Green Arrow #48 Review

Turning The World Upside Down

Written By: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing

Art By: Javier Fernandez, John Kalisz, Deron Bennett

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 9, 2019

It's time for Lanzing and Kelly to make their mark on Green Arrow with their run starting this issue and it's weird because with them being on this book and them having closed out so many series for DC Comics, I have to wonder if that means that Green Arrow is on the chopping block coming up.  While I haven't been the biggest fan of this book recently, I hope that these two writers can come together and give us a Green Arrow that finally feels like he matters in the greater world of the comics we love.  Let's jump into this issue and check it out.

For this issue of Green Arrow we have Count Vertigo breaking out of jail and coming for revenge for the man who put him in there.......... which is fine and all, but this issue really seems to be pushing the fact that the last time that Count Vertigo was out and about was when Roy Harper was originally working with Green Arrow, like we saw in a previous flashback during Green Arrow #19 and #20.  It's a fun callback, but it feels odd saying that Roy Harper was Count Vertigo's downfall....... Not only that, but he knows Roy's name.  

Want to talk about odd?  Well, we also have Count Vertigo taking his vertigo powers to the next level with a sort of evolution that we've never seen from him before and while it's a cool idea, it isn't completely down great here because of the art style that Javier Fernandez brings to the book.  It just kind of comes off muddy and confusing at times, which the confusing part kind of works for what's going on, but for what we should be seeing, I would have liked to see a little more of it if that makes sense.

All in all, we have a majority of an issue that seems to be about how Green Arrow is handling Arsenal's death, which I really appreciate, but it's paired with a strange continuity and art that just isn't for me.  Yeah, I'm interested to see where this arc goes because I like Ollie fighting actual villains instead of just street people who want to fight the man, but I do hope that things are made a little more clear going forward with how Count Vertigo knows what he knows and how he evolved his powers because I hate to think that everything we're going to get going forward is just a callback to a flashback in a previous issue.

Bits and Pieces:

While I love the new take on the villain that we're dealing with and the idea that Oliver is going to face his grief over Roy's death, this first issue for Lanzing and Kelly's run is a little rough mostly because of the art and a little because of the strange continuity that's being given to us.  All in all, I'm interested to see what we'll get going forward, but this isn't the home run first issue that I was hoping for.

6.5/10