slade_wilson

HeroClix ... why did it take me so long to catch on?

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Why Green Arrow Deserves Jeff Lemire

While I am far from the biggest Green Arrow fan around, I have had a love for the character ever since I saw him pulling back a bow inside a comic book (I can't recall what exact issue it was). See, ever since I was little, I wanted to be an archer. A good friend of my father was a competitive archer and at a very early age, I was letting arrows fly across the yard. My favorite movie until I was eight was Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. Seeing a regular guy fight off evil doing the same thing I did in my backyard was the coolest thing I could have possibly imagined. What could make this better? How about the same thing, but doing it alongside my other childhood idols, Batman and Superman? Seriously, I freaked out when I saw Green Arrow for the first time. As the years have passed, I have remained a dedicated fan, picking up back issues from Mike Grell's amazing run on the title. To me, Green Arrow is much more than Batman with a bow; he is the manifestation of everything I loved as a child. He is an outspoken activist, executive, and leader. He puts his heart on the line and never regrets it. He is gritty, he is real, he is a man who earned his rights and his name. And that is precisely why I stopped reading the New 52's Green Arrow. Though the first arc was tolerable, it lacked the genuineness of Oliver Queen. He wielded a bow and patrolled Star City, but the similarities really end there. It was, to be frank, a kind of "blah" effort. It really did not feel like Ollie at all. And the second and subsequent arcs horrified me to the point of quitting all together. Ann Nocenti has put forth one of the weakest efforts as a writer on all of her titles I have ever seen. And I'm sorry Harvey Tolibao, but abstract art has no place in comic books. After four months (three enjoying the terrific Hawkeye!), my wish for a better Green Arrow is on track to coming true. Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined one of DC’s top three writers assigned to write for Ollie Queen. A longtime fan of Jeff's work, I am confident that this title will rise from the ashes and "wow" me as much as the new TV series, Arrow, has (seriously, it's a great show). Jeff has said he will try to channel Grell's success and promises a "hard-hitting, thriller/action/crime book". But we can't stop there, because beyond-amazing artist Andrea Sorrentino has signed on for art duties. So, as I gear up for another episode of Arrow, hopefully featuring yours truly, I ask the same question as I did as a child: How can this get better? Hopefully, we'll get our answer in February of 2013.

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