Green Arrow #35 Review

How will this new creative team fair? Read on to find out.

The official description from DC Comics:

Welcome new series writers straight from the hit TV show Arrow! Ollie is trying to put his life together after the grueling events of “Broken,” and finds himself back in Seattle on a mission from a mystery woman. Who is she – and what’s next for Green Arrow?

It’s a new era for Green Arrow as with Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino‘s run now being at an end, we get a new creative team for the Emerald Archer. Following on from such a successful run isn’t an easy task, with a lot of fans already having reservations about the new creative team before even reading the first issue. Though admittedly I am amongst these people, I have since taken a more positive view, seeing this change as a chance for something fresh.

Arrow writers Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski take over the writing duties on this series, and as expected there are similarities to the TV series. Though John Diggle was already established in Lemire’s run, the duo add more cast members from the television series, with the tone even being similar. Though this isn’t entirely a bad thing, it makes Lemire’s work feel almost washed away, as bar Diggle the supporting cast is totally different. Another thing that I found questionable was the addition of Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor, as though we’ve been seeing change in Justice League, the attitude just feels off here. Despite all this the duo do enough to have me enticed for more, with the last page leaving a few questions.

Having been treated to such mesmerizing artwork from Andrea Sorrentino over the last twenty issue my eyes have felt spoiled, as though there’s no argument that Daniel Sampere does a fabulous job on this issue, subconsciously I can’t help but wish for Sorrentino’s return. Sampere’s art does however suit the change in writing style, with his crisp pencils matching the new direction Ollie is heading in. The inkwork of Jonathan Glapion and colours of Gabe Eltaeb also works well with this new direction, as though Marcel Maiolo‘s colours were more eye catching, I’m not sure it would suit this style of writing.

Green Arrow takes an interesting change in direction, and though it won’t be to everyone’s liking it’s not anywhere near as bad as the series was prior to Lemire and Sorrentino’s run. Due to this I recommend this to both new readers, as well as fans of Arrow, but existing fans that are on the fence may want to hold back to see how the story fairs in the long run.