Absolute Green Arrow #2 continues to be one of the Absolute Universe’s biggest surprises. Writer Pornsak Pichetshote and artist Rafael Albuquerque leave us no room to breathe as they force Dinah Lance to confront Oliver Queen’s past. Her investigations keep leading her into dangerous confrontations with a new, more ruthless Green Arrow and uncomfortable truths.
Title: Absolute Green Arrow #2
Creatives: Pornsak Pichetshote (Writer), Rafael Albuquerque (Artist), Marcelo Maiolo (Colorist), Jeff Powell (Letterer)
Characters: Dinah Lance, Oliver Queen, Mia Dearden, Connor Hawke
Villain: Green Arrow
Format: 6-Issue Miniseries
Our Rating: 8.5/10 Stars
Dinah Lance’s Briliance and the Tragedy of Connor Hawke
Dinah is one of the Absolute Universe’s best characters because she’s so relatable. She’s just a regular person existing in a hostile world. Pichetshote shows us the scars of her lifestyle, both externally and internally. She begins this issue waking up from a night terror, sweating profusely with blood trickling down her nose as a migraine sets in. Albuquerque takes us inside her psyche on a stunning page three as Dinah ruminates on the Green Arrow’s enemies. Her thought panels are rendered as blood-red puzzle pieces, cleverly alluding to the mystery that eludes her, while they frame the Arrow’s screaming victims.
It’s not long before Dinah and her partner, Malcolm, pursue potential suspects. We encounter characters familiar to Green Arrow fans, such as Roy Harper and Mia Dearden, before it’s revealed that Oliver is a father in this universe and his son, Connor Hawke, is on the loose. Dinah’s encounter with him is brief. The two only share a few words before he’s callously murdered by the Green Arrow. Dinah screams in protest as letterer Jeff Powell uses bolded font and jagged speech bubbles to drive home her despair. It’s another tragedy in a world full of them.
The Darkness of the New Green Arrow
The artwork is intentionally dark and grungy, with colorist Marcelo Maiolo bathing the panels in film noir browns and pitch-black shadows. Albuquerque carves stress right into the characters’ faces, using dark lines to show the bags beneath their eyes and terror-stricken expressions. There are no smiles to be found here. The sinister villains that surround our heroes make sure of that.
Mia describes this Green Arrow as less Errol Flynn and more Michael Myers, and she couldn’t be more accurate. They’ve clarified that they’re out for blood, with Dinah’s employer, Hector Hammond, at the top of their list. If innocents like Connor get in their way, they kill them without remorse. The archer asserts Hammond can no longer be allowed to continue his horrific actions. They’ve long lost the luxury of turning the other cheek.
Verdict: Should you buy Absolute Green Arrow #2?
This book leans fully into the darkness of the Absolute Universe and leaves you with more puzzle pieces than Dinah. Her night terrors are only going to get worse as the Arrow’s violent actions continue to haunt her. But can Dinah blame the vigilante if her boss is as bad as they say? There are no straightforward answers in an unfair world, and our hero is learning that the hard way.
‘Absolute Green Arrow’ #2 Review: We Can No Longer Turn the Other Cheek
This book leans fully into the darkness of the Absolute Universe and leaves you with more puzzle pieces than Dinah. Her night terrors are only going to get worse as the Arrow’s violent actions continue to haunt her. But can Dinah blame the vigilante if her boss is as bad as they say? There are no straightforward answers in an unfair world, and our hero is learning that the hard way.
