Green Arrow by Kevin Smith is just what you expect with Kevin Smith writing Green Arrow, a lot of sexual jokes at a plethora of Justice Leaguers, Some of the weirdest bad guys coming out of the woodwork, really smart observations about on life and death, and observations on teenage sidekicks. This is Kevin Smith’s second time writing for a comic book series, the first time was Daredevil. This is Kevin Smith’s first time writing for DC comics which he has a long standing relationship with. I enjoyed his two Batman Comics that feature a super villain he created in this run, Onomatopoeia, who will say the onomatopoeia like Bang! before he shoots. This book was the resurrection of Oliver Queen who died and his son Connor took the Green Arrow mantle. Oliver Queen had been dead for 5 and half years until this line of comics came out. The main part of the story deals with how Oliver came back and how he gets his memory back which is spotty at best. The rest deals with the villain Onomatopoeia and him trying to kill Connor. The main story is interesting and gets extremely weird for a while, you will probably say WTF or some variety of that. This book does not do a good job of referencing what happened before I had to visit the wikipedia and find out what happened in 1995 to the Green Arrow, which this book only has casual references too. I am a big Kevin Smith Fan I got to meet him at a Screening for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which is one of my very only non-book reviews on wordpress. Green Arrow by Kevin Smith collects Green Arrow (2001-2007) 1-15.

The Plots: Oliver Queen is back with a very selective memory thinking thinking no time has past since his death and does not remember some events before his death, the big one is Killing the Green Lantern Hal Jordan. The Justice League are leery and don’t want to rule it out that Oliver is a clone. Batman takes this to the extreme as he fights him and knocks him out does a full body scan, which has some surprising results, that Batman needs answers. When that all gets wrapped up a mysterious villain stalks the costumed vigilantes, and gets his sights set on Connor.

What I Liked: I really liked the commentary on teenage sidekicks is really good and calls out how dangerous it is. For the most part the jokes landed but when they fail they fail hard, I’m talking about the quiver jokes. It does answer the controversial question , can you still be a hero and a giving lover, with the whole batman is a hero and can’t go down on a women, well Oliver goes down twice in this book, and he’s still a hero. I love the villain Onomatopoeia he so mysterious and the best part of the book. There’s some great bloody fights that are really brutal and last long. The rhyming dialogue of the Demon, and he gets called out for not rhyming. I liked the illustrations especially green Arrow with a massive beard.

What I Disliked: That religion does come into the book, and it could have just been spiritual. This comic goes to such a weird place it was fun but it goes a little too far off the rails. The book does a bad job of catching up the casual comic reader.

Recommendations: If you’re a fan of Kevin Smith and his interesting observations on comic book characters, then this is the book for you. I terms of Story I enjoyed his Batman run a little better, but I’m a way bigger fan of Batman than Green Arrow, so I could have missed some things. I rated Green Arrow by Kevin Smith 4 out of 5 stars.