Green Arrow #12

Mar 2002 · DC · 2.50 USD; 4.25 CAD

📊 ~38,515 copies sold its debut month

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Feast and Fowl”

★ 1st appearance — Onomatopoeia

About this Issue

Green Arrow (vol. 3) #12 marks the debut of Onomatopoeia, one of the most conceptually distinctive villains introduced in early-2000s DC Comics — a wordless serial killer who communicates exclusively by vocalizing the sound effects of his own violence, a conceit that writer Kevin Smith openly noted works only on the printed page, where onomatopoeic lettering is a native language of the medium. The character's very existence is a meditation on comics as a form: his gimmick is untranslatable to film or television, making him one of the rare villains whose identity is inseparable from the grammar of sequential art. The issue also functions as the hinge between Smith's celebrated 'Quiver' opening arc and the 'Sounds of Violence' storyline that follows, simultaneously delivering a warm JSA ensemble scene — Oliver Queen's fraught first date with Black Canary set against a backdrop of Justice Society members — and planting the terrifying parallel thread of Onomatopoeia murdering the minor hero Virago in Philadelphia. That structural double-track narrative gave the issue an unusual tonal range, balancing character-driven romantic comedy with cold-blooded horror, and set the template for the darker register Smith would sustain through issue #15.

writer Kevin Smith · artist Phil Hester · inker Ande Parks · colorist James Sinclair · letterer Sean Konot · cover Matt Wagner

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $0

Flagged key issue — estimate limited by sparse sales.

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

Find on ebay

Search eBay for Green Arrow #12 ▸

No confirmed live listings for this exact issue right now — this opens an eBay search.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Issue #12 was produced by the same tight-knit creative team that had relaunched the Green Arrow title the previous year: writer Kevin Smith, penciller Phil Hester, inker Ande Parks, colorist James Sinclair, and letterer Sean Konot, all working under editors Bob Schreck and Nachie Castro. Smith's run had begun with the ten-part 'Quiver' arc (issues #1–10), which restored the long-dead Oliver Queen to DC continuity; issue #12 sits at the start of Smith's second and final arc on the book, 'Sounds of Violence,' which would run through issue #15. According to Smith in a 2007 interview, Onomatopoeia grew directly out of his love for the word itself, the character's defining trait — vocalizing sound effects — crystallizing organically from that linguistic fascination. Phil Hester has subsequently confirmed that he co-created both Onomatopoeia and Mia Dearden during this Smith collaboration, making the 'Sounds of Violence' issues among the most creatively generative of the entire volume.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Onomatopoeia (real name unrevealed), a serial killer who exclusively targets non-superpowered vigilante heroes and communicates solely through vocalizing onomatopoeic sound effects, created by writer Kevin Smith and penciller Phil Hester.
The issue's story is titled 'Feast and Fowl' and was published with a cover date of March 2002 (on-sale February 27, 2002).
Onomatopoeia's debut scene shows him murdering the minor hero Virago in Philadelphia; the issue functions as a prologue to the three-part 'Sounds of Violence' arc that unfolds across issues #13–15.
The main plot of the issue follows Oliver Queen visiting JSA headquarters in Manhattan to take Black Canary (Dinah Lance) on their first date; their dinner is interrupted when they encounter the Riddler committing a robbery.
Hawkman (Carter Hall) appears prominently, exchanging unexpectedly jovial camaraderie with Oliver despite their well-established political differences, and counsels Ollie to take things slowly with Dinah given her adjustment to his return from the dead.
Justice Society members Alan Scott (Green Lantern), Kendra Saunders (Hawkgirl), Hector Hall (Doctor Fate), Rex Tyler (Hourman), Wesley Dodds (Sandman), Courtney Whitmore (Star-Spangled Kid), and Sylvester Pemberton (Star-Spangled Kid) appear in cameo via team imagery at JSA headquarters.
Smith designed Onomatopoeia as a villain intrinsic to the comics medium — in his own words, the sound-effect gimmick 'works great in print and on a comic book page' but could not be adapted cinematically, a view later validated when the Arrow TV producers considered and then abandoned using the character, eventually creating the analogous character Mr. Blank instead.
The Smith run encompassing this issue — issues #1–15 — has been collected in multiple formats, including Green Arrow Vol. 2: Sounds of Violence (trade paperback), the Green Arrow by Kevin Smith Deluxe Edition hardcover, and the Absolute Green Arrow by Kevin Smith edition, keeping the material continuously in print.