Green Arrow, Volume 5: The Outsiders War

Green Arrow (2011)

by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino (Illustrator)

Oliver Queen thought he had it all figured out. As the heroic archer Green Arrow, he'd finally found a sense of purpose, friends to aid him, even a place on the Justice League of America. But now, he's not even sure where he came from... or who he came from.
As Green Arrow discovers that his stranding on a desert island was more than just an accident, there seem to be more sinister forces at work behind all these sudden revelations. The Queen family is embroiled in a war generations old. A war of clans.  A war of outsiders.
Acclaimed creative team Jeff Lemire (Animal Man) and Andrea Sorrentino (I, Vampire) take Green Arrow on his most challenging adventure yet.

Collecting: Green Arrow 25-31

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

157 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2014

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should probably take some time to think about it, since I just finished this one about 3 minutes ago, but...
*shrugs*
Fuck it.

I'm done.
I'm not reading another one of these stupid attempts to merge a shitty comic with an even shittier tv show.
Now Oliver Queen has some mysterious past that's tied up in a conspiracy about THE ISLAND.
*screams internally*



The first issue is Green Arrow: Zero Year.
As in, what was Ollie up to while Bruce was taking on the Riddler in Gotham.
Shhh. No one will notice that Batman is cooler...promise.



This little adventure leads to Oliver meeting Diggle.
One fist-bump later:
TEAM ARROW!
No, really. I'm not kidding.
I was making little notes to myself when I was reading it, and the next one I have says "I'm going to throw up".
For real.

Mooooving on.
The Outsiders War.
Who the fuck are the Outsiders? Well, it's not a mismatched team of kids led by Wildcat, that's for sure.
Not this time, anyway. Nope.
The Outsiders are...tribes. There's the Shield tribe, the Fist tribe, the Sword tribe, and (of course) the Arrow tribe...just to name a few.
Are you seeing the pattern here?
Anyway, Ollie and Shado are searching THE ISLAND for the Totem of the Arrow, when the Shield tribe attacks them.
With shields.



Oh noes! We can't shoot them with our arrows, because they're blocking us with their shields!
Ouch! Now they're tossing them at us like boomerangs!
Bong!
What the fuck is Captain America doing in the DC universe?
Wacka! Wacka! Wacka!
Let's see what my notes say, shall we?
"This is retarded."
Damn, I'm eloquent!

The art is ok, until you try to figure out what's happening in any of the action panels. Then you might as well make an educated guess, and move the fuck on, because it's not like you can actually see what the hell is happening.
Part of me liked the whole BIG WORD thing with the action happening inside, and part of me was squinting at the screen getting more and more pissed off. I have a feeling this style will work better in print than digitally, so that may have been part of my issue with it. However, for those of us who read a lot of our comics on tablets, this might pose a problem.



Let's see what else I have..
Hmmmm. I'll consult my notes.
"This last little bit doesn't seem so bad. Wait. No. It sucks again.
Something, something, something. More choppy action scenes.
I hate this. Want it to end. Why is he yelling at a traumatized kid? Gotta stop requesting stuff. Ugh."

I've definitely read worse, but this just didn't work for me.
Maybe you'll have better luck with it than I did.

Thank you NetGalley!

Get this review and more at:

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A so-so tale of Green Arrow versus the Outsiders -- ancient vigilante weapon-based clans. The revelations and drama were a bit extreme, but the art and guest stars Shado and Katana made up for it.

HOWEVER... Shado is lame, lame, lame in comparison to the original '80s Mike Grell creation. AND it was lame, lame, lame to make Rober Queen (GA's missing-presumed-dead father) into an original Ollie Queen look-alike.

UNTIL HE GROWS HIS BLOND FORKING BEARD, THIS IS NOT THE REAL OLIVER QUEEN!

I have spoken.

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: I actually liked this volume a lot more this time around. The war, the mythos, the way he gives Oliver's father something new and original, and the ending. All really well done. The zero year tie in is okay still but the rest? Fantastic.

Old review: As the show "Arrow" keeps going down the drain the comics keep getting better. The odd introduction at the start of this volume was a little jarring. It stuck Diggle in there, from the show, yet slightly different, and created Team Arrow, yet the story doesn't feel connected to the world they've built so far. Like this Ollie shouldn't of had Team Arrow before the current team arrow. It was very odd.

Still, once Zero Year tie in (see Batman: Zero Year to understand) is over the story kicks into high care. Right where we left off. Oliver must return to the island, and you learn just how terrible his situation was. The thing I loved most is we didn't dwell on any scene too long. We got just enough backstory, just enough fighting, just enough of reuniting with a certain somebody that it all felt perfectly paced.

This volume is just as good as the last, and probably would have been even better if the zero year issues were. Still, enjoy what you get, because this to me is the definitive version of the Green Arrow.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This is more like it! So far my favorite volume of the New 52 Green Arrow. The art is exceptional. It's a cross between Jae Lee and Jim Steranko. Just very well done, and also very innovative with a great use of color.

Now onto the story. We learn that the entire "Arrow" deal is a member of a clan of warriors known as the Outsiders, each with a specialty "Arrow, Spear, Shield, Fist, etc.". As the title suggests, these clans end up in a war. We also see the final battle with Komodo as well as a ton of revelations I wont get into here. There's a lot going on in this volume and it's anything but boring.

I'm still a little irritated about the comic trying to morph into the show. I do enjoy the show a lot, but I prefer the comic book continuity more in the Mike Grell era. (Was Diggle ever a character in the comics before?) Also, I'm still not sure about Richard Dragon as a villain, but in a way that's cool, so I'll see how that part plays out.

Overall a very strong volume in what had been a disappointing series.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still like this, but then I'm also a fan of the tv show (that might be a requirement for buying into Lemire's take on the story). And the art is great, too. Andrea Sorrentino really does some neat things and takes some chances that generally pay off (like action happening in words--the "crash," "bang," "pow" stuff from the fight scenes). All in all, I'm really enjoying this series.

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a great read! So I have heard good things about this volume and i guess you can say it was test run on Jeff Lemire's run on Green Arrow, and now i'm sorry i didn't get this sooner; I will definitely get the rest of the Jeff Lemire Volumes! So This volume contains 6 issues, 5 being The Outsiders War and the first issue being a tie in to Batman: Zero Year; usually i ignore tie-ins but it was actually really good; it was batman's and Green Arrows first unofficial team up! The Outsiders war was excellent to! This run does borrow a little bit from Arrow The Tv show, but it quickly forms into its own thing!

Sorry I'm distracted, so The Outsdiers war, Shado(who you may know from the show) takes Oliver back to the island, to retrieve a totem of The Arrow Clan, and then pretty soon a war takes place on the island between the different clans who want to unite into The Outsiders. There's various clans from Fist Clan, to Shield Clan, the works! But overall this was a great story, many twists, the artwork was oaky at first but it quiclkly grew on me! A great read!

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting comic. Not sure what I think about the Outsiders. Seems weird to me. Hope the Outsiders will do better under new leadership. Hope they will be able to stop Richard Dragon.

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. It's not GA. It's a cheap action thriller with twists so crude you can see right through them.

Hell, even Ben Percy's run, which I hated with all my soul, disappointed me less.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems to be when the Green Arrow comic really linked up with the Arrow TV show, which is a good thing given the strength of the TV show and the weakness of the comic before Lemire. Still, the comic continues to be its own thing, with surprises built into its history and a unique story about the Outsiders.

Zero Year (25). Most of the Zero Year crossovers were very forced, but this is instead a nice introduction for Diggle and a nicely retconned introduction of a Team Arrow — all of which clearly links to the TV show [7/10].

The Outsiders War (26-31). The Outsiders are an enjoyable new organization, and also a fun bit of connectivity to the old DC Universe (with Katana nailing the connection down, as a member of both). The return to the island is also great, for its ties to the TV show, but also for giving things its own (very twisted) twist. Finally, it's good to see the Lemire plotlines all come together. A little dense, but otherwise a good arc [7/10].

[Victor Orozco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular. Without a doubt, I can say that this is the best Green Arrow story in the New 52. Continuing where the last left off, Oliver and the mysterious woman of a tribe of arrow warriors enlist Oliver Queen to find a wicked renegade of the group, leading up to an encounter between him and Oliver.

While it's a great read, I must admit that this brings up a plot device that is obviously borrowed from the TV series Arrow. Flashback.

The comic begins with Oliver recounting his time on the island on his return home. Have to admit it's a real cop out to include a character from the show in John Diggle. Roy, I can accept, but John is a bit weird. I just hope they don't bring Felicity Smoak. But then again... Felicity is too popular to ignore.

Love the year zero reference with Batman, and of course, how this series continues with other villains in the future. Great story.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author commits horrible writing choices, as he resurrects characters long dead, only to turn around and kill them mere panels later. It is a truly lazy method of writing to get a forced emotional reaction out of the reader,

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green Arrow Vol. 5 The Outsider Wars collects issues 25-31 of the DC Comics series written by Jeff Lemire with art by Andrea Sorrentino.

The first issue of this issue is a Batman Zero Year tie which involves a flashback of Ollie returning from the island to learn his mother is trapped in Gotham City during Riddler's EMP attack. Olliver makes the the quick decision that he will get her out of their and back to Seattle. The main arc of the book has Olliver Queen travelling back to the island in search of the Arrow totem to help take down Komodo and the rest of the Outsider clans. On the island, Olliver will learn a lot about his past.

Olliver learns a lot in these issues which will shape his life and his actions for years to come. There is a lot of great character development and world building in these issues, however, I find the whole Outsiders clans to be pretty goody. And whole clans seems to get taken down very easily. They don't really seem to be threat that was built up from Vol. 4. The art continues to be fantastic in this series.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHAT A VOLUME! After the revelations of the last volume its upto Ollie to figure things out and find the mysteries of what is going on, he first teams up with Shado and returns to that Island and we learn about things that transpired them which led him to be the way he is, the coming of Green Arrow, and then that Robert Queen is alive and more revelations! And the gathering of the outsiders, Mask, Axe and Swword are with Oliver but its Komodo and Onyx who have taken over the evil outsiders and its an all out war, epic! Revelations! Big movie budget fights, sacrifices, Emiko rising and Shado having cool moments and the ultimate revenge and maybe a final choice by Oliver? Meanwhile in Star City, Ollie's enemies are teaming up for something big?! Its just action packed, pure high stakes entertainment where each page is so well done and is extravagant to look at! Probably one of the best Green Arrow stories ever! Just wow!

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeff Lemire provides a pretty powerful, if a little contrived, world for Green Arrow to explore, featuring an unknown half-sister, a prominent villain, and some striking art (although the red 'action' panels are still really annoying). It also represents the first step of bridging the comics with the TV series, by retroactively introducing Diggle. The whole clan war story feels kind of familiar (maybe from Marvel's Iron Fist run by Brubaker, or from the terrible Katana series by Nocenti), but Lemire does set up some stakes and do enough world-building behind it to make it at least seem somewhat logical. At the same time, there are a lot of pieces being laid out for the volume to follow, which occasionally distract from the main plot. Emiko and Shado have their moments, Emiko especially. All told, this is a decent entry into the series that feels like it has some real stakes.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid volume which actually runs quite well as a single story, and introduced some pretty interesting elements back into the character, as well as some new ones.

[Michael Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm just so meh about this series now. Honestly, everyone praises Andrea Sorrentino's art, but it's murky and uninspired. He makes Ollie's not-Felicity-female-sidekick look identical to one of his characters from I, Vampire. Ollie and all the other guys are the same mold with different hair or skin colors. The block letters with stuff happening inside them is novel, but hard to decipher. The one big splash page is cluttered, and while it seems like it's teasing some stuff for the future of the series, it gets lost in itself. And it repeats the same mini images over and over. I didn't even realize that it included Ollie's face until I saw the pencil version in the bonus section.

The story is slightly better, but it starts with a stupidly useless "Zero Year" story that shoehorns in Diggle from the Arrow TV show. I didn't want to read Zero Year in Batman's books, I don't want to read it here. And while I like Dig and the TV show, he's hardly the part that I would most want them to copy over to print (Felicity, duh, or even bring in Black Canary somehow, let's get that ball rolling).

The Outsiders War is...well it's there. It certainly was written and drawn. It got lost in the murky art and the brooding tone of the book. What could have been a fun and flashy action story became about family betrayal and lies and angst. It's not so much about an evil group trying to take over the world as all of the stupid stuff that leads to it not working out. What's worse is that the bad guys' plan isn't really fleshed out. We don't know what they're going to do, just that it will bring all of Europe TO ITS KNEES!!! I'm more interested in these totem weapons. After seeing what the Green Arrow does (get it? Get it?), I'm really intrigued what the others do. And where did they come from?

It's also one of those situations that don't really make sense to solve in a vacuum. They have spears and their fists. The cops have guns. Who will win........????? It's very forced drama and action.

Look, I like Jeff Lemire, and he's definitely taking Green Arrow in a new direction and has most certainly improved this book from the first three volumes, but this is far from the cic book revolution that everyone seems to claim it is. You might like it, but there are some definite issues.

[Jeremy DeBottis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good enough superhero story. It's not fantastic. I think my problem with this is that at one point there was literally a guy named Green Arrow looking for a special green arrow. Imagine the controversy if Superman was looking for his own special "super man." As I've said in the past I can accept a lot of crazy stuff in books and movies and comics. Issues arise for me when things that just seem dumb spring up. This sort of had that feel.

The art is very dark and stylistic. I first discovered Andrea Sorrentino with I, Vampire and thought his art was amazing. Now that I've seen his work a number of times my views have slightly shifted. His page layouts, splash pages and action work is about as cool as you'll see. His general characters, however, can become almost indistinguishable. A number of the characters here look almost the exact same as those from I, Vampire. It's not that they're bad, it's just that they have standard hair or eyes, and it sometimes feels like he needs to add massive characteristics to distinguish characters. A mustache here, a little extra weight there. Luckily, this is a comic book and it's action orientated so my nitpicking is just that. Me being a nitpicky punk.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was great. The re-imaging of GA's origin, a bit influenced by the tv show, is decent but predictable, but the overall story of secret societies is just fantastic. Whereas I could never believe in the Court of Owls over in Snyder's Batman, this stuff makes much more sense (in a mystical way) and brings some good ideas into the GA mythos.

Sorrentino's art is fantastic and he's just one of the best. Too bad Marvel got him after his GA work was complete.

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series is improving, but still is a bit of a shocker. Why, for instance, resurrect a dead character (which could have provided some really good drama in further stories) only to kill them two issues later? They just keep making bad decisions with this title, which is so bizarre when the television series goes from strength to strength.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew tired of the clans and the art about halfway through this collection. Dang. I really dug the previous one. Definitely felt like Lemire was doing a cooler version of the TV show, but The Island is one of the reasons I stopped watching (the main one is that Ollie's sister Clea is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me).

[mike andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alot of twists and turns in the plot. Lemire is doing a great job writing this.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following-up from the big revelation at the end of The Kill Machine, Outsiders War is the promise of a big mega clan war between secret clans coming to the surface: Arrows, Fists, Axes & Spears. Oliver and Shado travel back to the island where Oliver washed up years ago that led to the formation of his Green Arrow identity. However, coming back reveals deeper secrets that Oliver never expected: one about the mystery of the Totem Arrow and another from deep within his past. Meanwhile, back in Seattle, the city is continually taken over by the notorious Richard Dragon, who had rid some of the gangs to claim new territory. John Diggle, a former partner to Green Arrow, recruits Naomi and Henry to help formulate a plan to take down Dragon before he owns all of Seattle. As the clans soon prepares to launch war on Europe, Oliver attempts to come into terms with the revelations that manifested itself onto him and calls on allies to prepare to stop an international crisis.

Lemire continues his magic formula that brought New 52's Green Arrow into new heights. Here he drops more conspiracy elements into the story and amps up the stakes further than the previous volume. All of which makes the plot much more exciting to read on while also knowing that Green Arrow will never be the same ever again. The art style is still the same experimental tone that The Kill Machine has, and it works great here. It even makes the more violent panels to become more subtle in the process, likely to get across certain comic censorships. Easily, Outsiders War could be the bloodiest volume in the entire series here. There is a return of other notable characters for a big team-up as well, which is cool. The pacing takes its time, but does not overstay making it easy to follow along, but like the former volume, the story does end here as a new crisis begins. Although, with such a large cast, there are still a handful of characters who aren't quite as developed as others, but can be excusable given the amount of works going around. I am liking the new direction of this series and cannot wait to read the next volume!

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This run is super super tidy.
I’m actually keen to finish it off, it’s not really a traditional Green Arrow story though. It’s more like that CW show. But I still think it’s great and that the writing is so solid. I honestly can’t decide if it’s 4 star or not. I think I need to read the last edition. But the writing is so tidy, every character of note was introduced within the first novel and seems to be tying them up into a neat little bow at the end which is so nice to see.

Edit:
This is definitely worth a 4 star. The conclusion of the Komodo story was the most satisfying and the whole 3 dragons storyline was awesome too.

[Ivar the Boneless · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's just all take five seconds of our day and thank Jeff Lemire for saving my favorite superhero from the shitty writers that were mauling his character in New 52.

Let's take another second to pray that the production department at Arrow don't get their hands on this because if I see a bad version of this on TV I'm gonna scream and then start a petition for Berlanti and Kreisberg never to have careers in television again.

By the way, shout out to the art. Panels and flow were next level.

[Bram Ryckaert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is still amazing outside of a few failed experiments, but Lemire's writing isn't as sharp as the first volume. Everything comes to a head in a predictable clash of clans, but the twists were poorly done, especially Robert being alive all along! ... then dying a few issues later. The story also feels a bit rushed, this clan war could've meant more if every faction was fleshed out properly. Now they exit the stage just after entering, like the Shield clan. Everything was set up to be bigger than it ended up being. It's like Lemire had to speed through the story.

[Mathew · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story was very good, if not great, the artwork was simply atrocious. I much rather have a great story than great artwork (although it is nice to have both) but the artwork needs to be at least passable, here it is so deplorable that it detracts from the story while assaulting your eyes. I wouldn't recommend reading this unless your a gigantic Green Arrow fan and can deal with kindergarten level drawings.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wreszcie, po czwartym, obszernym tomie w końcu mamy zakończenie wątku z tzw. Outsiders (pewnie nie, ale na tę chwilę...), który Lemire uzupełnił o kilka większych niespodzianek, które sprawiły że piąty tom wydawał mi się w zasadzie jeszcze lepszy. Nie jest bez wad, bo zdarzały się tu i ówdzie jakieś głupotki, już nie wspominając o sporadycznych mało czytelnych planszach.

[Rod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This narrative is one of the reason why I am a die hard Green Arrow fan. It has drama, action, humor (yes, humor), and so much more.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid writing, and I love Sorrentino's art. The series continues to impress.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artwork still sucks, but the story is awesome.