Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #2 – Inversions

Written by: Brandon Thomas

Art by: Ronan Cliquet

Colours by: Ulises Arreola

Letters by: Josh Reed

Cover by: Marco Santucci & Arif Prianto

Variant Cover by: Davi Go

Editor: Michael McCalister

Aquaman created by Paul Norris, Green Arrow created by Mort Weisinger

Intro:

In the first issue of this 7 issue series, we learned that Arthur Curry and Oliver Queen, more commonly known as the heroes, Aquaman and Green Arrow, had somehow had their lives swapped around, by the terrorist organization Scorpio, but still in issue 2, the duo have not discovered that little piece of information yet so they are still on a journey to figure out what is happening.

Plot:

Aquaman and Green Arrow are on their way to find answers to how their timeline has been altered so drastically. Despite his constant attempts to convince his partner otherwise, Arthur still believes that this is somehow Oliver’s fault, since Oli seems to have gotten the better deal out of the two, what with him now being the ruler of Atlantis and having super powers now etc.

During their flight, the heroes are met with heavy resistance from Scorpio’s agents, who Arthur discovers is trying to capture them both alive with tranquilizer darts, though beyond this, he gets no other answers revealed, as the elite member of the squadron simply responds with “all in good time”, before activating their self destruct sequences.

Now stranded on an island somewhere, Arthur and Oliver come face to face with Scorpio’s General Anderson, who appears to have received some aesthetical and physical upgrades of his own.

Story:

This issue has fast paced action that almost makes the story feel shorter. Not much is said or done besides revealing that the heroes share each others memories as if they were their own. Oliver remembers discovering he could talk to sea creatures and reclaiming his birthright to become King of Atlantis. Which clearly means this isn’t just some freaky friday swap, and instead the timeline is really being altered heavily. Though luckily the two know who they’re really supposed to be which means they should be able to stop it. I’m just wondering if the timeline becomes altered further, will one or both of them begin to forget they’re not in the right role?

Art:

Cliquet is doing a fantastic job on this series with excellent art work that really brings that fast paced, heavy hitting action to life, be it Oli’s insane trident spinning skills, or Arthur’s archery skills, the designs are spot on, the pages and panels are filled with colours by Ulises Arreola and all together, it makes for one hell of a page turner.

Conclusion:

With five issues left in this seven issue mini-series, I am eager to discover what exactly has happened with the timeline and what the end result will be for Oli and Arthur. The closer they seem to get to the truth, the further they get from being safe to continue their journey to undo it all. With something like time manipulation though, I am hoping there’s a decent solution to it all and not just a simple “put back what he brought from the past” type deal. There has to be something to make it difficult for the heroes to prove themselves as true heroes. Either way, I love Green Arrow and Aquaman, but together, I am definitely enjoying the testosterone filled tension between them, as they are both stubborn guys who will cause each other issues along the way no doubt.