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Green Arrow got off to a rough start in the New 52, despite having the TV success of Arrow as a tie-in and a string of name creators like Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, George Perez and Judd Winick. The failure of the first round of creators to make an impression led DC to coax Ann Nocenti back to the publisher to work on the book, and when that didn’t improve sales or critical reception, they turned to Jeff Lemire, who seemingly can do no wrong at DC with fan-favorites like Animal Man and Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
Lemire has made the book a realiably solid seller and a hit with the readers, and has even brought in John Diggle, Oliver’s bodyguard created for the TV series.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Kreisberg and Sokolowski will script the comic series, with art by Daniel Sampere, beginning with #35 on Oct. 1.
The report says that the issue finds Oliver Queen back in Seattle on an adventure involving a mystery woman.
Described as a “cross-pollination” with the show, not a direct adaptation, the pair say that characters familiar to Arrow viewers will show up in potentially surprising ways.
That presumably includes Felicity Smoak, who has yet to make a New 52 appearance. Before the relaunch, she was Firestorm’s stepmother but was reinvented for TV as an indispensible member of Team Arrow and a potential love interest for Ollie.
“We really want to bring the old-school Oliver Queen voice back to the character,” Sokolowski said. “In other words, the opinionated, liberal Robin Hood-esque hero that has fallen through the cracks a bit, both in the comics and TV models.”
“We thought there was a real opportunity here not to do another adaptation of the TV show, but infuse the comic world of Oliver Queen with some of the stronger elements of the show,” added Kreisberg.
Kreisberg had written Green Arrow/Black Canary for a year before he launched Arrow and more recently wrote the Arrow digital comic that ran as a companion to the show’s first season. He also recently co-wrote Justice League of America’s Vibe before it was announced that Cisco Ramon — Vibe’s civilian identity — would appear on The Flash.
