[This review of "Green Arrow #6" is one of the early comic book review that I ever wrote for my “Negromancer” blog (which began as a website) way back in the Summer of 2001. For a few years, I wrote my comic book reviews under the column title, "Why I Love Saturn," which I took from Kyle Baker's 1990 graphic novel, "Why I Hate Saturn."
Recently, I was able to recover my files from two 2000s-era hard drives. Beginning with this review, I am going to go back and re-edit all my original “Negromancer” comic book reviews and post these updated versions on here, my “I Reads You” blog. I hope you enjoy the trip back in time.]
GREEN ARROW #6 (2001)
DC COMICs
"Why I Love Saturn" Episode Seven
STORY: Kevin Smith
PENCILS: Phil Hester
INKS: Ande Parks
COLORS: Guy Major
LETTERS: Sean Konot
COVER: Matt Wagner
36pp, $2.50 U.S., $4.95 CAN (September 2001)
“Quiver, Chapter 6”: “The Hollow Man”
Every time that I think that Kevin Smith and Phil Hester's current Green Arrow comic book series might slip in quality, it remains good, and often gets better. This is a well-written comic book by a man who knows comic books, their history, their structure, and how to tell a good story. Hester is a strong storyteller who dazzles with a unique graphical style. Clearly, this is an example of how to create a good, long serial – every chapter counts and every chapter engages. You go, boys!
I’ve only seen one of Smith’s movies, the brilliant and funny Clerks. [At the time that I wrote this interview, I'd only seen one of Smith's films.] On the surface, it seemed as if the characters in the movie talked too much. While some writers can use very few words to convey volumes, some use lots of words to tell the whole damn story. Smith is one of those writers; he uses every word to paint his mural. He pours forth the verbiage, to inform and illuminate. If after all that talk, you still can’t get it, dear readers, you’re probably some version of slow.
So what Kevin does best, he does in Green Arrow #6 (“The Hollow Man”). The Oliver Queen Green Arrow returns to the land of the living some years after his death in an aircraft explosion. He remembers nothing of the life we saw him live the last 20 years, which was his life in the hands of writer/artist Mike Grell. Smith weaves a complex, but not complicated, engaging mystery that carries Queen, his cohorts, including Batman, and us along on a whodunit that is the best I have seen in comics in a long time. Here, the Dark Knight Detective is really a detective, and Queen is a simply a man at odds with the time he is in now. The character has usually been at odds with the times in which he lives. Reading this fine magazine can give one the idea that Green Arrow has been around for decades waiting for a balladeer worthy of telling his story, and that is the Kevin Smith-Phil Hester team.
Hester, this series' pencil artist, is a capable draftsman. He seems to understand Smith and lays out panels that interprets the script and turns it into riveting storytelling. Scriptwriter and artist work so well together that they almost seem to be one really good comics creating unit.
Smith undoubtedly is a man that could help revitalize comics if he did more work. His clear, straightforward stories, unadorned by intellectual pretensions, could entertain and enthrall comic book novice readers and aficionados alike. However, we must respect his wishes to produce movies. My greedy ass will content myself with what I can get, while hungering for much, much more.
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
Kevin Smith and Phil Hester's run on "Green Arrow" is collected in GREEN ARROW: ARCHER'S QUEST OMNIBUS, VOL. 1 with available at Amazon.
The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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