Aquaman Green Arrow in Deep Target #2

Aquaman Green Arrow in Deep Target #2

DC Comics 2021

Written by Brandon Thomas

Illustrated by Ronan Cliquet

Coloured by Ulisses Arreola

Lettered by Josh Reed

As Aquaman and Green Arrow work to piece together the mystery of the altered timeline, Scorpio’s General Anderton gets an upgrade of his own.

There really is this whole idea of these two particular heroes teaming up that is incredibly appealing. I mean out of all the incarnations of the League that I’ve lived through they never really did team-up and while they both have sidekicks that worked together and are friends they never really did much together. Now Arthur’s snooty attitude towards Oliver as if he’s a lesser being than he is really rather off putting. Though I suspect by the end of this there will be a new begrudging respect for him. Okay at least I hope this is the case. I am so engaged in this I’m not even in the story yet just comparing the two and going off page. This should say something about the story Brandon is weaving here. If you think about aside from the sidekicks the only thing they have in common is they are both blondes. I wonder how much of a factor these elements played in mind swapping the two for this tale.

I am absolutely loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see, which is phenomenal by the way, through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does this magnificent job fleshing out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we want to see. The more I want to see Oliver bite back too as Arthur takes charge of the situation.

I’m very much enjoying the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I am also liking the way that we see the layers here opening up new avenues to be explored. Whether or not they are explored or not they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

The interiors here are phenomenal! The linework is spectacular and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality in the detail of the work that we see throughout the book is extraordinary. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows an extraordinary eye for how colour works.

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As the mystery of why these two have been body swapped continues to deepen and General Anderton makes his appearance the proverbial you know what hits the fan. Who is this General, what does he know, and apparently he knows a lot, and what does he have in store for the odd couple pairing of heroes? I dunno but the further we get into this the more questions arise and the more we want answers while all the while we’re left in the dark as to what the purpose of all this really is. By the way I don’t want to learn what the purpose is until the heroes do because learning alongside them is much more tension filled in the meantime. Thanks to the intriguing writing and strong characterisation alongside these phenomenal interiors really show why DC is killing it right now.