Green Arrow #32: Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In Review

Green Arrow #32 (Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In) Review

Green Arrow #32: Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In Review

The Gotham Resistance tie-in to Dark Nights: Metal has done a good job at showing us what is going on at the center of the event, Gotham City. The Gotham Resistance that Nightwing and Robin have somehow found themselves putting together have had an interesting chemistry so far. Each member, Nightwing, Robin, Harley Quinn, Green Arrow and Mr. Terrific, have been able to balance each other well as they fight their way through the chaos the Batman Who Laughs created in Gotham City. Things look to only get worse for the Gotham Resistance as we reach the end of this crossover. How will this crossover tie-in come to a close and lead us into Dark Nights: Metal #3? Let’s find out with Green Arrow #32.

Writers: Benjamin Percy and Joshua Williamson

Artist: Juan Ferreyra

Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Green Arrow, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Robin and Mr. Terrific make their way through various villains in the Wonderland Bordering in the Sixth Ring of Gotham.

Green Arrow #32: Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In Review
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After making their escape Mr. Terrific explains how there are seven demented versions of Batman with the Batman Who Laughs being the one who turned Gotham City into a place of never ending nightmares.

Nightwing’s headaches get worse and he begins to understand that they are connected to the special Metals, which is how he was able to find the stockpile of Nth Metal weapons. Mr. Terrific believes the Dark Knights are trying to use the Metal to destroy the entire world and plunge it into the Dark Multiverse.

Robin gets upset at how everyone is not more worried about his teammates. He along with Green Arrow rally everyone to stand as the Gotham Resistance.

Sometime later the Gotham Resistance get close to the mountain carrying the dark energy. As they get closer they run into the Bane’s House of Pain area of Gotham.

A special Dark Universe machine that is using the captured Suicide Squad and Teen Titans members to power itself attacks the Gotham Resistance.

The Batman Who Laughs soon arrives and is able to mesmerize Harley Quinn with his unique way of carrying himself. This gives the Dark Robins the opening to attack Harley Quinn and put her into the Dark Multiverse machine.

Green Arrow #32: Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In Review
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Elsewhere, one of the Dark Robins overwhelm Green Arrow, Nightwing and Robin. Green Arrow fires a Nth Metal arrow at the Dark Robin, who uses the DCU Robin as a shield. Robin uses the Nth Metal arrow in his shoulder and drives it further through, killing the Dark Robin that was still standing behind him.

The other Dark Knights end up showing up. Mr. Terrific tells Green Arrow, Robin and Nightwing that they must retreat. The Batman Who Laughs makes fun of him for having nowhere to run to.

Dr. Fate suddenly shows up and helps Green Arrow, Nightwing, Robin and Mr. Terrific teleport out of Gotham and to his sanctuary.

There Robin shows his frustration over leaving behind his teammates. Green Arrow reminds Robin that even though they lost the battle they did find a way to kill the threat in front of them, with the Nth Metal weapons. End of issue.

The Good: Green Arrow #32 does a good job of finishing the Gotham Resistance crossover tie-in with Dark Nights: Metal. Benjamin Percy and Joshua Williamson used the momentum created in the Teen Titans, Nightwing and Suicide Squad chapters to make things even more interesting for what is to come in Dark Nights: Metal.

Green Arrow #32: Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In Review
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One of the more surprising things coming out of this Gotham Resistance arc is how great the dynamic between Green Arrow and Robin was. With this final chapter taking place in Green Arrow #32 that relationship is heavily spotlighted in this issue. And as with the previous issues, the Green Arrow and Robin dynamic is the strongest part of the issue. There is a natural chemistry between the two that makes anytime either one talks fun to watch as the other one will soon chime in.

Robin continuing to push how they can’t leave his team behind continued the narrative of how he has come into his own as a leader. It also showed Robin’s own personal growth as he shows how important the members of the Teen Titans are. This further pushes the fact that the Teen Titans are a family, not just a team, and Robin whether he knows it or not has come to believe that. It’s a good showcase of his own growth as character and how in the middle of all this madness he can taking charge of the situation.

Robin’s growth was perfectly complimented with how Green Arrow played the voice of reason through all of the chaos. This was a good role for Green Arrow to play as he was the one normal person through this entire story arc, especially with Nightwing’s head trauma. Green Arrow calming Robin down and keeping everyone on task kept this issue’s story focused on what the Gotham Resistance must do. And having Green Arrow remind Nightwing and Robin that they do did discover a way of defeating the Dark Knights of the Multiverse creates a sense of importance for the three characters when they show up in the main Dark Nights: Metal series.

Green Arrow #32: Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In Review
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Though their parts weren’t as compelling, it was interesting to see how much Nightwing and Mr. Terrific continue to be build as key characters for Dark Nights: Metal. From Nightwing being able to detect the various Metals to Mr. Terrific being the one who knows the most about the Dark Multiverse, we get a lot of build-up for these two characters. It does make you wonder what roles they will play in the main series whenever they pop back up.

The same goes for Dr. Fate, who once again was able to save more heroes from being killed. Dr. Fate come in to make the save does a good job at slowly building how important he will be in buying the heroes of the DC Universe time to figure out how to best fight the threats from the Dark Multiverse. With his actions it does seem that Dr. Fate will be playing one of the wildcards of this event, which is a good way to position him given his powers.

On the other side of things, it continues to be fun to see how the Batman Who Laughs is being built as the biggest threat to come out of the Dark Multiverse. As the ringleader of all of this, the Batman Who Laughs has an incredibly engaging aura about him. That is best shown with how he got Harley Quinn entranced by his unique charisma. This, along with his characterization in the various Dark Nights: Metal tie-in one-shots, have made him into a must watch character for the remainder of the event.

Green Arrow #32: Dark Nights: Metal Tie-In Review
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With how crazy things are now in Gotham City Juan Ferreyra did a good job showing how insane things are throughout Green Arrow #32. From the design of the Gotham Resistance modified costumes to the insane Dark Robins, there was a level of horror that was felt in the city. The action scenes were also nicely executed and were able to stand out even when we got a lot of dialogue in multiple panels that were made to be action packed.

The Bad: After how much build there was to how crazy things are with Gotham City transformed into a nightmare playhouse it was disappointing it was not explored more in this finale. Even though we got to see the Gotham Resistance run through the city all the villains that run things were just treated as nothing more that Red Shirts. There was absolutely no personality to the Batman Rogues given in this finale. It makes the different areas that we do see in this issue have less of a personality than they were presented with in the previous chapters of this crossover.

Overall: Green Arrow #32 does a satisfying job in closing out the Gotham Resistance crossover tie-in to Dark Nights: Metal. Carrying the momentum created by the previous chapters, both Benjamin Percy and Joshua Williamson were able to expand on chaotic things have gotten in the DC Universe since the Batman Who Laughs and company invaded. Through the chaos we were treated to a lot of quality character development that makes what role the Gotham Resistance plays in Dark Nights: Metal even more exciting to see.