“I was dead. I came back to life.”
This is the phrase that Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) keeps repeating to himself like a mantra in this introspective volume of Green Arrow. This story is about his search for the things he left behind when he died; not the expected trappings of a superhero life, or the clutter of daily life, but those few things that had real meaning to him. Oliver Queen died and he came back again and this is his chance to do things differently–to reconnect with his ward and former sidekick Roy (then Speedy, now Arsenal), and to get to know the son (Conner) he never knew he had. This is a bridging volume between Kevin Smith and Judd Winnick’s work on the series. The quiet sentimentality works in the best kind of ways: it’s touching without being saccharine, and it’s real without being melodramatic. Phil Hester is one of my favorite artists. He has a very clean style. He shows emotion and action in equal parts without being fussy.
Green Arrow, vol. 4: Archer’s Quest
ISBN: 9781401200442
By Brad Meltzer
Art by Phil Hester
DC Comics 2003
