If you've been enjoying the excellent run on DC Comics'
Green Arrow from writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino then I have bad news for you. Lemire and Sorrentino's last Green Arrow issue will be October's
Green Arrow #35. The duo will have one more Green Arrow special, a one-shot titled,
Futures End: Green Arrow #1, which will be released in September, but that their swan song. Replacing Lemire and Sorrentino will be Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski of
The CW Arrow. So is the Green Arrow comic book going to essentially turn into an extension of The CW television show (even though there's already a digital tie-in for the show)? Said Sokolowski,
"This is more about cross-pollination. How can we incorporate what is working so well for Arrow into the New 52 DCU, while at the same time, keeping what makes the original 2-D Oliver Queen so special? To that end, comic Oliver and TV Oliver have distinct voices and attitudes. We’ll do our best to keep them unique. We really want to bring the old-school Oliver Queen voice back to the character. 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."
Kreisberg added,
"I think the version Ben and I are going for now is an amalgamation of the TV version and his comic book persona. As our TV partner, Greg Berlanti, puts it, at his core, Oliver is an optimist. He believes in people. On the TV show, that optimism is buried under years of torture and suffering, but it’s still there. In the comics, he’s been a bit more fun, a bit faster with a quip, so we are trying to add some of that zest for life."
As of now, the comic book version of Green Arrow is vastly different from the one on television played by Stephen Amell. But I enjoy them both and have equally supported the show from day one, and followed the comic book series since Lemire and Sorrentino took over with Green Arrow #17. That said, I'm not sure I want the two mediums to become more closely aligned. But based on the comments from Sokolowski, it appears that he and Kreisberg are looking to bring more of a Neal Adams Green Arrow vibe to the series, something that would be a tonal departure from both the show and current comic book incarnation. The most important thing to keep in mind is DC's big September event, which will look at the DC Universe 5 years into the future. The question is whether, the DC Universe stays 5 years into the future following September or we are moving back to current-day and moving towards that future glimpsed in Futures End.