GREEN ARROW #13

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The Green Arrow is a classic character from DC Comics.  He is millionaire playboy Oliver Queen, who learned survival skills and archery after falling off a yacht and marooned on a deserted isle with nothing but a long bow he had purchased because it was a movie prop.  Eventually, he finds his way back to civilization and creates the heroic persona known as the "Green Arrow." 

This issue of GREEN ARROW was released as DC's Holiday issue in 1988.  Written by Mike Grell and penciled by Dan Jurgens and Dick Giordano, this issue finds our hero returning home to Seatle after an extensive encounter with the Yakuza while abroad.  Right away, he begins his heroic deeds being "Johnny B. Do-Gooder," both in and out of costume.  Some of the deeds he does include rescue a cat from a tree, stop an abusive husband, help a little old lady change a tire and stop a group of Neo-Nazis from assaulting an old man on the streets.  Then we find that Oliver is being hunted down by an unknown assailant and the book ends with the classic cliff hanger.

Grell, I would say does a decent job with the story.  It's original, however at this point, not exactly riviting.  There is an element of mystery in the the whole "who's tryin' to kill him?" storyline, but that question doesn't really enter until the last two pages.  I also found that the "Johnny B. Do-Gooder" element in the middle was a bit hoaky.  I do like the beginning of the story in which he is reunited with his girlfriend.  Grell does a great job writing her range of emotions upon Oliver's return; first overjoyed at his return, then worried concern over the wounds that he has from his battle with the Yakuza, then extreme anger that he has brought this intense worry into her life--anger enough to make her knock the crap out of him with a vicious right cross, and eventually back to the feeling of relief that he is actually home.

The visuals in this one are quite good.  Jurgens and Giordano make great use of space and have a good mix of framing.  All flows quite well visually.  Also well done would be the colors added by Julia Lacquement, they really add a lot of dimension as well as warmth or mystery to the proper scenes.  In my opinion, the graphics in GREEN ARROW #13 bring it up in the ratings.  Without the rich graphics, I would have given this issue a two and a half, however, I think that the graphics bring it up to about a three out of five.