REVIEW: ‘Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target,’ Issue #2

Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #2 is a crossover comic published by DC Comics, written by Brandon Thomas, with art by Ronan Cliquet. The color artist is Ulises Arreola. The letterer is Josh Reed.

Green Arrow and Aquaman have swapped bodies. Under mysterious circumstances, the Sea King and the Emerald Archer have switched roles, with knowledge of each other’s bodies, powers, and even backstories. And yet, they know something is wrong. Taking a private flight, the duo soon finds themselves under attack by a squadron of heavily armed soldiers and jets. They must fight in their new bodies against a man who likes meddling with time.

With the plot twist of the series unveiled, it is now time for them and the readers to figure out how and why they are different. The story itself is interesting. While the body swap has been done before, the specific selection of the heroes has created an intriguing conundrum. After the set-up, it is a pure action movie for the rest of Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #2. A mid-air battle on a private plane leads to awesome set-pieces full of jeopardy. Neither Queen nor Curry can fly, so they must get creative. The pace of the comic moves quickly, and the fight has energy. At the end of the issue comes a shocking twist. If the reader thought all lives were safe in this superhero story, they were severely wrong.

The interactions between the two heroes are well crafted by Thomas. Both of these men are very rich, and that is not the only similarity. The only other thing they have in common is nobility and devotion to protecting life. Both men are built on confidence, and they are still unsure about their abilities at their hands. While they might make jibes at each other, they are long-time teammates. This removes the typical trope of a conflict before they are forced to work together. Seeing them get to grips with their newfound abilities is exciting and rewarding. The villain is a new and cool antagonist, but we know so little about him that it’s challenging to be fully engaged by him. Hints have been made, but at the most, he only appears to be a monstrous, evil man without much more depth than that.

The art comes into its own during the action. The location for the fight is clever and unique. During the entire scene, there is a real sense of motion implemented by Cliquet. The sheer power of Aquaman is shown when the metal on the plane buckles under his feet. This notion of both power and speed increases the epic feeling the reader gets seeing the battle unfold. Each move has superb placement and choreography. It should be repeated that both Aquaman and Green Arrow still look very alike, leading to confusion at times. The villain has a fun and detailed design, now half-dinosaur. 

The colors are rich and pretty. The background shade for the sky outside is orange, and a color that doesn’t clash with anything. The vibrancy of the colors on the characters and the jets attacking them ensures that all attention is solely on them. Both of the characters being almost entirely green robs the comic of more diverse tones and may lead to the reader getting bored of the repetitive emerald.

The lettering is very effective. The word balloons are easy to read. SFX is used frequently in the lengthy battle. There’s a nice variation of the designs, and they add even more dynamism to the fight.

Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #2 is an action-filled crossover. The series has a concept that provides a spark for these characters and the reader to experience something new. It leads to an encounter so intense that it would make Tom Cruise jealous.  But perhaps some of that fight would have been replaced with a small piece of exposition or character development. The change happened before the start of the first issue, so the confusion is still high. In addition, the over-abundance of green and the beard/hair combo may lead to intentional complexity in discerning which hero is which. This may grow tiring as the series gets further.

Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #2 is available now wherever comics are sold.