Green Arrow #6 Review

Green Arrow’s sister/sidekick gets her very own issue after the tumultuous ending to the last issue, but is it good?

Green Arrow #6 (DC Comics)

So what’s it about? The official DC summary reads:

“SINS OF THE MOTHER”! Following the shocking events with the Ninth Circle, Green Arrow’s wayward sister/sidekick Emiko travels to Japan on a quest to destroy the crime lords who control her mother, Shado, the assassin who murdered Oliver Queen.

Why does this book matter?

Benjamin Percy has written quite a series so far, sending Green Arrow through a lot of hellish nights and a lot of drama in a short five issues. A big twist revealed his sister Emi isn’t quite what he thought, which means this issue is warranted!

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

God damn kids.

Through flashbacks Percy does a good job establishing the importance of Ollie on Emi’s life due to her terrible parentage. This actually leads into a clever mission Emi goes on to crack down on something her classmates are up to. This mission reveals a drug of some sort involving a supervillain which is a clever reveal. This issue has CW vibes and you could easily see it on that network due to the strong writing of Emi in general, but also the way Percy connects her rebellion to the narrative at large.

It all leads to an interesting development too, which should make Ollie’s next meet up with Emi a whole lot more interesting. Drug use, criminal underground fight clubs…what’s not to like!

Stephen Byrne draws this issue and his style gives it a more youthful vibe one might get from Gotham Academy. There’s an excellent opening full page spread of Ollie, Emi, and her mother cast in red (seen below) as they attack one another in the Seattle night. It gives the book a supernatural sort of feel which connects well with the plot.

It can’t be perfect can it?

I know this is superhero comics, but how the hell did Emi and her mother get to Japan in a helicopter? Seems like an impossible thing, unless the bad guy freighter was very close to Japan, but that’s unlikely.

Anyway, the art does feel like a step back from the stylized and beautiful work of Juan Ferreyra. There isn’t a lot of action in portions of the book which is typically harder to amp up visually and these scenes feel boring because of it. Byrne’s more simplistic and barren backgrounds give the book a cheaper production value. The action isn’t much better either, like in one two page sequence of Emi recounting her and Ollie stopping a bank robbery. Each page is drawn with four panels but they aren’t compelling or kinetic enough to feel energized and action packed. The layouts in this scene are dull.

Green Arrow fans might find the whole issue dull in many respects too due to the lack of Ollie in the main narrative. Percy certainly springboards a new element into the series, but I’m not sure this issue proves it’s warranted more than a few pages let alone a full issue.

Sweet splash page man!

Is It Good?

Emi fans will love this issue as it gives her character new purpose and more complexity. All in all it feels like a good CW episode of a show we should be watching.