I’m beginning to think Jeff Lemire’s quest within the world of DC comics is to turn peripheral characters into must read stories. Animal Man. Justice League Dark. Green Arrow. Some may argue that Green Arrow isn’t a peripheral character, and to them I ask this question. When has Oliver Queen been interesting since the Green Lantern & Green Arrow series in the ’70s? Exactly.
Lemire sees something in these characters, and he’s confident enough to take new directions when rebuilding them. Oliver Queen has been through the ringer in the New 52, but Lemire waited until his darkest hour to really gut-punch the world’s greatest archer. Issue #28 is the culmination of a huge story, as well as the first seeds of a new one. Lemire is going to bring the end of The Outsiders War arc home with an all out war. In the middle of it is Oliver Queen, a young man who just found out his father is not only still alive, but also the one who set him up, tortured him and fought him nearly to the death.
The strings winding together that make up Lemire’s run on Green Arrow are too involved to recap, so let me sum up. Years ago, a trusted advisor who later became Komodo, the ruthless archer-assassin that’s been giving Arrow so much trouble, betrayed ago Oliver Queen’s father. Fearing his son would be the next target, Papa Queen had his son marooned on an island, then kidnapped, and finally tortured. When Oliver escaped, his father gave chase and they had an epic battle. In the end, Oliver won, thinking he’d killed the masked stranger who had imprisoned him.
Something else happened on the island; Oliver became a warrior and a hero. Now, with Komodo taking control of The Outsiders, the war has arrived. Oliver’s dad has revealed himself, in hopes he and his son can stop the war. There’s a problem. Once the truth comes to light, Oliver knocks his dad out and walks away. Is he walking away from being Green Arrow? Let’s hope not, because outside of The Outsiders, a dangerous criminal named Richard Dragon is threatening to take over Seattle.
The ascension of Oliver Queen from rebellious, rowdy, immature superhero to something of a higher grace and power is the subtext to Lemire’s run. He’s also redefining Green Arrow, and giving him a rightful place among the DCU elite. Lemire brings in the troubled family angle, as well as questions of what a hero is, when you think for yourself and when you trust. By breaking down the rather bravado-centered idea of the original Green Arrow, Lemire has created a foundation for another peripheral hero to rise to greatness.
Andrea Sorrentino’s art is, as always, staggering. Few people pencil with a cinematic eye as precise as Sorrentino. Each panel has an individual excellence in both line work and shadowing, but when you see them together, the pages move like a film. It might be the delicate sketches or the almost dreamlike quality of the pages, but Green Arrow is visually much more akin to a movie than a comic book. Part of that credit definitely goes to Marcelo Maiolo, who knows exactly when to use his color palette more maximum effect.
Wonderfully written, exquisitely drawn and gorgeously colored. Green Arrow is a dark, compelling and thoroughly wonderful rebirth of a classic character that is also visually stunning.
(4.5 Story, 4.5 Art)
