Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Since Jeff Lemire has taken over this series it has been nothing short of amazing, and I've really enjoyed seeing Green Arrow in a brilliant series once more, and this story so far has been one of the best Green Arrow stories that I've ever read (although I've not read that many).
Plot
Green Arrow (Oliver "Ollie" Queen) is falling to his death, but manages to save himself. Komodo isn't happy about this, and the two get embroiled into a fight. Meanwhile Naomi is still captive of Komodo, being watched over by his daughter, Emiko Lacroix.
Review
This was a brilliant issue, and Jeff Lemire is really doing something phenomenal with this series. After reading Lemire's amazing work on this series, as well as the brilliant two issues of Animal Man that I read, I decided to try more of his work, getting his run on Justice League Dark (up to date), as well as Constantine (which he co-plots with his JLD co-writer Ray Fawkes), and I've started to see that he's truly an amazing writer, and one of the best working at DC the now. Although JLD has been brilliant, I still much prefer this series, as I feel that it's much more grittier, and dramatic, and I've loved how he's taken Ollie out of his comfort zone, making him have to fight. I've also loved how Lemire's managed to keep the backstory a mystery, whilst giving us slithers of information about it, to keep us interested, which makes for brilliant suspense. Lemire's also managed to keep the story very exciting, having plenty of action, but not too much that it takes away from the development of the story, and overall his writing is amazing, and I can't wait to read more of it, and especially from this story.
The artwork from Andrea Sorrentino is once again phenomenal, and I've been very happy that he's working on this series. The detail in Sorrentino's art is simply outstanding, as every thing is so precise, and perfect, with every minor detail given attention, and it really makes for a beautiful piece of art. There are however two things that I like most about Sorrentino's art, and that's the way he draws facial expressions, and the overall layout of the artwork. The facial expressions are simply fantastic, as it adds a lot of emotion to the story, showing the character's feelings perfectly. The layout is also brilliant, as it really gives a great dramatic feel to the story, also giving an overall unique style to the series. I also love the way that Sorrentino draws the action in this issue, as like the layout it adds more drama to the story, which is brilliant. Marcelo Maiolo has also once more done a fabulous job of the colours, and although I still prefer the colours that Sorrentino added in the first issue in this story, I've still really enjoyed the colours that Maiolo has produced, as they are very similar, and add a very unique tone to the series, whilst also giving more drama and suspense.
I've really enjoyed that this story continues to start with a couple of pages showing Ollie in Black Mesa, Arizona, and that although most of the story has been set three weeks prior to that, it's still reminding us where the stories eventually leading. Besides that I loved that the main part of the story continued from where the last issue left of, with Ollie falling to his death, as it made for a very dramatic start to the issue, and it would surprise people who are picking this issue up without reading the previous two. It was however also nice that Lemire didn't take long in driving the story forward, having Ollie, and Komodo tussle a bit, before the story moved to continuing Naomi's captivity.
Speaking about Naomi's (one of Ollie's former assistant) captivity, the developments in this part of the story was one of the more shocking events from the last issue, and although I didn't want to talk about that in my previous review, as to avoid spoilers, I will talk about it now, and how it developed more in this issue. Basically last issue Komodo killed Jax (Ollie's other assistant) in front of Naomi, and in fear of her own life she agreed to tell him everything about Ollie, basically betraying him. I understand why she betrayed Ollie, and although a lot of readers will see her as nothing but a traitor, you have to think of the bigger picture, as not everyone is brave, and most people are scared of death (whether they admit it or not). This issue however showed that Naomi still had some loyalty to Ollie, as although she'd given away his secrets, she still has faith in him, and tells Emiko that Komodo needs to be worried about him, which was nice, as it showed that she only really betrayed him out of fear.
As I said earlier in my review, this issue showed a fight between Ollie, and Komodo, and although I briefly mentioned it, I'll talk more about it now (without revealing spoilers). This was a brilliant fight, and it was really dramatic, as you could feel the tension between the two, as well as some desperation from Ollie, ans smugness from Komodo. What I liked most about this fight was the dialogue, as Lemire really wrote one of the best battle conversations that I've ever read, as it added more drama, and suspense, also giving a tremendous atmosphere, which you don't always get in comic book fights (whether they're entertaining or not).
This issue also continued to reveal more of Komodo's relationship with Ollie's father (Robert Queen), and although I won't go into much detail as to avoid spoilers (people who've seen the gatefold cover will know), I will say what I felt about this development. Last issue had a lot of development showing Komodo's history with Ollie's father, so it was kind of nice that this issue didn't focus too much on that, but at the same time I was happy that we got some. Although I won't say what actually happened I will say that it wasn't really much of a surprise, but that it should have a lot of influence over the rest of this story.
Final Verdict
This was yet another amazing issue from Lemire, and the development of the story has been handled brilliantly. This issue is also very action packed, having lots of suspense, and having a very dramatic tone. I'd highly recommend this issue, as it was truly fantastic, and I'd also recommend the other two issues in this series by Lemire, as the story's been amazing, and I for one really look forward to reading more.
No comments:
Post a Comment