Green Arrow #33 - A Review

Green Arrow #33 continues last-issue's fire-fight between our hero and three super-villains who are out for the price on his head.  Luckily, Ollie gets some unexpected help from multiple sources - including his young half sister, who is now determined to be his apprentice despite all protests that he does not need a sidekick.  These moments are intermixed with flashbacks in which we see how Oliver Queen fell into alcoholism and apathy, leaving John Diggle to protect the city of Seattle when it most needed a hero several years earlier.


Jeff Lemire and Andreas Sorrentino are one of the finest creative teams to be seen on any comic series in recent memory.  Lemire understands Oliver Queen like few writers do and he manages to sneak in a few classic references for the old-timer Arrow-heads while still telling an involving story.  Sorrentino's artwork is indescribably good, further enhanced by the work of colorist Marcelo Maiolo, whose use of tints subtly label multiple time-periods in different flashbacks.


Reading Green Arrow #33 was a bittersweet experience.  This is a good issue of what has been a good series, but I can't help but feel somewhat sad about it.  Why?  Because right before I read this issue, it was announced that Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino - the men who saved this book from cancellation - would be leaving Green Arrow after September.  Their replacements will have a tough act to follow.