Green Arrow #1
“Living a Life of Privilege”
Writer: J.T. Krul
Pencils: Dan Jurgens
Inks: George Perez
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Rob Leigh
Cover artist: Dave Wilkins
Editor: Pat McCallum
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99 US

Some of DC’s characters have undergone soft reboots in the New 52 initiative, others have been left untouched and others still seem to have been rebuilt from the bottom up. Green Arrow falls in the latter category, and I can understand why DC opted for a radical change. At best, various Green Arrow titles have been mid-range sellers for DC, generally propped up with connections to events such as Identity Crisis and Brightest Day. Here, the creators set out to have the property and this new ongoing series stand up on its own. I find the younger vision of the title character here to be visually appealing, and I like DC’s willingness to adopt major change. But one can’t go so far as to suggest DC and the creators on this book have shaken things up. The unfortunate reality is that while the storytelling is capable and full of action, Green Arrow has been transformed into a rather generic super-hero character. Here, he’s Batman without the edge and with several “butlers” rather than one.

Justice League International #1
“The Signal Masters, Part 1”
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Pencils/Cover artist: Aaron Lopresti
Inks: Matt Ryan
Colors: Hi-Fi
Letters: Travis Lanham
Editor: Rex Ogle
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99 US

One of the many criticisms that arose upon the release of Justice League #1 was that the plotting was far too slow, that the characters that appear on the cover didn’t all appear in the first issue itself. Well, almost as an answer to those complaints, DC delivered Justice League International #1 just a week later after the flagship title, and this comic book should satisfy those who took issue with the decompressed storytelling in the main Justice League title. Writer Dan Jurgens offers a succinct “gathering of the team” scene and then takes his audience directly into some action. He and artist Aaron Lopresti present a fun super-hero story, but it’s also some fairly typical genre fare. Still, the simpler tone of the plotting might remind some readers of the Justice League of America comics of yesteryear. Replace some of these international heroes with the JLA lineup of the 1970s, and you’d have a classic Gerry Conway- or Len Wein-penned super-team story of the 1970s.