Written by: Benjamin Percy

Art By: Otto Schmidt

After hitting like a bomb last week, DC’s rebirth has arrived. This week, we were given many of the “Rebirth” titles for specific series; think a primer of sorts for what’s to come. While we got two of the heavy hitters in Superman and Batman, one of the one’s I was most looking forward to was Green Arrow. In what appeared to be a move into the Oliver Queen of the pre Flashpoint time, and the strong return of Black Canary, this book had every pretense to be leading the character in a good direction.

I will admit, I was a little nervous that this book would be very closely tied to the Oliver Queen we know from the Arrow TV show. Thankfully, right off the bat, we are given a totally different feel. While a slightly younger feeling Oliver than that of Grell’s famous run and beyond, there was a sense of experience. We are thrust right into the action, with Oliver on the hunt of human trafficker’s, when he comes face to face with Black Canary, who is a wonderful foil for this Ollie. What really stood out to me was Ollie, once again, fighting for the poor, which is exactly why I loved the Mike Grell run. He’s embodying that modern day Robin Hood idea. Additionally, we all know about the relationship that Ollie and Dinah had in the pre Flashpoint time, and the Rebirth Special last week showed us that these two get a ping of that feeling as well. As soon as she shows up, you can feel the magnetic attraction. In a beautiful move, DC is embracing their past, but allowing the characters to approach it in this weird reality organically. That wouldn’t be possible without Percy’s very capable scripting. He manages to make these two feel new, and nostalgic at the same time. I’ve only really read his two issue arc on Detective Comics previously; which is hard to judge while marvelling at the John Paul Leon art. Here, however, he feels right at home. Ollie is quippy, but not overly so. The streak of wanting to do right, true heroism, bleeds out of him. Dinah, on the other hand, immediately questions Ollie’s stance in the world. She has the punk cynicism that we brought to the forefront in her last series.  How can a man that’s so well off be a champion of the poor? It’s obvious at the end of this issue that they are going to discover that together. In the face of a truly scary threat, the two end the issue charging forth, with smiles on their faces. That is DC comics super heroes.

Otto Schmidt is an example of an artist that we don’t seem to be seeing a lot of in this DC Rebirth. He has a very fluid line, almost having a throughline of the action between each panel. That said, he has a slightly angular rendering style, which leads to a nice diametric partnership. While I wasn’t in love with Ollie’s costume, with it being a little too armor-y and less Robin hood-y for my liking, he got me with the goatee. Also, Black Canary is so perfect here I can look beyond it. She’s in the classic costume we know, but she, herself, is just a badass. She’s a beautiful woman, but there’s nothing in her demeanor that lends to think that she can go toe to toe with anyone. Think of it this way, the attractiveness is no different than the male heroes. It’s an ideal form, and it’s kickass. While I loved what Schmidt did with Dinah’s “Canary Cry”, distorting the background with rings a la Banshee, I thought some of the backgrounds were a little overly rendered colorwise. While the palette is muted, dirty, and fitting; sometimes it gets a little too much in detail. There’s a lot happening in shading and it gets a little muddy.

Overall, I’m left this week most excited about Green Arrow going forward. I certainly didn’t expect that, which is the best surprise I can ask for. As I said, DC Super Heroes at it’s finest.

 

4.5 Arrows out of 5