Green Arrow #34 Review(Spoilers)

[harashkupo]

I just finished reading this and saw that no one started a topic and thought I'll get the ball rolling.

spoilers:

We start right where the previous issue left off with Diggle being pushed out the window by Dragon. GA saves him with some foamy type arrow and they head into the building to confront and stop Dragon Once and for All bum bum bummm. Meanwhile Henry, who's bleeding out, and Naomi are about to get all murdered by Clock King until Emiko shows up and beats the crap out of him, only to find out Killer Moth is there to take out Emiko. But Naomi uses Dart's darts to take out Moth then yells at Emiko to keep Henry alive to she can get the van. Great moment. Back at the villainous lair, Dragon sends Vertigo to stall the police while he takes on GA and Diggle by himself. Awesome fight follows with Diggle beaten with an arrow stabbed through his hand and GA broken and bloody. While Dragon thinks he's got them beat Diggle tears the arrow out of his hand and GA stabs Dragon with it in the leg telling him to give up or bleed out. The police show up saying Vertigo tore through them and got away. Diggle wants to go after them but GA says it's more important to help with the aftermath. Stupid civilians getting in the way, am I right? This issue ends with some monologuing and we finally get to see a responsible hero emerge.

end of spoilers

I won't lie, I don't want this team to leave and I'm not interested in the new direction. But it's happening regardless and the way Lemire finished out this arc was beyond amazing. In my opinion this has been the best run of the New 52. Lemire built a whole world for future writers to play with and fleshed out all of the characters. I'm not a GA fan and have no point of reference but this has truly been one amazing story and I feel like a great addition to the character and mythos.

As always the art was breathtakingly beautiful and the fight scenes were some of the best I've ever seen. If you haven't read any of Lemire's and Sorrentino's GA, you're doing yourself a great disservice. I loved this from start to finish and am grateful for the hard and talented work.

Awesome comic run was awesome.

[Enigmatic Undead]

Excellent conclusion to this story arc. It felt like the band was getting back together.

[Drz]

It's so sad to know this was the peniltume/penultume/spelling issue of Lemire's & Sorrentino's run.

[AlexanderLuthor]

An amazing run that will be remembered right up there with the other legendary GA runs. Too bad it had to end so soon

[sirjustin86]

As long as Lemire finishes his run with Ollie - or anyone for that matter - referring to Emiko as Speedy (finally!) I will be happy. Also loved Count Vertigo not giving two sh'ts about Dragon's agenda and just heading off in all of the chaos when it suited him. Vertigo don't take orders from nobody (derp!)!

[harashkupo]

I just hope the new guys will take advantage of everything that's been built. But the series continues after a five year jump so if they do decide to leave it all behind it's not like it would be jarring for the readers.

[sirjustin86]

I just hope the new guys will take advantage of everything that's been built. But the series continues after a five year jump so if they do decide to leave it all behind it's not like it would be jarring for the readers.

No, I think it jumps ahead for one gimmicky issue only, then it's back to business. I must say, I'm very wary of the new creative team - I think the tv show is pants, and would hate to see it become really heavy-handed with tv-influenced nonsense.

[harashkupo]

No, I think it jumps ahead for one gimmicky issue only, then it's back to business. I must say, I'm very wary of the new creative team - I think the tv show is pants, and would hate to see it become really heavy-handed with tv-influenced nonsense.

Same here but cool thing is that this issue ended in a good way. There have been a lot of comics that keep petering out at the end leaving me feeling disappointed. This was a great ending to a great run.

[K. Jones]

Great issue. I could tell that we were getting a sort of premature wrap-up of the run, but many or most of the threads had good climaxes. The great part is that all these rogues and villains are still out there ... Onyx will return ... Dragon will return ... Red Dart ... Vertigo ... yadda yadda yadda. In that way Lemire's run feels like a big "Hero you go, DC, this is how you do Green Arrow, peace out!" beginning rather than an ending.

I'm stoked to get a coda next month and willing to try the new team, but phew, good luck following that act.

[Stormcrow]

This was a pretty great finale for the Lemire/Sorrentino/Maiolo run, looking forward to the Futures End epilogue even if Emiko didn't ever really win me over.

My favorite bit was the interaction between Ollie and Diggle, wish Lemire had more time with them. But I'm sure the new creative team will deal with them plenty. Even if I'm not sold on the choice given Kriesberg's previous comic book work, that dynamic used to be one of the better parts of Arrow.

I was expecting Naomi and Fyff to be taken out of the picture to make room for Felicity's debut, it'll be interesting to see if they just get ignored next issue or if they're actually going to deal with it.

Overall, Lemire did a great contribution to the Green Arrow mythology and completely revitalized the character and his rogues. Can't wait to see all of the Longbow Hunters again and given proper screen time. It just seemed a little weird to me that at the end there's a caption saying "no more Count Vertigo" when he's clearly still around and they're aware of it... hope he returns soon enough.

[Factor]

It was good while it lasted.
A great finale for Lemire's run. I'm excited fo the Futures End issue, I think it will be a good epilogue.

[HsssH]

No, I think it jumps ahead for one gimmicky issue only, then it's back to business. I must say, I'm very wary of the new creative team - I think the tv show is pants, and would hate to see it become really heavy-handed with tv-influenced nonsense.

I actually like the show, but I'm not looking forward to new creative team either.

[Punisher007]

I really like the show as well. But I just get annoyed at this alleged need for "synergy" between the comics and the films/TV shows that both companies seem obsessed with (Marvel does it to). First of all, I've seen little evidence that the success of said properties drastically affect comic sales because the people who watch them are interested in the shows/films, but not necessarily the comics. Second, I like variety. The comic and the show can be different and I can still enjoy them on their own merits. Trying to make the comics so much like the show seems not only boring, but ill-advised. Comic GA ISN'T like show GA, his world in the comics ISN'T like his world in the show. Trying to crowbar them together just seems like a mistake to me. It's one thing if you want to take certain elements from the show. You want to bring Diggle into the comics, ok I'm fine with that. You want to make Deathstroke a bigger presence in GA's world, that's also fine. But don't start aping the show wholesale. And then there's the fact that Kreisberg's pre-New 52 GA/BC run was godawful, he nearly ruined BC as a character, which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.

[Stormcrow]

I really like the show as well. But I just get annoyed at this alleged need for "synergy" between the comics and the films/TV shows that both companies seem obsessed with (Marvel does it to). First of all, I've seen little evidence that the success of said properties drastically affect comic sales because the people who watch them are interested in the shows/films, but not necessarily the comics. Second, I like variety. The comic and the show can be different and I can still enjoy them on their own merits. Trying to make the comics so much like the show seems not only boring, but ill-advised. Comic GA ISN'T like show GA, his world in the comics ISN'T like his world in the show. Trying to crowbar them together just seems like a mistake to me. It's one thing if you want to take certain elements from the show. You want to bring Diggle into the comics, ok I'm fine with that. You want to make Deathstroke a bigger presence in GA's world, that's also fine. But don't start aping the show wholesale. And then there's the fact that Kreisberg's pre-New 52 GA/BC run was godawful, he nearly ruined BC as a character, which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.

We haven't seen yet just how much the comic book will resemble the show on Kriesberg takes over, besides the inclusion of Diggle and Felicity - which frankly makes sense as his supporting cast from the show is way more interesting and fun than what he's had in the New 52 so far.

Lemire mantained a pretty good balance between intoducing elements from the show while keeping the comic book world separate with its own mythology, I hope the trend remains. Kriesberg said in his one interview that Oliver's characterization will be closer to the pre-Flashpoint version, so I'm not too worried about the show synergy as it's a very different take on Green Arrow.

That said, they're basically in the same place right now with Oliver getting his act together as a hero after losing his company. We'll see how differently they handle the same situation in each medium.

[Maxpower00044]

Thought I posted here....

Well, this was awesome as usual. Loved Ollie basically saying "F my past", and Emiko is awesome. Everything was really wrapped up nicely. I'm sad to say the futures end will be my last issue of this book, unless by some random chance the new team can hold a candle to his team (already don enjoy the artist, so that's one strike). I'll be keeping my eye on threads to see what the consensus is on the new team. Hope it's enjoyable so I can start reading the book again (probably in trade).