GREEN ARROW #3
Written by J.T. Krul & Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen
Drawn by Dan Jurgens
Colors by Tanya and Richard Horie
Review by Brad Jones
With all the attention Marvel’s Avengers are getting lately, a spotlight was bound to eventually be shown on Hawkeye. I, however, was always more partial to DC’s version, Green Arrow, and was therefore really excited to be the one who got to review this series when we decided to move forward with this blog and podcast.
But Green Arrow let me down.
This series has never risen above its past or taken the hero into a new, unexplored future. In fact, Green Arrow exemplifies everything about comics that turned me away from them as I got older. Kitschy one-liners, flat artwork and monster-of-the-month stories don’t hold my attention when I’m watching television for free, and it certainly won’t work for me at $3 or $4 a month for 12 pages of “meh.”
It’s ironic that this issue is entitled “Green Arrow’s Last Stand,” like Krul and Jurgens somehow anticipate readers steering clear from here on out, but with so many other, much more worthy books, I can’t in good faith recommend this book from here on out. Rather than give us a true origin story that would be able to separate Oliver Queen from similar heroes, Krul and Jurgens rely on our emotional attachment to Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne’s stories to keep us pulled in. But I already have great Batman and Ironman books…I wanted a great Green Arrow series, and instead find my greatest disappointment amongst the New 52. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing outright terrible with these books, but the sheer mediocrity of the series has me yearning for more Swamp Thing or Nightwing; writing and artwork that elevates these characters beyond what we’ve already seen and doing something interesting with them.
So I’m sorry, dear readers, but we must say “good-night” to this Arrow, and look for greener pastures. And here’s hoping the Arrow we get with the new Justice League series will wash the stale taste out of my mouth from this New 52 version of the adventures of Oliver Queen.
VERDICT
Here’s an admission: Green Arrow was the first book I read in the New 52, and I was entertained by it. But after reading the likes of Detective and Action Comics, Batman, Nightwing and Swamp Thing, I can safely and assuredly say that there are WAY better stories out there and you’d be better served by reading them instead of this.
