After a long battle with the Outsiders across the globe, it’s time to head back to Seattle with Green Arrow for the next arc. Of course, trouble awaits him there. Is it good?
Green Arrow #32 (DC Comics)
Seattle has seen better days as a massive crime wave has overtaken the entire city, with police unable to stop the crooks. At the center of it all is Richard Dragon, the new crime kingpin of the entire city. Green Arrow has just finally arrived in town, but he won’t have it easy. Dragon has put a $30 million bounty on Arrow’s head and people are already lining up to collect…
Dude, we do not mock the villain who just blew up your base. Bad plan.
Now this was an exciting way to get the new started. It quickly explained what the focus of the arc will be and the scope of the situation, caught up with the characters to see how they were, and immediately got into the action while moving the story along. No decompression, no padding, no moment where the story feels slow, and nothing drags. This is fast moving, quickly paced, every scene has a purpose and they are all balanced well to get the most story and enjoyment out of the issue. It’s so rare to see a comic hit all the right notes with delivering a satisfying issue that gives us a bit of everything we want.
The story here is very strong and helps with making the issue great. We finally get some background into our mysterious Richard Dragon, getting to the bottom of his motivations and why he is doing what he does. We get more background for the time when Green Arrow and Diggle were fighting crime together as well, helping fill in that vague gap in time. While the rest of the characters weren’t nearly as developed or focused on, the addition of the new and old villains with their own unique personalities helped fill the gap and make the story stand out more. If there was one thing to mention overall regarding the story, it is the potential and intrigue with where the story will go from here. The big revelation and the surprise cliffhanger are really great and should provide for a lot of fun going forward and that should excite the readers. It certainly did for me.
Great, Seattle is turning into Gotham apparently.
Jeff Lemire’s writing is as good as usual. The dialogue is good, even with the amusing villain monologue where the character goes on about his past. The pacing and structure are strong like mentioned, having every scene serve a purpose and flow well into each other. Thematically, the series is going away from the mysticism for the first time since Jeff Lemire took over and moving into a grittier street story. It’s a definite change of pace—and a good one at that—that also helps make the series a bit fresher in the new arc. It’s all good here.
Then there is the artwork by Andrea Sorrentino and like always, it’s fantastic. The layouts are good like usual, though nothing as creative as we have seen in previous issues. The backgrounds and locations are lively, the action is great, the characters are well depicted and their range of emotion and expression are even better than usual, and the coloring is fantastic here. The big highlight of the issue is the flashback scene with a villain monologue, where it’s done and how it’s depicted more like an old school comic with the coloring and look of the pages. It helps make the section, which could have come off a bit cheesy, much more enjoyable to read overall.
I never know exactly what I’ll see in each issue with the artwork, but it’s never disappointing, that much is for sure.
Is It Good?
Green Arrow #32 is a great start for the new arc, with an exciting and different than usual story. The writing and story are very strong, it’s an engaging read from start to finish, the artwork is a sight to behold and the intrigue in where the story will be going only makes the issue even better. Green Arrow is easily one of the strongest superhero books DC or any company is currently putting out and you should not be missing out on all the fun.
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