In this review of Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #1, the Question and Green Arrow stumble onto a sinister and mysterious project called “Arcadia”, and do their best to penetrate to its dark heart.
Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #1 main cover by Gabriel Hardman (DC Comics)
BATMAN/GREEN ARROW/THE QUESTION: ARCADIA #1
Written by GABRIEL HARDMAN
Art and Main Cover: GABRIEL HARDMAN
Variant Covers: KEVIN NOWLAN, BILL SIENKIEWICZ
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 11/26/25
The Question (Charles Vic Sage) tracks mysterious helicopter pickups in Hub City, but stumbles onto a terrorist attack when the latest chopper is destroyed by masked figures hurling a bomb.
In Gotham, Batman runs into youth protestors trying to vandalize a huge yacht in the harbor, and lets them go after their worst attack appears to be water based paint. The protestors trigger him to investigate a climate conference in Belize.
An aging Olive Queen, ousted from his company, complains in bars about the old days after showing off some archery tricks. Waking up the next morning after his complaining led to a few punches in the bar, Olive gets a call from The Question telling him about the terrorist and her connections to Queen Industries.
The Question himself, after consulting with his old friend and ally Tot, heads to Azerbaijan.
In Belize, Bruce Wayne learns of the Arcadia Project – hyper technological cities designed to help the environment. Bruce speaks to Emil Rotha, current owner of Queen Industries, and discovers that an Arcadia prototype already exists.
The Question is on the case… (DC Comics)
Oliver is kicked out of Queen Industries when he makes his first investigation.
At night in Belize, Batman foils a “protestor” attack using a drone-flown bomb into the Arcadia planning compound.
In Azerbaijan, The Question gets a call from Oliver, telling him that Queen Industries is sourcing a lot of work in small American towns. Question himself is conscripted into migrant labor for another aspect of the project, and shipped to Greenland.
Batman is hired by Arcadia to fight the Ceres group which has been attacking Queen Industries.
Oliver, investigating in a snowy land, finds a huge structure being built, and is confronted by Batman, who tells him to stand down.
Analysis
When I first heard of Gabriel Hardman’s Arcadia project starring Batman, The Question, and Green Arrow, I of course thought of writer/editor Denny O’Neil’s classic crossover in the late 1980s, “Fables.” Published in the first Annuals for Detective Comics, Green Arrow, and The Question, this tale explored the relationships, motivations, and societal context of these three very different heroes. It was recently republished in the excellent DC Finest volume “Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters”, and is well worth a read! While Hardman goes much more into a big scifi and political plotline rather than a spiritual martial arts-related quest that unites “Fables”, the way he writes the characters and the overall mood he casts – a dark, heroic, cynical but hopeful mood, full of contradictions just as his cities and characters are full of dark and light – are very reminiscent of O’Neil’s story.
Artistically, Hardman’s characters have a rough hewn look – powerful, but not overly idealized or smooth. This contrasts with his very cool, slick scifi pieces – like the drone Batman fights, or the Arcadia design itself. The sense of a world both orderly and chaotic also pervaded the look of Hardman’s gorgeous Green Lantern Earth One volumes, and is a welcome sight to fans of his work. Hopefully the every other month release plan of November, January, and March doesn’t slip, as Hardman is writing and drawing each issue. Romulo Fajardo Jr, longtime DC colorist for works such as Omega Men, does a fantastic job here, giving the world of Arcadia a look that evokes black and white comics while still having splashes of muted but gorgeous colors.
Politically, Hardman portrays Queen as an aging lefty, Wayne with inscrutable and mysterious motives so far, and the Question as primarily truth seeking, though positioned against “power”. While some connections to current debates, chiefly climate change, are prominent, there’s thankfully not much of an attempt to draw an allegory of current debates and political figures, which leads to the main conflict feeling more classic rather than ripped from the headlines. I will be very curious to see what Hardman does with his heroes and villains and their motivations. Hardman seems to like to push his heroes to their breaking point, and seeing how he does that should also be very thematically enlightening!
Creator and artist Hardman’s main cover is a gorgeous rendering of Batman, Question, and Arrow in diagonal array, with lovely mountain, beach, and cityscape panels arrayed around them, covered in a weathered, speckled finish that hearkens back to the comics of the 80s and 90s that inspired it. Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz’s variant features the same trio in the same diagonal, but done in a much more painterly rather than sketched style, with a lot more classic Sienkiewicz effects. Kevin Nowlan’s cover features our trio on a rooftop, investigating and ready for action, in a style that hearkens back to Brian Bolland’s clear lines and Yanick Paquette’s appealing designs.
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Final Thoughts
Hardman captures a lot of the character and vibes from the late 80s and early 90s comics, layered his own brand of slick scifi sensibility, and crafted an enjoyable and twisty detective story featuring three fascinating characters.
