Green Arrow #26 - A Review

Dubbed The Outsiders War - Book One: Return To The Island, Green Arrow #26 is a perfect entry point for new readers, despite its intimidating subtitle.  Those who only know Oliver Queen from the TV series Arrow may be confused that Oliver's support team consists of two computer nerds named Fyff and Naomi or by the revelation that Shado is older than Oliver and the mother of his half-sister.  Thankfully, the opening pages bring the reader up to speed on recent events with great efficiency before moving on to the action.  


Author Jeff Lemire has taken Green Arrow in directions not seen since the days of Mike Grell in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  There is a mystic quality to the character now, as we find Oliver is the last scion of a warrior clan bound to the power of The Arrow, pitted against other clans devoted to other weapons.  The presentation is reminiscent of Frank Miller's work on Daredevil and proves a welcome and unique change to this series after several false-starts following The New 52 revamp. 



The art by Andrea Sorrentino is, in a word, astonishing.  Sorrentino crams an amazing amount of detail into every single panel, without things becoming muddied or overshadowed.  Praise must also be paid to colorist Marcelo Maiolo, who alternates the color palettes between panels, using muted hues throughout for atmosphere, save for the action shots which are given brighter, more vibrant colors.

Bottom Line?  This is a great book and if you're any kind of comics fan, you should be reading it.