Winick achieves an important balance between characterization and action here, as he's done in previous issues. The writer's strengths lie in characterization, but this is a super-hero title, after all, and the genre cries out for energy and excitement. He delivers, but what really sets this issue apart is the intensity exhibited by the title character, and it's not an attractive kind of intensity. His anger and self-destructive tendencies bring advantages, but it's interesting to see a man with a new lease on life settle back into old patterns.
Drakon's corporate employer is getting nervous about the trail of blood that the assassin is leaving in the city, and new business arrangements arise as a result of Green Arrow's involvement. Speaking og the Emerald Archer, he sets his mind on the painful task of recovering of the wounds inflicted upon him, but what he really seems to be trying to do is to get his mind off of the mistake he made when he and Joanna Pierce shared a night together, a mistake that threatens to infect everyone around him he loves.
Hester and Parks's inky artwork suits the dark mood that looms over Oliver Queen and his friends, as well as the danger that Drakon represents. Their work puts me in mind of such talents as Mike (Hellboy) Mignola and Kevin (Tomorrow Stories) Nowlan at times. Their dark, angular approach brings out the delicately choreographed action at the end of this issue perfectly.
This issue is all about the fallout of last month's sexual encounter between Ollie and Joanna. I knew it was going to be ugly, but the source of the protagonist's recriminations took me by surprise. The quiet reactions that developments elicit from Connor, Mia and Dinah speak volumes as well, but not nearly as much as Green Arrow's angry immersion into his craft and his wounds. Drakon has given the hero a means to punish himself. On the surface, one can imagine Green Arrow's rage directed at his new enemy, but it's really reserved for the archer himself.
Oliver's anger with his emotional failures makes for an interesting contrast with the preparedness and skill he exhibits in his rematch with Drakon. In #28, Winick set the reader up to believe that there wasn't a hope in the world that Green Arrow could deal with the assassin, and here, the writer shows off the hero's intelligence. It not only makes for an exciting escalation of the action, but it paints the hero in a much-needed positive light.
