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Review: Green Arrow #18

By | March 8th, 2013
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

One of DC Comics’ most reliable bullpen writers was given the unenviable task of pulling Oliver Queen out of a mess left by 16 mostly forgettable-at-best, incomprehensible-at-worst issues of “Green Arrow.” Let’s see how he’s doing so far.

Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino

• Oliver Queen has lost everything: His company, his money, his friends and most of his arrows. It’s all because of one man: Komodo, who has come to tear Ollie’s life to shreds!
• From the ashes, Ollie must uncover the secrets of his father’s past — secrets of the island and Ollie’s own uncanny ability with the bow.

Good ol’ irresponsible ‘New 52’ Oliver Queen is trying to get his life back together. DC has been trying to do a Tony Stark thing with him, making him into a playboy who puts his ego before everyone else’s (and even his own) safety. He’s paid the price by getting two of his partners kidnapped and losing the company that funds everything he does. Meanwhile, a rival businessman, archer-villain guy with a link to the Queen family is planning a takeover. Lemire starts Ollie on the path toward getting all of his stuff back, but as is often the case in these sorts of stories, he’s going to rely on some unlikely allies and limited resources to do it.

The most impressive thing about Lemire’s approach is that he doesn’t jettison everything that’s happened in the previous issues that weren’t written by him. Rather, he takes a sidestep and runs parallel to those storylines. Ollie is dealing with the same problems (as detailed in the solicitation above), the same supporting cast, and the same general premise – it’s just that Lemire does it far better than the other writers did. He does it by laying the groundwork for a greater mythology around Ollie. Even though Lemire isn’t making this The CW’s “Arrow” the comic book, he’s bringing in the mysterious island that that show constantly references. Lemire also ties the issue in pretty tightly to what’s going on in the new “Justice League of America” title. He’s doing a smart thing in tying it to popular things that comic book readers can point at to get their friends to read it, but he’s also ensuring that the comic that they pick up is compelling on its own and tells a very different tale. He builds almost supernatural mystery into a character that you wouldn’t normally associate with such a thing, much like he did to great success with “Superboy” pre-‘Flashpoint’.

Lemire doesn’t worry about why Ollie lost everything and whether or not the character was written properly in the past. He’s here now to clean up that mess and build from it. Ollie is a serious man who once again feels like he’s at least working toward becoming the goatee’d swashbuckler that we once knew and loved. Unfortunately, Lemire doesn’t resist the temptation to pair Ollie with a dweebish tech-savvy ally that seems tailor-made to annoy readers. He’s your classic overweigh hero-worshipper, and while no specific thing that he says or does sticks out as memorably offending, but he’s a surprisingly rote character for Lemire to be writing. Lemire fans might remember that “Superboy” had the gadget-loving Simon Valentine in a similar role, but that character was much more endearing. Turning back to the “Iron Man” comparison, Ollie’s soon-to-be archer nemesis feels much like Obediah Stane or any of the other shady businessmen/inventors/thieves that have tried to beat Tony Stark and his company at their own game.

Andrea Sorrentino made waves with his work on “I, Vampire” and he’s even better here. He’s starting to mess with the paneling and the perspective more than he did on that book and it’s really taking his aesthetic to the next level. Comparisons to David Aja’s work on “Hawkeye” have been made. That’s not entirely inaccurate, but it’s only a panel here or there that uses the same sort of odd coloring choices or panel-within-a-panel trickery. If anything, Sorrentino is merely depicting certain things as only an archer would see them – something similar to what “Hawkeye” accomplishes, but it’s definitely not a swiping issue. And whatever the case, the actual look of his art couldn’t be more different. The heavy use of shading is inherent in his style, but it gives the book the more mysterious feel that Lemire is clearly going for. Ollie is on the run, hiding in shadows and seedy side-streets. Sorrentino brings Ollie to those streets in a way that feels very authentic without overdoing it on the grim and gritty. Marcelo Maiolo’s colors play a very important role in distinguishing the past from the present and directing the eye toward all the right places. As Sorrentino gets experimental with the panels, the color choices are starker, showing where the focus should be placed. Similarly, flashbacks are rendered with a bold color scheme where just a couple of specific colors dominate. These panels look especially gorgeous. But the overall color scheme of the book is a strong one, with a lot of greens standing out above the rest of the choices. The choice to give the villains’ scenes a purple color scheme is a nice little tongue-in-cheek aspect.

This might not be your daddy’s “Green Arrow”, but he’s safe to start reading again, in case any jaded fans were wondering. There’s plenty of mystery to uncover that we didn’t even know was there. The moments where Ollie has to face a past that he doesn’t understand are the most satisfying parts of Lemire’s story and there is clearly much more of that to come. Besides a few characters that don’t resonate very much, this is a story that gets the reader inside Oliver Queen’s head. The head of a man who is completely out of his element. Most importantly, “Green Arrow” has become a book that puts an up-and-coming character in the right hands with beautiful art that doesn’t look like anything else on the stands.

Final Verdict: 7.5 – Buy


Vince Ostrowski

Dr. Steve Brule once called him "A typical hunk who thinks he knows everything about comics." Twitter: @VJ_Ostrowski

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