About Heroes

Author: Andy Diggle
Art: Jock
Cover: Jock

When I heard the creative team of Losers were going to be on a DC book I was hoping they would take over Aquaman. Then I learned they were canceling the fantastic Green Arrow title and that Green Arrow Year One would follow in its footsteps. As a huge fan of Mike Grell's Green Arrow: The Wonder Year I went from excited to meh. A retelling of an origin is tricky and I have only seen a few creators do the originals justice (Mark Waid's Birthright and Frank Miller's Year One).

In this issue we see a troubled young man with too much money and nothing to fill the great void in his life except banging supermodels and living a crazy life. We are introduced to Oliver Queen, a thrill-seeking young playboy who only trusts one man, his assistant Hackett, who travels the world with him. There is a great scene where Ollie makes an ass of himself at a drug-rehab charity auction, where he purchases the bow of legendary shooter Howard Hill (Errol Flynn's stuntman). He makes a drunken speech and vomits all over himself. During this issue we also learn that Hackett has arranged for Ollie to fraudulently move millions of dollars in an Asian development deal. He has planned to steal Ollie's money and his true employer is demanding that he kill his friend. Hackett knows he can't kill Ollie, so instead he leaves him on a deserted island (Lost style) to die.

What is there to be said about Jock? Except the guy is a perfectionist. It seems that he took so much time in each panel. He has a strong use of white spaces and black shadows and everything seems symmetrical in his art. The dialogue leaves a little wanting and the issue moved a little fast. Ollie sounds like a surfer dude instead of a suave ladies' man. I really don't see this as a substitution for the Green Arrow series by Winick and McDaniel....I mean just because you're getting married doesn't mean your title has to end? Right? B