[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Summary
Green Arrow, along with a team of DC heroes, attempts to rescue the Teen Titans and the Suicide Squad from the Batman Who Laughs.
Positives
The cover by Stjepan Sejic is pretty cool. Green Arrow facing this dark Robin is creepy as hell. I love the weird throne and smoky green background.
The interior art is by Juan Ferreyra and is great. This hellish Gotham gives Ferreyra a lot of room to be creative and weird which pays off with a lot of cool imagery throughout the issue. This includes even little details such as a purple sky which is an interesting image. I also like the weird outfits some of the heroes are wearing.
Negatives
Damian is the worst. I have such a hard time dealing with this character; he is so obnoxious. I get that he’s a teenager and was raised by a crazy person but he annoys the hell out of me. All he does is whine and then comes up with a stupid plan that gets Harley Quinn captured and nearly gets everyone else killed.
Some of Damian’s stupid plan isn’t necessarily his fault because he can’t accomplish anything in this issue. This is a tie-in so nothing major is allowed to happen. Like with most events, this Gotham Resistance thing was kind of pointless. The characters kind of made the situation worse and there wasn’t enough character growth to justify it either. Generally, this is why I don’t like events. Stories I care about are stopped dead in their tracks for these tie ins that can’t really do anything because the major events need to happen in the main event book. The issue feels kind of tedious.
It’s a shame because I was looking forward to this. I remember the team being teased in earlier issues of Green Arrow, although I do vaguely remember Batgirl and Black Canary being part of the lineup. So either I’m remembering that wrong or the team of characters changed at some point. Or maybe they’re in the other issues of Gotham Resistance and are now trapped on the machine thing with the Teen Titans and the Suicide Squad. But Ollie never mentions Dinah, and Dick never mentions Babs, so I’m guessing not. But this was a fun chance to see Oliver interact with characters he usually doesn’t such as Nightwing and Harley Quinn. That sounded really fun but the issue focuses on Damian more than anyone which is unfortunate.
Verdict
This is an okay issue. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. It’s well drawn and well written. Some of the action is cool and the imagery is effectively creepy. But it’s pointless; there is no reason to read this. A minor detail is discovered but you don’t need to read this to know that. It can, and probably will be, summed up in a line of dialogue in the next issue of Metal. It’s a harmless tie in. It might be worth checking out for Ferreyra’s art but that’s the only appeal of this issue.
