There's a new Green Arrow creative team in town, and for fans of the Emerald Archer, that could be great news or it could spell trouble. How you feel about it will come down to one thing: Do you watch Arrow?
The CW's dark, gritty take on Green Arrow has been a big winner for the network (even resulting in a Flash spinoff, and possibly others to come), but it has a distinctly different flavor than the Green Arrow of the comics. Even with the changes brought about by the "New 52" reboot, fans always know what to expect from Oliver Queen.
Starting with issue #35, Arrow writers Ben Sokolowski and Andrew Kreisberg have taken over writing duties, and they put their stamp on the title very quickly. With an opening fight that could have come right out of the show, their Green Arrow is nevertheless a quippier hero who has a little more fun taking down bad guys than the brooding character on TV.
Without giving too much away, Oliver is set in a new direction here, moving away from the heavy mythology of the Outsiders and their totems and all that. It could be a breath of fresh air if you were having trouble with all that, or it could be a disappointment to see that several supporting characters have been swept aside that the previous creative team invested a great deal of time into.
Sokolowski and Kreisberg seem to have a lot of fun playing in bigger waters than the TV show can, like how they bring in two DC heavy hitters that would never be able to show up on Arrow. Still, it's a very talky issue, with no real action beyond the first five pages. #35 exists mainly as setup for what the writers have planned for their run, so in TV terms it's basically the teaser before the opening credits.
Artist Daniel Sampere does some nice detail work, though it's not without its hiccups. Some of his faces seem a little off, but on the whole he does some great composition, such as where he makes a point of showing us the physical toll this line of work takes on Ollie, or the glimpses of alter egos we see framed behind Oliver and a few others. And his work on the final page reveal is utterly perfect and sure to have Arrow fans squealing.
Story:
★★★☆☆
Art:
★★★★☆
Overall:
★★★★☆
