Some thoughts about Green Arrow #34

Green Arrow will have to save his past.

Moira Queen has returned and is turned Oliver's world upside down. Meanwhile, Merlyn is ready to take some revenge.

Mixed thoughts about this.

For one, there are things that actually work here. Ben Percy's dialogue gets better when he tries to focus on character moments like Ollie's encounter with his mother as well as with his interactions with Dinah. There are actually decent portrayals that show semi-emotional moments and Percy finally, and I mean FINALLY, addresses a bit of Jeff Lemire's run by showing a little scene where Robert Queen died that is just like it happened in the past.

ON THE OTHER HAND, everything else seems off.

Is really weird that Percy addresses Robert's death while not addressing at all Moira's who did die in front of Ollie so it can't be justified as a trick like what happened with Robert the first time. Worst of all, there's barely any explanation about how her return happened and while her character seems in line with what was seen before, it still puts everything in question.

That's not the only problem though since Diggle's motivations for betraying Ollie get even more baffling. He apparently hated Ollie because he slept with his fiancee... AFTER they broke off.

WHAT?!

I was expecting that Ollie made Diggle's fiancee cheat on him which would have made Diggle's hate much more reasonable (and it would have been appropriate for Ollie's character) but by doing this it just makes Diggle look incredibly petty and overreacting. I suppose that this was executed this way to make Ollie less unlikable but at the same time it robs Diggle's motivations from actual weight and at the same time betrays Ollie's own history. That's without mentioning that Diggle apparently wanted to die but once that Merlyn saved him he feels like he owes him... just why?

And of course, the pacing can be problematic once again.

Stephen Byrne is the highlight thanks to his beautiful semi-cartoony style that gets the best from every scene.

Now that I think more about it, I like this issue less and less. Classic stuff for this run I guess.