Green Arrow #32

By Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino & Marcelo Maiolo

Criminals have taken over the city as this story kicks off with the line “Seattle under Siege!” and Green Arrow is nowhere to be found (for a couple panels, at least).

Jeff Lemire scripts a city in ruins as a missing vigilante makes an adrenaline filled return. Ollie (Green Arrow) returns to find his city in bad shape due to gang violence as a short reunion turns into a rooftop brawl with some self-proclaimed “D-Listers”. Lemire does a great job of going back and forth between Ollie’s current quarrels and those of John Diggle, both of which are in a bit over their heads in this issue (Broken is certainly a fitting title). He does a great job of explaining various character motives, juggling between scenes, along with giving each character their own piece of clever banter (Diggle certainly doesn’t shy away in his scenes).

Artist Andrea Sorrentino does great work with showing a desolate city become lively with action. The scenes taking place on the rooftop are met with thunderous explosions and captivating visuals which Sorrentino depicts in great detail. Colors by Marcelo Maiolo bring these depictions to life in huge ways. Maiolo’s characters are met with a glow that pulls them from the page. His play with black and white on red backgrounds in a few panels breaks up the fight scenes nicely. Together these two artists do some great play with patterns on pages referring to past events, and Maiolo’s flat color approach to these pages works well visually. This story is taking place at night, so a lot of darker tones are being used, but because of Maiolo’s detailed color work each scene simply pops from the page. A scene featuring the “D-Listers” standing together shows off this style very well with the air-brushed looking images.

Lemire is crafting a story that is both compelling and filled with action as this issue begins to lead into something even bigger. He’s accompanied by talented artists and together they’re creating a great story. If you’re looking for a jumping on point, this issue isn’t a bad place to start.