It was pretty much universally assumed that this would be good. When DC announced that Jeff Lemire was taking over Green Arrow, pre-orders for the book quadrupled, and it's easy to see why.
First off, this is a great jumping-on point. Lemire is kicking off a brand new story arc here, and as a result this feels almost like a first issue. It's written in a way that doesn't leave you feeling like you should have read issues #1-16 to know what the hell is going on, or who everyone is. This is obviously a deliberate move from Lemire. The New 52's Oliver Queen is not a very interesting guy at the moment, and this issue takes the first steps toward changing that.
Green Arrow #17 gets things going pretty quickly. The script is tight and perfectly paced, and this is complimented beautifully by the artwork. Andrea Sorrentino draws, inks, and colours this issue, and although the art style may take some getting used to for some readers, there is no doubt that it really brings the already brilliant writing to life. The transitions from black-and-white, to splashes of colour, to full colour panels is great, and the use of insert panels (at least I think that's what they're called) adds a flow and movement to the pages in a way I don't think I've actually seen done before.
After 16 issues of fighting weird robots and zombies and brainwashed people and whatnot, it's good to see Green Arrow get a little more grounded. Jeff Lemire said he wanted to take a 'street-level crime noir' appoach to his run, and the book immediately feels fresher for it. I said in a previous post that Green Arrow would be a regular buy for me now that Lemire has taken over, and this first issue of his run has certainly confirmed that. I'm not too sure if I'll be scoring books in future reviews, but for the sake of it, Green Arrow #17 gets 8.5/10
BEGINNING OF SPOILERS!!! Oliver is pissed that Queen Industries has been bought out by a rival and decides to have a shouting match with company CEO Emerson. During the argument, an archer in the building opposite fires an arrow attached to a rope into Emerson's back and pulls him out the window, where he presumably falls to his death. Security come in, they think Ollie did it, and try to subdue him. He obviously overpowers them and escapes. He calls Jax and Naomi, who it turns out are being held against their will inside Q-Core, which moments later gets blown up with them inside! Oliver heads to a safehouse to get some of his Green Arrow equipment, only to find the aforementioned archer, named Komodo, with a bunch of Ollie's arrows, and some deadly intentions to boot. The two end up fighting across the rooftops, but Komodo makes short work of Oliver. Just as he's about to put an arrow between Ollie's eyes, a guy with no eyes named Magus stops him, and tells Oliver "You were never supposed to leave the island". END OF SPOILERS!!!
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