Green Arrow #4

Green Arrow borrows almost half its pages from Brightest Day this issue, and the rest of the story really could have used those pages for J.T. Krul to better tell his story. 
 
Seriously, a huge chunk of this issue is wasted for no good reason in an almost line-for-line reenactment of the scene between Ollie and J'onn in a recent issue of Brightest Day. Krul does absolutely nothing to flesh this scene out or give Ollie's perspective on it. It is just the same scene again. What could the point possibly be? The people who read Brightest Day already know this happened, and the people who didn't would not care because it has no apparent relevance to Krul's story. It is a frustrating way to start the issue. 
 
I don't know if Krul is just lazy or if DC thinks readers are stupid. The Robin Hood references in this series smack you in the face so hard it is like you've done something to offend them. Are we really calling Star's private security the Royal Guard? Are we really doing that? At first, I thought it was just a one-shot nickname for them in a scene where Ollie saves Maid Marian -- I mean, Mary -- from them, but we are apparently running with that name. Maybe they were already called that and I missed it before. Doesn't make it any less of a smack in the face, though. At some point in this series, we are actually going to have a conflict between the Royal Guard and the Merry Men. Good lord. Why even call him Green Arrow still?
 
Galahad, introduced last issue, mostly falls by the wayside in this one. Galahad. Another thing with the subtlety of a brick. I guess Krul feels that the implication that Galahad is an inexplicably well-equipped mental patient is all we really need for the character for the time being. 
 
There is a lot to criticize about this issue, but it isn't outright bad. The art is actually pretty nice, as usual. The basics of what Krul is trying to do with Ollie's status quo is rather interesting too, and the only problem with it is how badly it stumbles over his clumsy Robin Hood references. Intriguing things also seem to be on the horizon for the Mary character. 
 
But in this end, this issue is derailed by a totally unnecessary retelling of a scene from Brightest Day and the rest of the issue scrambles through its story in an attempt to get back on track. Krul is better than this and needs to step up his game if he really wants to make a success out of this run.