Oliver Queen’s had a bit of a rough start in the New 52 so far, but the incoming creative team of writer Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino are aiming to change all of that. Their debut issue, #17, hits next month, so we had a chat with Lemire about his plans for the Emerald Archer and what he plans on bringing to the series.
Between this new team and the continuation of a hit Green Arrow TV show, Queen enthusiasts are going to have plenty to rave about in 2013.
Check out IGN's Most Anticipated Comics of 2013
IGN Comics: I want to start by talking about your piece that you wrote about Green Arrow that was in the back of last week’s comics. You mention that you never really had an affinity for the Green Arrow character. What was it then that you found compelling enough to take on this project?
Jeff Lemire: I’d been looking for a different kind of book to write just because up to that point, I’d really only done horror stuff for DC. Even though Animal Man and and Justice League Dark are superheroes, they really are kind of supernatural books. So while I love writing them and love writing those kinds of stories, I also wanted to try and do something a little different.
I felt like Green Arrow was a really good chance for me to do sort of a gnarly crime/noir, gritty superhero comic. You know, in the vein of stuff that I love like Frank Miller’s Daredevil or Denny O’Neil’s Question and stuff like that that have always really appealed to me. I find him a really good character to take and mold in that direction. So that was what appealed to me.
IGN: What can you tell us about the story you’ve got planned for your first arc?
Lemire: The first arc is called The Kill Machine, and I’m not sure what art you’ve seen, but there’s a new villain that we’ve created, Andrea [Sorrentino] and I, named Komodo, and he’s another archer. The first issue kind of hits the ground running, and Komodo very cleverly and systematically dismantles both Oliver Queen’s personal and professional lives, and Green Arrow’s as well. So he’s hitting him on all fronts and clearly knows that Oliver Queen is Green Arrow. That opens a bigger mystery of who the hell this guy is and why he’s after Ollie.
Over the course of the first arc, Oliver will start to realize that this guy has a connection to his father, Robert Queen – a mysterious connection – and that perhaps Robert isn’t the man that Oliver always thought he was. And his legacy, both as a man and with his family that he’s always failed to lived up to, was maybe never what it really seemed to be. That’s kind of the hook for the opening arc, and then all of that will have something to do with Ollie’s time on the island as well.
Lemire: Yeah, totally. The island specifically is something full of mystery, or at least full of potential for a bigger story and bigger mystery. So that was really where it started and then it built up from there. It’s hard to talk too much about the mythology without spoiling things, but I really do want to explore this idea of Oliver’s secret legacy that has something to do with him being an archer and his involvement with that is where we start. From there I want to build this big sprawling story about Green Arrow and other characters in the DC Universe that are connected to something larger.
IGN: What kind of supporting cast can we expect? Any chance of a Speedy making an appearance?
Lemire: I think in the past, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow has been too defined by his relationships with other DC characters. Everyone knows him because of his relationship with Black Canary or his friendship with Hal Jordan, and I feel like as soon as you get into that it takes away from building this guy up and making him his own interesting character. So I want to stay away from too many other superheroes showing up too soon so we won’t see Roy Harper, Hal Jordan, or Black Canary for the foreseeable future. Instead, I want to build a new supporting cast that’s much more specific to the story that I’m telling and this version of Oliver Queen.
And part of that also is trying to build a rogues gallery for him, because he doesn’t really have very good ones. It’s kind of looking back and seeing which ones of those I can take and have some fun reinventing but also creating new ones that are more specific to this actual story. So you’ll see a lot of new and old villains, and there’s a lot of new supporting characters that surround Ollie and hopefully make him more interesting.
IGN: I’m a huge fan of Andrea Sorrentino’s work on I, Vampire. What does his aesthetic bring to your take on Green Arrow?
Lemire: Knowing that I wanted to do a really dark, gritty, and realistic take on the character, something that was a little noirish, he’s a guy that uses shadow and blacks so effectively that I thought the kind of clean line, gritty style he does with all that black, shadow, and high contrast juxtaposed with a traditional DC superhero would create an interesting tension on the page. He’s really delivered, it’s fantastic. His style is exactly the tone that I wanted to strike with the book; it really does scream of a new direction considering what we’ve seen up until now on the book.
IGN: Being an artist yourself, do you approach scripts that you’re not going to have to draw any differently?
Lemire: No, not really. I mean, I always try to work with people whose work I respect a lot; people like Andrea or Steve Pugh and Travel Foreman, so it’s easy for me to step back and focus on story and let them do their thing. I had a couple of visual ideas for Green Arrow in terms of storytelling and visual language I wanted to bring to the book and Andrea took those, made them his own, and expanded on them. I really just try to stay out of their way and let them do their thing and let them have the freedom to experiment themselves and bring their own personality to it.
IGN: Now, I have to ask this, I’m sorry. We’re big fans of superhero beards here at IGN.
Lemire: [laughs]
Lemire: No, I don’t think so. I swear to god, I can’t even go online anymore because all people ask me about is the goatee.
IGN: [laughs]
Lemire: It’s so funny that what everyone seems to define this character with is such a superficial thing. And, you know, this is a somewhat younger version of Oliver Queen. We want to see him from an earlier stage of his life, from that old goateed loudmouth that came before. Maybe one day as he grows older the goatee will appear, but for now he’ll be clean shaven. [laughs]
IGN: Hey, at least you justified it. And this isn’t comics-related, really, but have you seen Arrow the TV show, and if so, what do you think of their interpretation of Oliver Queen?
Lemire: To be totally honest, I haven’t really watched it yet. When I got the assignment, that was in July, and I think I’d already established the whole story and written two or three scripts before the show even premiered. I kind of had my own take on it already and I just felt like I didn’t want to be influenced by the show in any way. So I stayed away from it for the most part. But at the same time, the more people that are watching the show and are interested in the character, it’s better for us and it just brings more eyes to the book. So the timing is really great, in that sense.
IGN: Cool. That’s all I’ve got for you, is there anything you want to add?
Lemire: Just that anyone worried about not having read the book so far, since the relaunch, issue #17 is completely accessible for new readers. For the most part it’s written like a first issue and you learn everything you need to know over the course of the issue, so it’s really accessible.
IGN: Thanks Jeff, I really can’t wait.
Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He hopes there are boxing glove arrows (but there probably won't be).
Source : ign[dot]com
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