Green Arrow #11 review

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Hello hello once again, I’m back for another look at DC Comics’ Green Arrow ongoing, with this month’s issue #11 as written by Joshua Williamson and a stacked cast of three pencilers! We’ve got Sean Izaakse, Phil Hester and Eric Gapstur all contributing to this one – quite a lineup, eh? This book continues to be one of my favorites in DC’s current lineup, which is no slouch of a statement considering what else they’ve got for offerings lately. Let’s get into the meat of it all, shall we?

We continue on from last time with the first section of the book (drawn by Izaakse) with Ollie and Roy trying to procure the files and system for Sanctuary, the database from Heroes in Crisis, while fighting simulations of the Justice League. We quickly get an intervention from all the returning legacy characters last issue, jumping in to join the fight in a sequence that feels awesomely well-earned. Great to see all these characters together, joking and working together to fight against some admittedly stacked odds. However, in true Green Arrow fashion, they get the win with a well-aimed shot, snagging the database and running to safety. Good stuff, very fun sequence and a true first for a lot of these characters, being able to all work together like this.

Story then shifts to the next section (drawn by Hester), with Malcom Merlyn recounting events that led to this, his backstory, and what he’s been doing while he waits for his final showdown, and so on and so forth. It serves as a good recap for those jumping on late (seriously, not many comics do that so seamlessly anymore, much appreciated) and also for those not actually familiar with Merlyn at all. And to be fair, his backstory hasn’t exactly been touched on in quite a while. The final section (drawn by Gapstur) is Ollie and Merlyn’s pre-fight smack talk, and they are some of the best at their craft. As is Williamson, you can feel the malice (and begrudging respect) between these two long time enemies, like he’s been writing them for decades instead of just months. This section is the shortest though, leaving us on our cliffhanger for the final fight, next time.

With three whole artists, it’s good they chose good ones, otherwise I’d worry about visual cohesion more. Hester was a great choice for the flashback section, with him having drawn so much of Ollie’s life as is, and Izaakse leading the main fight was equally well chosen. Guy has a good sense of space and action pacing without losing any detail. Gapstur was fairy good too, having a similar style to Izaakse while still being distinct enough. Tragically the shortest portion of the book, but I liked what I saw! This book really seems to get good fill-in artists when it needs them, and I’m happy for that, iffy art cohesion can really kill a book, especially when it switches styles in the middle of an issue, but splitting them up per-scene was a good solution to keep things nice and clearly readable.

Another good issue of a good run! Green Arrow #11 doesn’t disappoint, and is more of that classic GA goodness that I so, so love. Williamson continues as the definitive modern voice for the character, a torch that has been previously carried by no small names, so I hope he knows how much he’s earned that praise with his fantastic sense of these guys. The artists all bring good stuff to the table too, so you really can’t go wrong no matter how you slice it. Another notch in the belt (or arrow?) for this fantastically fun book.

“]] Another good issue of a good run.  Read More