Green Arrow #20

Daredevil is a character that sparks creativity from an incredibly pool of talented writers and artists; hopefully Green Arrow is a character that will have the same legacy over time. So far the talent that revolutionized the Green Arrow character consists of Mike Grell, Kevin Smith, Brad Meltzer, Denny O’ Neil, and currently one of the hottest writers around, Jeff Lemire. In only 3 issues Lemire has managed to brake down many barriers surrounding Ollie and rebuild the character from the ground up. For many fans of Green Arrow this new Oliver Queen has been polarizing. He looks like a billionaire blonde playboy, instead of the classic Green Arrow look with the silly mustache and hat. Looking beyond that simple idea of an aesthetic change to the character, Lemire and Sorrentino have really started a brilliant re-telling of the character when they took over the comic with issue #17.

Oliver Queen has been blacklisted by some nasty people in high places, putting him on the run from everyone. The character has very little friends to help him out and an incredible amount of enemies bombarding him. Putting a character in an intensely violent and high stakes situation is an incredible way to completely flesh them out from the choices they make. Oliver barely has time to heal from the wounds of last issue, before being put in yet another high stakes combat scenario. While this arc has been hitting all the right beats consistently, it would be a good decision for the next storyline to slow it down a bit and focus on some of the smaller character moments. New character Fyff is a breath of fresh air simply because there are too few characters in The New 52 that are allowed to not be beautiful. Green Arrow deserves praise for taking some of the bigger chances in the current DC universe.

Sorrentino has a gritty art style that has been criticized by some as looking too muddy, however the approach has been executed quite gracefully in the title. Sorrentino’s thin lines and sparse backgrounds give the title urgency in every scene. This comic has been changing its handling of the colors by only putting black, white, and red on some pages to simply show how dire the situation is. In moments of intense violence colors sometimes completely fade out. This simple utilization of a comic book page and color makes the book all-the-more visually striking. Accolades should be given to colorist Marcelo Maiolo as he is responsible for some of the style choices such as the one previously mentioned.

The battle scenes in this issue are handled incredibly well by all of the talent here. The combat in the series so far has been brutal, excessive, and swift. Komodo has been a terrifying presence throughout the title and in the final showdown of the issue a sense of resolution is acquired. This arc has been exceptional and as long as the talent stays on this title, Green Arrow will continue to thrive creatively. If the quality remains this consistent, a legacy for the character will be built in time.