5.13.2017

076 Green Arrow Vol 2: Island Of Scars

The first volume of this series ended on a cliffhanger.  And it pissed me off because I didn't want to wait to see how it was resolved.  Luckily the book is on a twice-monthly schedule, so the wait wasn't that long.  

Team Arrow was left scattered and possibly dead at the end of the first storyline.  This volume shows us what happened to everyone.  It's split into two distinct stories.  The first one involves Arrow's sister Emi.  I was less interested in this story (told in present day and flashback, just like the tv show) than what happened with Oliver, Diggle and Dinah.  But Emi's story wraps up the storyline with her mother nicely and frees her to get back into the main storyline.

With the rest of the team, they find themselves stranded on a deserted island (a recurring theme for this character!) which turns out to be not so deserted.  Diggle gets captured by robot bears (really!  and it's not as ridiculous as I'm making it sound), Dinah finds Ollie and they both find and rescue Diggle.  Which then puts them right into another adventure aboard a high speed train zooming under the ocean.  You know I'm awful at writing when I put those words down but tell you to trust me, this is good stuff.

Green Arrow is one of DC's most improved books, hands down.  It made it's way back into a good place pre-Flashpoint.  New 52 Green Arrow practically destroyed the character. If it wasn't for the success of the Arrow tv show, the book would have been immediately cancelled and who knows if we'd ever see Green Arrow again.  But because the book was so bad and the tv show was so good, DC brought in Jeff Lemire to fix things before passing the book on.  Benjamin Percy is my new hero for what he's doing with this character.  Green Arrow is fast on track for shaking off the stink of the New 52 and getting back to the character we all know and love.

Green Arrow Vol 2: Island Of Scars
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Stephen Byrne, Otto Schmidt, Juan Ferreyra
DC Comics

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