GREEN ARROW #18 Reviewed

Have you ever enjoyed an issue of a comic so much that you couldn't wait to read the next issue, but because you liked the comic so much your expectations for the next issue were so impossibly high that nothing could possibly meet them, so the next issue, no matter how good it turns out to be, turns out to be something of a disappointment?

That was my initial response to the second half of  Alan Moore's farewell to the pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths Superman,"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", in Action Comics #583.  That, however, is quite possibly a subject for an entirely different post. 

We are hear today to talk about Green Arrow.

While the above outlined scenario could still occur next month, as of #18, "The Kill Machine", new writer Jeff Lemire's debut storyline, has only gotten better.  In my review of the previous issue I was already ready to place this story on a pedestal alongside "The Longbow Hunters" in the pantheon of great Green Arrow stories, and second installment only serves to confirm that opinion.

After losing his company, his fortune and most of his trick arrows and other equipment, our hero is wanted for murder and on the run from the law in both his Oliver Queen and Green Arrow identities.  New characters are introduced, older characters are violently dispatched, and the mysteries surrounding the secrets of Ollie's father and the time Ollie spent stranded on an island learning to use a bow and arrow and their connection to his current woes continue to deepen.  The action and intrigue move forward at a brisk pace and the issue ends with a mid-air cliffhanger.  We know  Ollie is going to survive, but I can't wait to see how. 

Furthermore, Lemire takes further steps toward making Oliver Queen a mature, interesting and likable character again.

I haven't mentioned the art yet, either here or in my last review, and that is a grievous over site. Andrea Sorrentino's dark, moody drawings wonderfully capture the tone of Lemire's script.

The first two chapters of "The Kill Machine" are a great start to Lemire's re-revamping of Green Arrow, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more.