Gabriel Hardman continues his gritty, high-stakes exploration of the DC Universe’s most ideologically driven heroes in Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #2. If the first issue set the stage for a clash of titans, this second chapter drops them into a frozen landscape of forced labor, corporate greed, and the uncomfortable reality of the greater good. Hardman, serving as writer, artist, and cover creator, delivers a dense, atmospheric thriller that feels less like a standard superhero romp and more like a hard-boiled social critique.
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Under the Ice: The Plot Thickens
The issue kicks off with The Question deep undercover as a faceless laborer in a freezing sub-arctic facility, where he’s tracking a mysterious group called Ceres. Meanwhile, a frustrated Oliver Queen follows Queen Industries’ shady ties to the Arcadia project in Greenland, only to end up captured and disarmed by a private security team. Pulling the strings in the middle is Batman, who has embedded himself as a “consultant” for oligarch Emil Rotha to steal data from the inside. As their paths inevitably cross, the three heroes find themselves on a collision course, each holding a different perspective on Rotha’s true endgame and how to dismantle the Arcadia project.
Class Warfare and Climate Crisis
Hardman isn’t subtle about the themes here, and that’s a strength. The book leans heavily into class warfare and the exploitation of labor. Rotha, the primary antagonist, embodies the “post-democratic paradigm.” He views nation-states as irrelevant and is building floating cities as a survival plan for the elite while the rest of the world suffers from the climate crisis.
The dialogue between Batman and Rotha is particularly chilling. Rotha dismisses Bruce Wayne as nothing and threatens to gobble up his company with a single word. It’s a fascinating dynamic—seeing Batman forced to play the role of a bureaucrat or a “security consultant” while the world burns around him.
The central mystery of Ceres drives the issue. While Rotha frames Ceres as a terrorist organization, the truth (revealed toward the end of the issue) is much more human: they are just people fighting back because they care, refusing to be part of Rotha’s narrative.
The Visual Identity
Gabriel Hardman handles the writing, art, and cover, which gives the book a remarkably singular vision. His style is heavy on shadows and textures, perfectly capturing the humid, freezing atmosphere of an underground arctic prison. The action sequences, specifically Oliver’s snow-cat chase and the subsequent ice-breaking scene, are choreographed with a cinematic flair that makes the stakes feel visceral.
Romulo Fajardo Jr.’s colors are essential to the book’s mood. He uses a limited, high-contrast palette; icy blues for the arctic exterior and sickly yellows and reds for the interior industrial spaces. It reinforces the claustrophobic feeling and the dirty vibe that permeates the story. Simon Bowland’s lettering, on the other hand, is clean and effective, particularly in how it handles The Question’s internal monologue and the chaotic effects of gunfire during the facility’s lockdown.
Final Verdict
If there is a criticism to be made, it’s that the plot is a very deliberate slow burn. For readers expecting a traditional “Team-Up” book where the three heroes trade quips while punching mooks, Arcadia might feel a bit dense. The heroes spend much of the issue isolated from one another or at odds, and when they’re together, it feels like 3 heroes who might have met once or twice before but really don’t have a strong connection with each other. However, the tension does pay off in the final pages when Batman finally sees the Reign of Terror being inflicted on the workers and decides he’s seen enough.
Arcadia #2 is a hard-boiled social thriller that uses DC’s most ideological characters to explore the very real anxieties of 2026. It’s dark, it’s intelligent, and it’s one of the most visually distinct books on the stands right now. By the time Batman hands Oliver back his bow and says, “We’re stopping this,” you’ll be more than ready for Book Three.
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‘Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia’ #2 Delivers a Chilly Descent into Class Warfare
Arcadia #2 is a hard-boiled social thriller that uses DC’s most ideological characters to explore the very real anxieties of 2026. It’s dark, it’s intelligent, and it’s one of the most visually distinct books on the stands right now. By the time Batman hands Oliver back his bow and says, “We’re stopping this,” you’ll be more than ready for Book Three.
