[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writers: Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing
Artist: Javier Fernandez
Colorist: John Kalisz
Summary
Count Vertigo stages a jailbreak and turns Seattle into a surrealist maelstrom that threatens to consume the entire city. But when Ollie learns Vertigo’s true motivations, the Emerald Archer’s fragile psyche will be ripped to shreds. Is Ollie throwing himself into the hero game because of a death wish? Not if Black Canary has anything to sing about it.
Positives
Kevin Nowlan’s cover is cool. It’s a nice tease of what is to come in the issue and looks great.
The interior art is fantastic. There are two moods that Fernandez has to convey and he excels at both. One is a more intimate and subtle style. This is in dialogue scenes between Ollie and Dinah and they’re very nice. The other mode is in scenes with Count Vertigo which are more surreal and crazy. The city turning in on itself is really cool and gives the book a great style.
I like that both the personal conflict within Oliver and the external conflict with Vertigo both revolve around Roy Harper. His death has somewhat driven Ollie to the brink; there’s apart of him that is just angry and he’s repressing it to get through the day. It’s very clever to put this Oliver in a fight with a villain who wants a vengeance he can’t have.
Negatives
There are a couple of scenes with some random new vigilante that Ollie argues. I found this character to be utterly obnoxious. And the character really has no relevance to anything so far. We’ll see where it goes but I thought these scenes were very tedious.
Verdict
This is a very good issue. The art is fantastic. It’s big and crazy when it needs to be but also knows when to hold that back. I like where Oliver’s head is at right now and the potential that could lead to in this conflict with Count Vertigo. There were a couple scenes that I found dull but it is still an enjoyable read.
