I find myself at a loss as to how describe this series other than to say that this is easily the best Green Arrow story in years. What Andy Diggle has presented here is a portrait of Green Arrow at his purest.
Diggle has managed the amazing task of retelling a classic origin story that has – for good reason – remained largely unchanged since the Golden Age of Comics while modernizing some of the trappings. He has taken the past continuity of not only Green Arrow’s origins but of several key Green Arrow stories and added elements to this origin that will go on to foreshadow future adventures. What is most impressive is that he has done this in a way that is easily accessible to new readers while speaking to the old-fans like myself.
But even those words do little to convey just how perfectly Diggle has captured the essence of the character of Oliver Queen; who he is and what he becomes. And it certainly does nothing to display the skill of artist Jock, whose talented line-work has made this book as wonderful to look at as it is to read.
I think the only thing that can possibly convey the beauty of both the writing and the art is a scan of this page.
THIS is Green Arrow. He is Robin Hood in the modern world. The defender of the defenseless. The savior of the oppressed. The man who never gives up no matter what the odds are against him. The man who flips Evil the bird and then tries the impossible, rather than bargain or beg favors from it. The one who stands up and says “no”.
He is all that. And a damned good showman to boot!
This is my Green Arrow and I will miss him until someone at DC has the good sense to put Diggle and Jock to work on the character on a monthly basis.
