YMMV / Green Arrow (2011)

• Arc Fatigue: Whatever caused the falling out between Ollie and Roy. It's alluded to numerous times, and talked about without adding any detail. And just when you think they'll elaborate... they don't. It finally was explained in Green Arrow (Rebirth), nearly six years after it was first alluded to!
• Awesome Art: Plenty of readers agree that Sorrentino's art style is gorgeous, and really helps to sell the mood of the comic.
• Complete Monster (Issues #17-31): Komodo was once Simon Lacroix, a power-hungry man from the slums who rose to become a continental threat. After learning about the Outsiders from Robert Queen, Komodo became greedy and thanked his former mentor by seemingly murdering him, later on stealing his daughter Emiko from her mother Shado, giving Shado to Count Vertigo, and raising Emiko as an assassin. In his mission against Oliver, Komodo quickly frames him for murder; kills dozens of his employees before bankrupting him; kills dozens of cops; and straps a bomb to Naomi Singh. After plotting with other Clans to have him take over, Komodo murders his master before using the power of the Clans to pour Sarin gas all over Europe, causing a continental catastrophe just so he can sweep in and take control. When Robert and Shado interfere once more, Komodo attempts to kill his own daughter Emiko just to spite him one more time.
• Contested Sequel: Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski's Kingdom. Even before it started it drew ire simply for following Jeff Lemire's run, which was thought by many to have saved the series from the slump Green Arrow was stuck in after the New 52 reboot. It didn't help that both writers - while experienced comic-book creators - were also writers for Arrow, which has a divisive relationship with the comic book fanbase. The main fear was that they'd turn the comic into a carbon copy of Arrow - a worry that was seemingly confirmed when Kreisberg and Sokolowski dropped most of the book's supporting cast except for John Diggle (a character originally introduced on the show) and introduced Felicity Smoak in the first issue, establishing the Power Trio featured on the show. However, they also attempted to reintroduce several elements of the classic series that had been missing since the New 52 reboot, including Oliver's friendship with Hal Jordan, the character of Mia Dearden and Oliver's mouthy 'man of the people' characterization.
• Creator's Pet:
  • Felicity Smoak's introduction in the above mentioned Kingdom arc was not well-received. This was, in large part, because she was introduced at the same time all of the old supporting cast - which already included two computer experts - were completely dropped from the series. This, combined with the creators gushing about bringing her in, resulted in her quickly being labelled a Creator's Pet by those not fond of Arrow in general or elements unique to the show being introduced into the comics in specific.
  • To a lesser degree, the villain Cupid, who was created by Andrew Kreisberg during his run on Green Arrow/Black Canary and was also introduced in the Kingdom arc for no reason other than Kreisberg wanted her in there.
• Don't Shoot the Message: "What Goes Up..." carries a genuinely sweet message regarding the struggles of transgender people, showing that it's important to let other people live in the way that they believe they should live and the importance of not forcing societal norms on other people. All of this is undone by the fact that out of all the metaphors they could have possibly used, they chose to use people who believe themselves to actually be robots, which circles everything the comic has to say straight back around into offensive territory.
• It Was His Sled: Emiko being Oliver's half-sister, due to the fact that she was a major player in future runs like Green Arrow (Rebirth) and her storyline was (loosely) adapted in Arrow's seventh season.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • The Magus is the mysterious leader of the Mask Clan who proves to be Oliver's most crucial ally against Komodo/Simon Lacroix. Having previously worked with Robert Queen to subvert the mad archer's rise to power by faking Robert's death, Magus returns in the present day to continue his mission, starting by forcing Oliver to accept his teachings. Through various methods like drugging him and leaving him alone in the desert, Magus forces Oliver to accept his role, all while allying the other Clans for the incoming war. Using his powers, Magus distracts Komodo with Oliver's face before taking on his army, coordinating with Katana to subvert his plans to destroy Europe before accepting Oliver's choice to return to Seattle.
  • Robert Queen, believed to have been killed by Komodo, is in truth still alive and orchestrated Oliver's journey to heroism. Having predicted that Simon would betray him, Robert allied with Magus to fake his death, allowing him to search for the mystical Green Arrow for years. In order to prepare Oliver for his role, Robert orchestrated his imprisonment on the island, including his torture and the final battle to the death between the two, ensuring Oliver's transformation into the Green Arrow. Resurfacing in the present day, Robert not only takes down the leader of the Shield Clan, but escapes the island himself to fight Komodo head-on, ultimately getting Oliver the Green Arrow artifact and dying to protect his daughter.
  • Richard Dragon was once Ricardo Diaz, Jr., the son of a master criminal who was defeated by the Green Arrow. Wanting to humiliate the archer in his father's name, Diaz traveled to the League of Assassins and trained under the original Richard Dragon, eventually killing his master and taking his name out of respect. Arriving in Seattle, Dragon takes over the city's underworld within days, killing everyone in his way and gaining such power that he can walk right into the police station without hassle. Even when Green Arrow returns to the city, Dragon stays one step ahead at all times, taking advantage of his genius intellect and brilliant analytical abilities to attack weak points and strike strong. Although he's ultimately defeated, he escapes, ultimately completing his goal to prove himself far more than the average thug.
• Strangled by the Red String: Ollie and Tarantula, who Ollie starts commenting on how he's falling in love with her in-spite of their on-panel interaction at that point had basically no romantic element, not even any flirting. She disappears as soon as the arc is done though, which combined with other odd things (like Ollie brutally killing some of the Skeletons, at least before they were revealed to be zombies), makes the whole arc a giant Bizarro Episode.
• Tough Act to Follow: Andrew Kriesberg's short-lived the Kingdom arc that followed Jeff Lemire's run fell flat on its face for a variety of reasons, but nothing that followed something as acclaimed as Lemire's run was ever going to fare well. It wasn't until Green Arrow (Rebirth), several years later, that a Green Arrow comic received anything even close to this level of acclaim.

---