After being "banished" from Star City in the last volume, Oliver Queen, The Green Arrow, has taken refuge in the center of the demolished Star City, which has become a lush forest, and a dangerous place for criminals.
The Good
Where to start? As you may know, Green Arrow has been getting pooped on the past few months, with the most recent pooping being that Green Arrow was banished from Star City, but obviously, that didn't stop him. This book has turned into what I always hoped Green Arrow would turn into, at least since I started reading: Robin Hood. Yes, Oliver is now Robin Hood, and it is awesome. At the same time, Queen Industries has been bought out by Isabel Rochev, a woman who looks like a cross between a Final Fantasy Game and an expedition to Antarctica, and it looks like the new direction she's taking Queen Industries into is going to be awesome. This is also a Brightest Day tie-in, but one that works. Why is Star City in ruins, while the forest thrives? I love almost everything about this issue, especially the cover done by Mauro Cascioli. This issue may all just be set-up for this on-going series, but it is amazing set-up at that. J.T. Krul is a writer who has really surprised me in the past months. I had never heard of him, and he's quickly become one of my favorite writers simply because of all the work he's done on the Green Arrow series, and a few of the tie-ins. (and also the two JSA Classified issues he worked on)
The Bad
Why is this a new volume? This is Green Arrow's 5th volume now. I know that everything has changed for Ollie, but I still feel this is a continuation of the last series. Nevertheless, that's hardly a complaint. However, new readers won't know what is going on since you really need to read up on about a year of stories to understand how Ollie got to where he is now.
The Verdict: 4.5/5 - Pick of the Week!
I usually don't get to give books I review the "Pick of the week" stamp because something else in my pile of books, that wasn't on my list of things to review, is just better. Even more so, the first issue of a new series usually doesn't get that stamp simply because most first issues are nothing more than set-up, but this issue was easily the best thing I've read in weeks. And although I've personally been overly annoyed with the amount of times I've read those first few pages, which were in the band of what seemed like every DC book the past few months, I forgot all about that when reading through this. This is a must buy for and DC, Green Arrow, or Robin Hood fan. This would have gotten 5/5, but I felt that a new reader couldn't just pick this series up and understand what's going on. For me, it's a 5/5 though, but I'm always trying to keep the average reader in mind.
