DCnU - Green Arrow #1 from DC's New 52

J.T. Krul writes with pencils by Dan Jurgens and inks by George Perez. This take on Green Arrow puts him in charge of the Apple-like Q-Core division of Queen Industries. References are made to "QPhones" and "QPads" throughout the comic. The rest of Queen Industries is treated as stodgy and a typical corporate entity. I suspect that at some point in the future, Q-Core will break away from Queen Industries, and somehow Emerson, it's CEO will end up being cast in a villainous role.

Also, we are told on the first page that the Q-Core division alone is "Scrounging around with the likes of WayneTech, Lexcorp and Holt Industries." Sounds to me like Ollie Queen is probably well and away the wealthiest man alive.

And he is also the Green Arrow. A more youthful take on the character than we have seen in the recent past. We get some insight into the character right away, him expressing his resentment of the romanticization of criminals, specifically mobsters, pirates and hit men. We are also immediately introduced to his support staff - Naomi, a computer guru and Jax, who is more mechanically inclined.

Ollie, who is in France, shuts off his call with his CEO to jump into battle on a yacht with three super-powered villains, who are new as far as I know. Supercharge, Dynamix and Doppleganger. They don't pose much of a threat to Ollie, though. In his own way, he is as competent and self-assured as Batman. He uses high-tech arrows and gadgets, and also uses lower-tech, including punching one of the villains, after using some fairly low-tech arrows on him. We also get a look at what our mysterious lady in red from Flashpoint wears under that cloak during this battle, when she shows up on page 8 right at the beginning of the fight as Ollie uses one of his non-arrow gadgets.

We then get a couple of pages of character development, as Ollie continues to indicate a distaste for corporate life, and speaks to his motivation for fighting the evils of the world, in broad terms.

After that, we see a set up for an even bigger show down with more new villains next issue, with a promise that they will be showing the online world the death of the Green Arrow.

I saw good and bad in this comic. I like the fresh start. I like the new villains, and that Green Arrow is a globe-trotting hero. I appreciate the incorporation of the reality tv/everyone wants to be famous angle, which helps modernize the story.

I love the art in this book,as well. It suits superheroics perfectly.

But the dialogue. Not that the dialogue itself is poorly written, but there is a LOT of it. The panel above is a pretty good example. That's a lot to say while throwing a disc. Of course, some of that happens in all super-hero comics. But with all the world-building and setting stuff that gets communicated through expository dialogue in this one as well, it starts to feel a little heavy.

It might have been worse because it is a #1, and there is a lot of information about who the character is to be communicated. And it certainly wasn't so bad that it'll stop me from picking up #2, but it is a little lower on my pull list than it would be if it didn't have that issue.

As a final note, according to DC's website, the cover which previously was shared as #1 is actually going to be used for #2.