Green Arrow: Quiver

Everyone else has hit it on the head, but allow me to reiterate: this book is fantastic. Collecting issues 1-10 of the re-launched Green Arrow series, this sees the intricate but ingenious return of Oliver Queen from the dead. Being dead, to be sure, is a very touchy subject and returning from it can be controversial but these ten issues tell it very well and very sensibly with respect to all the characters involved. Not only that, there are plenty of nods to the hat of the DC Universe. Making references to many kinds of ACCESSIBLE history, this book is a love letter to the DC Universe and all its characters; it's a love letter to Oliver Queen as a bleeding heart liberal and a struggling father, a love letter to his supporting cast (his son, his ex-lover, a new sidekick, a new friend) and a love letter to his relationships (with his ex-lover, Batman, Aquaman, his son, et cetera!) And in the end, it's a love letter to the fans. This is a comic book that masterfully succeeds at being a comic book, and you'd do yourself a favor to pick it up.

I am not a particular fan of Kevin Smith's film work, but I absolutely love much of his comics work, and the ten issues collected in "Green Arrow: Quiver" represent his finest hour. Oliver Queen, aka the Green Arrow, was created in the Golden Age of superheroes as an arrow-themed Batman ripoff (which Smith humourously acknowledges here), and survived thanks to the patronage of his creator, Mort Weisinger, eventually joining the Silver Age Justice League of America. Circa 1970, Denny O'Neill suggested that what the character really needed was a personality, and recreated Queen as a socialist crusader, and paired him with Green Lantern in a series of famous adventures. Later on, Mike Grell reinvented him as a Punisher-esque figure in a grim series, before being unceremoniously killed off in the early 90s, part of a wave of replacement characters that emerged at DC in that period (although Queen's replacement was one of the few meant to be permanent). Dead for a few years, he finds himself returned to life in this stellar story by fan Kevin Smith. One can clearly see Smith's love for the DC Universe in every detail of this comic; this is a true epic, spanning the streets of Star City to the JLA's Lunar Watchtower to the gates of Heaven itself, and Smith mixes these disparate elements flawlessly. In bringing Ollie back, Smith clearly has an eye towards his more liberal O'Neill incarnation, rather than the Grell interpretation of the character, and includes commentary about the different eras of superhero comics (although this is somewhat incongruous with some of Smith's other work in the field; his "Daredevil" and "Black Cat" stories take a lot of 'grim and gritty' elements at face value). This is a very busy comic; Smith includes a lot of dialogue, and a lot of narration; the latter is going out of style, but Smith somehow avoids becoming a latter-day Chris Claremont (which Claremont himself sadly failed to avoid), and the narration works, for the most part). His dialogue is replete with references to pop culture (and a few too many oral sex jokes), but captures the characters well. Smith makes a prominent addition to the Arrow family by introducing Mia Dearden, who will eventually become the second Speedy, and deserves plaudits for not killing off the second Green Arrow to make room for the return of the first. All in all, a brilliant piece of work, one of my favourite DC stories.

Kevin Smith has an inability to meet deadlines with regard to comics published monthly. Just ask comicbook shop owners and fans of recent comics like "Spider-man and the Black Cat." Why then, do readers not just give up on his works? Because the man is a very talented creator, and "Green Arrow: Quiver" is Kevin Smith at his best. This book is a compilation of Smith's first story arc as the writer on the "Green Arrow" comic book. Smith literally resurrected the Green Arrow character and the Green Arrow comic book with this masterful arc.So often in comic universes, characters killed off - only to be brought back to life. Readers have become almost de-sensitized to these deaths only because they know that eventually the character will be brought back, and a weak explanation will be offered that explains away the "death." Here, the Green Arrow is brought back from the dead, but Smith's familiarity with the supernatural lend this resurrection much more credence than most other stories in which dead heroes are given a new lease on life. The scenes in which Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) learns what had happened to him reminded me of something out of one of those old "Twilight Zone" episodes, yet Smith made all of it so plausible.Smith's name and his storytelling abilities are the marquee draw here, but Phil Hester's pencils have made their mark on the Emerald Archer. Hester, whose work in this book is slightly more realistic looking than the Justice League cartoon on the Cartoon Network (this is not a slam, by the way), has truly made the Green Arrow his character. Rarely in my short history as a comic book reader have I strongly associated an artist with one of his characters. I will forever associate Hester with the Green Arrow, much like I associate Jack Kirby with the Fantastic Four, Steve Ditko, Romita, Sr. and Jr. with Spider-man, and John Byrne with the X-Men. In short, I can't imagine what the book would look like without his touch."Green Arrow: Quiver" is the best of what comic books are all about. I won't spend much time on the plot because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who plans to purchase this book. All you need to know is this: The Green Arrow has come back to life, and he must learn how he ended up where he is now - did he really die? How did he return? What the heck is going on? Add to this the fact the Ollie's family and extended family must also deal with his "resurrection," and you've got yourself a first-rate tale. Oh, yeah, and there is a bad-guy killing kids that needs to be captured, too! The book is full of great story-telling, great art, and the list of guest-stars like Superman, Batman, The Spectre, Etrigan the Demon, etc. is as long as Giant Man's sleeve! If you've been away from comics for a while, or if you do not usually buy trade compilations, reach into your wallet and give this one a try. You will be glad you did, and you may find yourself making a weekly trip to the local comic shop a regular pa

First up let say I've been a Marvel Universe guy most of my disturbingly long comic book life. I've dropped into the DCU enough to keep tabs on the major characters and the big events (Zero Hour, Death (ha) of Superman) but I've never been a strict follower of DC contiuity. Certainly I knew only the basics about the Green Arrow - he was Robin Hood, he hung out with Hal Jordan's Green Lantern. Oh, and apparaently he died.But on the strength of Kevin Smith's name I gave this a go. And man was it worth it. In the intro Smith mentions he copped some flak about using too much DC continuity, making it too hard for the casual reader. Well, I am that casual reader and I had no problem with the story at all. Sure things were referred to, and I probably didn't get every single reference but it certainly didn't detract from the enjoyment. This is a great story, well told.Oliver Queen is a great character, no-nonsense, cynical and fun, and the cameos from the other DC big hitters who thought he was dead are great. Yes, it's wordy but the words are great. The humour is strong and the drama is emotional. It's more adult than a lot of super hero comics and darker in it's themes. Probably not for younger readers.Not every issue has action but I hardly cared, so strong was the story. I wasn't entirely sure about the artwork by Ande Parks and Phil Hester at first (I like a more realistic style of penciling generally) but I ended up loving it. Minor cavil: How about publishing the covers as full pages instead of four to a page in a cover gallery? Especially covers this good.The best compliment I can give this collection is that I'm not only going right out to chase more of this new Green Arrow, but I'm also hunting down the classic Arrow of the past as well. If are an Arrow-head past or present, or just like terrifically entertaining super hero tales well told then don't miss this.

The best way to describe this is it's Oliver Queen's journey though the supernatural and DC continuity. He just came back to life, doesn't know he was dead, thinks he just finished his "hard-traveling" with Green Lantern and believes it's still the 70's, er, 80's. It features loads of guest stars: Batman, Arsenal, Black Canary, Conner Hawke, Deadman, Hal Jordan, Aquaman, Black Manta, Jason Blood/Etrigan, Spoiler, Superman, the rest of the JLA, a character from Smith's CLERKS cartoon and some I wouldn't want to spoil here. There's more than a fair bit of quasi-theology, continuity, and in-jokes (much like Smith's movies) but if your into that stuff or if it at least it doesn't go over your head then your in for a real treat. I don't think that this includes Green Arrow #11 which is too bad since it provides a great epilogue for the story, oh well.