chosen to do, gives this story the quality and tension it lacks and the writer doesn't even have to kill off a character, he just has to depict the stakes as they truly are rather than this weird version we are getting.
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