GREEN ARROW: FUTURES END #1 Review

Has DC got a winner on their hands with their latest September theme, or will it fail to entice long time fans of the series? Read on to find.

The official description from DC Comics:

Green Arrow is dead – and his replacement finally stands revealed!

Following the past Zero and Villains Months, DC launch their latest September, anniversary month, with this years one focusing on what the remaining New 52 series are getting up to during DC’s The New 52: Futures End timeline. The main fear I have with this is that having not followed Futures End that I’d find these tales hard to follow/enjoy. That unfortunately partially proves to be the case with Green Arrow, as though the story itself is easy to follow, it feels too immersed in the events of Futures End for regular fans to enjoy.

This issue also marks the last issue of the current creative team, with Jeff Lemire producing his final Green Arrow script. Showing Emiko as the new Green Arrow, Naomi as the new Dart, and Ollie with a beard Lemire teases an intriguing possible future for our Emerald Archer, and I’m sure even more so for Futures End readers. The way in which Lemire shows a somewhat conclusion to the entire Outsiders development he introduced also really grabbed my attention, but unfortunately it was drowned out by the overall Futures End immersion, and anticlimactic ending.

Andrea Sorrentino has astounded me throughout his and Lemire’s run on Green Arrow, producing some of the best Green Arrow art I’ve ever seen. He continues to do so in this one-shot yarn, as though I found Ollie’s beard disturbingly unrealistic, the rest of his art was as ever flawless. Having intense panels, and a wonderful sense of atmosphere, Sorrentino gives a punchy vibe to this story, helping give more of the Green Arrow flair that was needed. Marcel Maiolo also as ever produces outstanding colours, with his soft tone matching Sorrentino’s style one more time.

Green Arrow: Futures End proves to be an interesting finale to Lemire and Sorrentino’s run on the character, but the over immersion into the Futures End event means that Green Arrow fans that don’t follow the event may be left unsatisfied, and thus I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it.