Green Arrow #21 - A Review

As Oliver Queen ponders his life and the father he never really knew while visiting the Queen family tomb, a sinister plot unfolds. Four villains - all in the employ of Queen Enterprises CEO Cyrus Broderick - have set about bringing Hell to Seattle in one form or another. Soon Green Arrow and his allies will find themselves tested as never before...


It's difficult for me to show any scans of Green Arrow #21, given the unique way in which Juan Ferreyra illustrated this issue. Up until the final three pages, the top third of each page depicts Oliver Queen's as he visits his father's grave. The bottom two-thirds depict the various villains in action and the story spans across both pages, splash-page style. It's a bold breakage of the standard comic-book format but Ferreyra pulls it off beautifully, taking advantage of the extra space in some truly unique ways.

Benjamin Percy's script is more concerned with the practicalities of reestablishing several members of Green Arrow's rogues gallery than any fancy aesthetics. More, the story attempts to reconcile the new origin for Robert Queen presented in Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow with something somewhat closer to the Arrow TV series character. Far from being overly expository, Percy balances this set-up and some thrilling action sequences like a master plate-spinner.

Personally, I regret the necessity of needing to stick with the story where Shado is Oliver Queen's weird step-mom. But what do I know? I'm one of the three people who miss Mia Dearden and Felicity Smoak from The Kingdom story arc!

Final Analysis: 9 out of 10.