Green Arrow #0

My first official zero month read and the first page already endears me to it more than any of the bat-scans I've seen. Why? Because it doesn't use any "5 years ago" dates to staple anything down. It's "several years ago." Which is good since I'm going to ignore all of the dates anyway.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Changes Twists to the story:

• Instead of being on his yacht before the infamous shipwheck Ollie is on his fathers' Oil rig having a party.
• The bow? Not a movie prop he clung to but a new hobby he picked up.
• Merlyn happens to be his best friend.
• Ollie is either 19 or 20. The way his girlfriend Leena says it isn't clear.
• His partying ways made it easy for the bad guys to breach security. When Ollie attempts to right his mistake he accidently sets off the bomb when disarming the bad guy. Merlyn saves his life but gets burned in the process.
• Roy Harper is introduced, while it doesn't say much about his backround he appears to be a thief making his origins closer to Jason Todds'. He stole a cops' phone and updated it while in his cell before returning it. Although he would have kept it if he wasn't caught.
• Ollie is impressed with Roy being able to hack into his systems and having the guts to do it. He offers him a job saying that everyone could use a chance to make things right.
• Present day Merlyn wakes up from his coma.

Thoughts: It wasn't a bad issue just rushed. The time on the island is skimmed over but I don't think that's a bad thing for readers that know the story. All you need to know about that time is shown on a page of Ollie craftng a bow. I liked that it shows what a jackass he was and how his mistakes made him want to be a better man. I just wish it didn't come with the cost of his girlfriend dying. From what little we saw of Leena she came off as just the sort of kickas girlfriend Ollie needs. It makes it worse when one thinks of how unlikely it is that she'll be mentioned again. I'll be talking more about this Women in Refrigerator trope in another book I'm reviewing.

Honestly I would have liked to see more of Roy and Ollie or even why Ollie decided to wear the GA uniform. He just randomly shows up in it after talking to Roy. I'm not sure what to make of their current relationship. Obviously their a lot closer in age now which takes the father/son role out. While Ollie offers Roy a chance to improve himself the last panel of them seems like he's being threatening. Like "join me or I'll kick the crap out of you." It's a panel that really depends on the art to get the mood across since the text can be taken either way. Roy reads pretty close to his RHATO self and like there he seems to be better at tech than the old version. I don't hate this or love it.