Nearly two years ago, when the blog was in its infancy as I was when it came to reviewing, I decided to review one of the longest and most loved runs of Green Arrow. Mike Grell’s miniseries, Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, had fundamentally changed the character, his world and the cast around him. Suddenly, the world became darker, and the green hero transformed into a dark vigilante who patrolled the violent streets of Seattle. From 1987 to 1993, Grell masterfully wrote Green Arrow and despite some rather patchy areas and low points throughout the run’s eighty issue span (to be expected with a run so long), it stands as a golden age of Green Arrow. Yet, what happens next? Green Arrow (vol 2) 80 leaves our hero alone, no longer with his girlfriend Dinah Lance. The events that unfold from there change the character forever, before he meets his fate in Green Arrow (vol 2) 101 and the mantle is passed onto another. But DC have rather ignored this period. After the Dixon era (with other writers) from 1993 to 1998, the title is cancelled and revived three years later, penned by Kevin Smith who writes an epic which too is considered a Green Arrow Classic, named Quiver. Therefore, slotted sadly between the monolith game changing Grell run, and the renowned (but rather short) Smith run (followed by Brad Meltzer’s The Archer’s Quest, probably one of the best comics you could ever read) sits a period of Green Arrow that is by far, one of the most important, for reasons that become clear when you read them. Why has DC ignored them? Perhaps we’ll never know, but either way, they certainly don’t deserve to be forgotten.
Green Arrow (vol 2) 81-90 were published from December 1993 to September 1994. The ‘Crossroads’ storyline was written by a number of different writers, with the main one being Kevin Dooley. Others include Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, and Doug Moench. The issues were also drawn by Jim Aparo, Gerry Fernandez, Jim Balent, Michael Netzer, Rob Leigh, and Eduardo Barreto. Also, I’ll be reviewing Green Arrow (vol 2) Annual 7 (1995) by Chuck Dixon, Rick Burchett, Chris Renaud, Eduardo Barreto
and Gerry Fernandez. This is mainly for spacing reasons as the next review will probably be even longer than this one. I’ve read all of these issues in their original format.
With several years of Mike Grell at the helm, Green Arrow was almost separate from the rest of the DC Universe. Not only was the title published under the “Suggested for Mature Readers” label, but it was extremely rare to find characters from other titles appearing. Hal Jordan (but not as Green Lantern) and Warlord are two obvious guest appearances, but beyond them, the world of Green Arrow was separate. Therefore, with Grell gone and Scott Peterson made editor, the task was to reintroduce the character back into the DC Universe and that is the purpose of Crossroads. This ten-parter is essentially multiple stories that are loosely connected with a subplot, so I’m reviewing them all together. Despite the fact that there are numerous writers, the main one is certainly Kevin Dooley, who begins with Green Arrow (vol 2) 81. On the streets of Seattle, the police are shocked when a supervillain named Shrapnel appears, looking for a woman. Meanwhile, Green Arrow takes out a graffitist nearby and reflects on recent events, remembering his fight with Dinah and how any hopes of settling down have now been destroyed. Reluctantly, Green Arrow decides to stay in Seattle, until he finds Shrapnel fighting against Infinity Inc hero Nuklon. As their fight causes destruction around the city, Green Arrow intervenes and learns that they are both after the same woman. Green Arrow attempts to stop the fight, but he is tricked by Shrapnel who gets an arrow in his eye and causes Green Arrow to lower his defence. After his failure, people convince Green Arrow to stop them in a scene which features some pretty awful dialogue. Seriously, the people in Seattle are just standing around saying things like “Stop them! They’re killing us.” Anyway, Green Arrow gets their attention and although Nuklon gives up, Shrapnel attacks and Green Arrow fires at him, although his arrow bounces off the floor and hits a nearby gas station, causing a huge explosion. Afterwards, the woman who the two superhumans were after thanks Green Arrow and comes onto him, but he notices that Dinah is watching. Then, in his anger, Green Arrow lectures Shrapnel, Nuklon and the woman over what was happening, but they all turn on him and berate him. Realising that he has failed, Green Arrow speaks with Lieutenant Cameron and tells him that he is leaving Seattle and he is never coming back. With this, Dooley has made the first move in changing the character and introducing him back into the DC Universe. It’s a fairly average start to the run, but it is important. There is no reason why he should stay in Seattle and he realises that. All his personal relationships are gone and there is nothing left for him there anymore. The feud between Nuklon and Shrapnel does feel out of place, especially since they are very obscure characters and in terms of attracting new readers, I doubt they would have much impact. However, their purpose is to show that Oliver is such a flawed character and that is something which remains constant throughout the story.
After leaving Seattle, Green Arrow travels and heads to an old friend’s house where, for some odd reason, his friend (Andrea Zercher) allows him to fire arrows at her sister’s children. Moving on, Oliver and Andrea have an argument, but make up quickly as the two are old friends. That being said, I have no idea who this woman is. Suddenly, Andrea’s sister, Honore, barges through the door with her toddler son, telling Oliver that her abusive husband, Nathan, is after her. Oliver notices him through the window and learns that he is a vigilante of sorts. Oliver follows him and attempts to pin him to the fence with his arrows, but then loses it and fires his arrows directly at Nathan’s chest. Somehow, Nathan catches all the arrows and beats Oliver on the suggestion that he beats his kids. Nathan then snaps Oliver’s bow in two and leaves, telling him that he is not of the bow. Later, Oliver believes there is more to Nathan than meets the eye and once he trains with a new bow-master (as if he wasn’t skilled enough), he learns from him that Nathan could have links to the Yakuza as he was trained by their master, Yoshimoto. Some time after getting his new bow, Oliver hears screams from Honore’s room and inside, he hears Nathan threatening her and her children. Green Arrow then hunts him down and works out that the Yakuza hired Nathan as they wanted him to take up the bow again in order to steal a large arms shipment coming through Los Angeles. Green Arrow manages to defeat Nathan by firing an arrow through his arm and he takes him back to Honore, where (unsurprisingly) he beats her child, and she is forced to shoot him. With that, Nathan is dead, and Oliver decides to investigate the Yakuza in L.A. Like the previous issue, this one is fairly average. I do like the idea of Nathan working with Yakuza, but I think that his relationship with Honore and that element of the story just feels like unnecessary baggage. The majority of the new characters come across as extremely dull and none of them are very interesting, with the exception of Nathan, but I felt that there should have been more development with his links to the Yakuza. Green Arrow also spends several pages learning how to use his new bow, which I think just isn’t realistic as it’s not exactly new to him. Regardless, the story has a good villain, and the Yakuza element is very intriguing, but its ultimately a very average story and I wouldn’t be sad to give it a miss. Plus, it feels out of place in the whole “Crossroads” story as the character isn’t really changed because of the events here. Also, I guess it might be difficult to judge as I’ve not read much of his work, but Kevin Dooley’s stories all appear underwhelming and just average. Fortunately, the next issue is by Chuck Dixon and Green Arrow is thrust further into the DC Universe.
In Hollywood, Green Arrow fights the Yakuza and in his hunt for their leader, he receives a phone-recorded message from Sissy Devereaux, a woman that Green Arrow “knew” (if you know Oliver Queen) many years ago. When Oliver heads out to meet her in her apartment, she tells him not to turn the lights on as somebody wants to kill her. When Oliver sees her face, he finds that her beauty has vanished and she looks worn, ill and tired. Suddenly, a helicopter from above fires down on the apartment. Sissy dies in the gunfire, but Oliver escapes from the apartment, but the chopper continues to hunt him. Suddenly, a car pulls up and Huntress gets out. Quickly, she fires her crossbow at the chopper and the pilot retreats. This is the first “major” character that Green Arrow has met since the start of the run and the two decide to team up and head over to a hangar nearby. Huntress explains that she got a call from a girl she went to school with. Like Sissy, she was a model and had good looks, but when Huntress found her, she had been killed and her looks deteriorated. Following the tracking signal of the killers, Huntress and Green Arrow find the helicopter and the hangar. There, the heroes take out the killers and find the hangar is full of giant yogurt vats. Green Arrow and Huntress notice that both Sissy and Huntress’s friend had the same yogurt in their apartment with that hunch, the two decide to find Diedre Dallas, the owner and maker of the lowfat yogurt. But, when they find her, she too is no longer beautiful, and she has instead grown overweight and paranoid. She attempts to kill Green Arrow and Huntress for trespassing, but once they disarm her, she bursts into tears. She tells Green Arrow that the girls she helped with her yogurt eventually gained weight and due to that, her company lost money and she did too. Huntress then threatens to kill her, but Green Arrow warns her not to. Green Arrow comforts her until the police arrive. Strangely, I really enjoy this story and it’s hard to explain why. Partly, I think it’s down to the fact that it is a unique idea that I’ve ever really seen done before, but it’s also because it’s quite horrible and disturbing. Of course, Green Arrow has fought villains who care more about their own image and money than others before, but there is an element of tragedy here. Green Arrow and Huntress are an odd team-up and one that you wouldn’t really expect to find anywhere, but because they are both brash and somewhat arrogant, it works effectively. That being said, the biggest let down of the story is the fact that the Yakuza just vanish near the start. I thought it would have just made more sense for them to have some involvement in the story, but as they don’t, they just feel forgotten and ultimately, it cheapens them as villains. But, compared to the first two issues, this is much better.
Next is probably the best story in the whole Crossroads event. Written by Alan Grant, Green Arrow meets one of my favourite characters in the DC Universe and it ultimately makes for a very enjoyable story. On a plane to Las Vegas, Oliver Queen is attacked by a man with a gun and although he takes him out, he gets a black eye, and the nurse onboard gives him an eye patch. Upon arriving in the airport, Oliver is instantly warned by security about his vigilantism and tells him that he isn’t wanted here. He effectively ignores them and as Oliver leaves the airport, he is followed by two gangsters for the rest of the day, and in restaurant, he senses something is wrong. Noticing the spies, Oliver throws hot coffee at them and takes them out using his bow, but he retreats as the cops arrive. Afterwards, Oliver arrives at his hotel after surprisingly he finds the room has already been booked for him. Confused, Oliver searches his room, but finds nobody waiting for him. Instead, he finds the insides of a TV inside his wardrobe and inside the TV, a large assortment of firearms. Suddenly, the wall explodes when a rocket launcher is fired at Oliver. Using the guns, Oliver fires back at the masked attackers, violently killing some of them. However, as more and more come, he backs away into a room. Therefore, he backs into another eye-patched shooter, specifically Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke. This is an excellent ending to the first part and as usual, Grant paces the story excellently. It feels quick to read, but still in a way that makes it satisfying. It’s full of action and intriguing, especially as the ending is excellent for numerous reasons. Not just is it Deathstroke, but you realise that Oliver isn’t the target, and he never has been. It’s only because of the fight at the start (which gives him the eyepatch) that he finds himself in this all-out brawl between a legion of assassins and one deadly trained mercenary. Anyway, in the heat of the gunfire, Green Arrow and Deathstroke escape from the room by leaping out of the window and into a swimming pool. However, the shooting doesn’t stop and Green Arrow and Deathstroke are still being hunted. Quickly, they find and steal a bus, before Green Arrow realises that there are passengers on it. Instead of endangering them and being responsible for their deaths, they escape on motorbikes. Meanwhile, the police lieutenant learns of Green Arrow’s and Deathstroke’s actions, angry that he didn’t arrest Oliver Queen earlier when he had the chance. Meanwhile, Green Arrow learns from Deathstroke that he was hired by gangster Vince Saccarini to take out Ben Civenga’s drugs and prostitutes’ operation. However, when he found Civenga dead, he was set up and framed for his murder. Deathstroke believes that it was Chiarello, Civenga’s second-in-command, who set him up. Together, Green Arrow (wanting back his stolen bow from earlier) and Deathstroke, now both in costume ready for their mission, pay for a helicopter to get to Chiarello’s hotel. When they arrive, the two of them storm the hotel and kill the guards in the casino. In his office, Chiarello is confronted by Deathstroke and Green Arrow, who retrieves his bow. Without thinking about it, Deathstoke kills Chiarello. Afterwards, Deathstroke warns Green Arrow to watch (continued)
himself as he is making himself a target. He helps by cutting Green Arrow’s beard clean-off with his sharp knife, but Green Arrow isn’t too happy about it. Alone, Green Arrow continues his quest, still thinking about Dinah. Despite a rather sombre ending, Grant writes what is probably the best story of the bunch here. The two-star characters work so well together here. Green Arrow’s sarcastic humour annoys the serious Deathstroke, and it ultimately makes for some entertaining scenes. However, their teaming up also proves that Green Arrow has changed indefinitely. Not only is he teaming up with somebody like Deathstroke, but he isn’t afraid to kill people with guns. Since the Longbow Hunters, there has been a huge change and this is an aspect of the run which Dixon picks up on later, coming to a head in Green Arrow (vol 2) 101. As opposed to some of the previous issues, this one is paced brilliantly, and it is action-packed while having an interesting plot. It never really drags either, particularly with the first part which builds up suspense effectively. It’s a shame that this is Alan Grant’s only Green Arrow story, as I’d imagine he’d do a great ongoing run with it. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Another issue, another writer. In all seriousness, the following issue to the end of “Crossroads” are all written by Dooley, so some consistency returns. With this one, we have Doug Moench, another Batman writer and with this, unsurprisingly, Green Arrow meets a Batman character. In a museum, Oliver fights some gangsters using old bones. Fifteen hours before, he arrives in Dallas and after sleeping, he heads to an ancient weapons museum. There, he finds some gangsters harassing the curator. We all know what happens next. Now in the present, Oliver continues his fight, but he is distracted when the curator is nearly crushed by a display. Although he saved the curator, Oliver finds the gangsters have gone. Afterwards, Oliver learns from the curator that those gangsters wanted him dead because Strait (who ordered the assassins to kill him) has an interest in Incan antiques, but the Peruvian government has made it difficult to buy and sell them. When the curator went to Strait’s shop, he found a number of Incan relics, but Strait said that they were merely counterfeits. However, the curator doesn’t believe it and Strait sent those killers after him in fear that he will report him to the police. However, Oliver warns him not to report it into the police unless if in the next 48 hours, the news reports of that real antiques have been stolen. Afterwards, as Green Arrow, Oliver breaks into Strait’s shop, where he is attacked by Catwoman. The two strangle one another for a bit, before Catwoman tells him that she didn’t steal the relics, but she will tomorrow. She tells him that she is waiting for the sun disk to arrive, which will be delivered by Chacon, the real thief of the Incan items. Catwoman also explains that she has been hired by the Peruvian government and with that, the two decide to work together. Some time later, Green Arrow and Catwoman find the sun disk, but the gangsters nearby are shocked when they find the curator holding it, telling them that he is the one working with Chacon. Suddenly, Green Arrow trips the alarm, and a fight begins. As Catwoman takes out the gangsters, the curator attempts to escape with the sun disk. However, Green Arrow follows him and manages to take him out and retrieve the sun disk. That ends one of the most disappointing stories so far. Perhaps if I was a Catwoman fan and a reader of the title, I would like this story more. But this is in Green Arrow and he certainly doesn’t fit into this kind of story. The “shock” reveals near the end when the real villain is revealed isn’t much of a surprise and I fail to see why Catwoman would be working with any government anyway. The idea of the story is fairly inoffensive, and you can’t really fault it too badly, but because it doesn’t work with a character like Green Arrow, the story falls flat. It’s a shame too, especially since Doug Moench at his best is a solid and great writer. But this story is especially weak and only progresses the “Crossroads” story by having Green Arrow team up with a popular character like Catwoman.
With Dooley’s return, we seemingly welcome mediocre stories back. On a boat trip to New Orleans, Green Arrow gets into another fight with some crooks because they are attacking a young woman (who happens to look and dress like Black Canary). Upon
arriving, Green Arrow follows the woman, who catches onto him and begins to run. Green Arrow manages to grab her by the hair, before realising that she is wearing a blonde wig. Suddenly, Green Arrow is stabbed from behind by an angry hot dog stall owner for knocking over his stall. Already, I can tell that this is going to be one of the best stories ever. When he awakens, Green Arrow is met by an old woman, specifically the mother of the woman he was chasing. The girl he was chasing, named Ceci, then appears and tells Green Arrow that the people chasing her were from Simon Lemoreaux’s factory nearby, which she works for as a slave, despite being just fifteen. Later at night, Oliver walks with Ceci and listens to her troubling experiences with Lemoreaux and how he implied he killed her father. After learning from Ceci that her “brother” is actually her son and she doesn’t know who the father is, Green Arrow becomes furious with Lemoreaux, who suddenly arrives and kidnaps him. Deep in the forest, Lemoreaux and his goons tie Green Arrow to a tree and Lemoreaux reveals that he is Ceci’s father. Alone, Green Arrow manages to break free from the ropes after a fight with a crocodile and other wildlife. Enraged, he breaks into Lemoreaux’s office just as he is abusing Ceci. With some reluctance, Green Arrow fires an arrow through Lemoreaux’s heart. With his death, Green Arrow leaves the factory, with its workers now free. This story really has two messages, both of which are linked to Green Arrow’s character, one directly and the other indirectly. Firstly, Green Arrow doesn’t really think about killing Lemoreaux. Dooley builds some suspense up for the final scene in the story, so that when Green Arrow does confront Lemoreaux, it’s rather obvious that he is going to kill him. This is nothing new for Green Arrow at this point. However, as he has become darker, the world around him has too. Lemoreaux is an example of how Oliver’s values from the 1970s about Americans working together peacefully and safely means nothing two decades on. He doesn’t recognise the world around him, or himself by the end as he shows no pleasure in killing Lemoreaux. I think there is a good idea for a story here, particularly focusing on the evil Lemoreaux. However, he doesn’t feature enough in the story and due to that, he isn’t painted as the devious and evil villain that he should be. It also doesn’t help that the supporting cast in this story is rather dull and it takes around ten pages for the story to actually start. There is much wasted space here and while elements of it are good, as I have pointed out, the story lacks an engaging narrative with good and developed characters. There is a good idea here, but it’s buried by a thick sheet of blandness and boredom.
In terms of Green Arrow meeting other heroes and becoming part of the DC Universe once again, this is certainly the limit of that. Why? Well, Oliver arrives in New York to find Martian Manhunter saving the city from a rocket fired by an aircraft. Oliver watches, wondering how they ever let him in the Justice League when all he could do was use a bow. This is an interesting point, and it plays a huge part until Green Arrow (vol 2) 101. Anyway, with Martian Manhunter’s success, Oliver suddenly realises that his car has been stolen and an old man, Bernie, says he knows who stole it, but he can’t say as the neighbourhood is too dangerous. Afterwards, Oliver walks nearby and finds Wonder Woman fighting some crazed madmen with explosive weapons. Once again, Oliver feels helpless and useless. Then, in the back alleys, he finds Bernie being attacked by gangsters. Although he tries to stop them, Oliver is knocked out and he awakens in hospital. There, he finds Guy Gardner, who has awoken from a coma. He learns from Guy that Hal Jordan has gone crazy and murdered most of the Green Lantern Corps due to the destruction of Coast City. Although offering his help, Oliver is turned down by Guy because he sees no use in somebody that can just fire arrows. After leaving hospital, Oliver goes with Bernie to meet some of his friends, but then, a large group of gangster’s attack and Oliver fails to protect Bernie. Realising that he is no longer a hero, Oliver moves on and heads to Gotham City. He really must be feeling miserable if he’s moving there of all places. Anyway, this is one of the better stories from “Crossroads”, because when it starts, Oliver thinks he’s useless and doesn’t have much purpose anymore. By the end of this issue, he realises that he is useless and that he doesn’t have much purpose as a hero. There’s an element of tragedy, as even though he will never stand tall with the likes of Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, he still can’t even protect those on the streets, who are effectively ignored by the bigger heroes. It shows that the Justice League doesn’t have much of an understanding about the underclasses in cities, let alone a way to protect them. Green Arrow just wants to help, but the world has grown so much darker and different, that he doesn’t know how to anymore. Apart from that, this issue is great if you like guest stars and the Justice League, but they don’t play a huge role in the main story. The purpose of the story is to show that Green Arrow cannot protect his own anymore and his soul-searching continues.
Now in Gotham, Green Arrow meets another of my favourite characters. Despite taking out a group of teenagers robbing a gun store, he is knocked unconscious and wakes up in a van with the teenagers and their boss, Anarky, who tells Green Arrow that they both believe in the same things. Unlike previous stories, Dooley constructs a strong cast of characters, all of whom are working with Anarky. There’s Eugene, Aaron, Carter, Carlo and Pete, all of whom have been affected by gun crime due to family loses. Anarky, concerned about the huge increase in gun crime, tells Green Arrow that they are stealing guns to ensure that nobody will use them to hurt others. Angry at himself for attacking the teenagers, Green Arrow hears Anarky’s plan is destroy Stallion Arms Manufacturing Plant 7, where most weapons sent to gangsters and the mob are made. However, Green Arrow, despite using guns freely and regrettably beforehand, tells Anarky to choose a more civilised method of fighting for what he believes he in. However, Anarky sticks with his plan and Green Arrow decides that he can’t help him. Anarky asks where the man of ideals has gone, but Green Arrow tells him that he should have left him back in the alley, but Anarky replies that he believed in him too much. There are many comparisons to be made between Green Arrow and Anarky, who is very similar to the young and idealistic Oliver Queen. Ideologically, they both believe in the same things (most Americans would just dismiss them as communists) and the relationship between the two (continued)
characters is very interesting. Anarky and his team do plant the explosives in the plant and when everybody retreats, they activate the explosives. But nothing happens and Anarky becomes downcast that gun crime will continue. Then, Green Arrow arrives. He has thought what Anarky told him over and together, he and Anarky detonate the explosives with a flaming arrow. Sometime afterwards, Oliver sits in a restaurant and hears a man nearby talking about how they would have to pry his gun off of his dead body. Characteristically, Oliver spills his soup in the man’s lap and leaves. This story is certainly up there with the Deathstroke story as it not only features a great guest character, but it explores the real Oliver Queen, the reckless idealist who isn’t afraid to anger the wrong people. However, by doing what he does here, he sets in motion events that will end him. Throughout “Crossroads”, Green Arrow has annoyed too many people and the follow-up to this is that a government agency believes that he has gone too far and that he must be killed. Here, Green Arrow almost finds a purpose again, but it will take time for him to realise what the impact of his actions will be.
Finally, ending a long ten-parter, we have Dooley’s Zero Hour crossover. There really isn’t much to judge or write about here. Apart from a caption at the start, there is no dialogue. it simply features Green Arrow chasing a Street Demonz gangster (still in Gotham) after he attacks a mother and child. Green Arrow chases the gangster, but due to the Zero Hour crisis at the time (where different versions of heroes from the dead Multiverse are present), a Green Arrow is shot and killed by the Street Demonz gangster. The other Green Arrow (seemingly the main one) appears from an alley nearby and stands over his dead body in the rain. Batman then appears, and just says “we need you”. As they both leave and the police take Green Arrow’s dead body away, the world fades to white. It is difficult to judge this story, primarily because it only takes about a minute to read, but it foreshadows the future and Oliver’s fate as Green Arrow. He knows that one day, Green Arrow will be the death of him and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. Little does he know how near it is though. In terms of Zero Hour itself, Green Arrow is rather important in it. He experiences further loss when Batgirl (a resurrected version) dies and he is forced to kill Parallax, one Hal Jordan. This marks the beginning of the end of Oliver Queen, and the conclusion of “Crossroads”.
As you may know, Jim Aparo remains and always will be one of my favourite comic book artists ever. He has pencilled and inked some of the best Batman stories out there and he has defined so many characters in his career, such as Deadman, the Spectre, and the Phantom Stranger. But Green Arrow is not among them. This is late on in Aparo’s career and while his pencils and layouts are still dynamic and excellent, the finishes leave quite a bit to be desired. From the late 1980s onwards, Aparo no longer inked his own work. Sometimes, you could get extremely luckily and get Mike DeCarlo as his inker. Or you could get unlucky and get Bill Sienkiewicz. In the middle, there was somebody like Gerry Fernandez, who manages to keep the Aparo-ness in the art style, but modern and scratchy inks just don’t work over Aparo’s retro style. The storytelling is as on point as ever, but the finishes just aren’t Aparo. It’s not terrible, but it’s about average. In terms of the other artists, Eduardo Barreto does more than a good job on his issue, but Michael Nezter’s issue looks rather odd. The dimensions look all wrong and at times, it’s almost like a bad Kelley Jones impression.
From the Beginning --- Written by Chuck Dixon with art by Rick Burchett, Eduardo Barreto, Chris Renaud and Gerry Fernandez
While this “Year One” annual isn’t relevant yet, I’ve pretty much placed it here to get it out of the way early, especially since the next review will be just as long. Besides, I’m
sure we all know the origin of Green Arrow. The egotistical and arrogant multi-millionaire Oliver Queen falls off a cruise ship drunk and he awakens on a desert island. There, he finds an abandoned ship and on board is a skeleton, with a bullet hole through the skull. As the days pass, Oliver hunts for food and constructs his own bow. Then, out of the blue, Oliver finds another person on the island, who tries to steal his food. But, once Oliver captures him and speaks to him, he learns that his name is Stephen Clothier. He explains that he has been stuck on the island for about a year after his ship turned over in a storm. More time passes as the two work together to construct a wooden boat, but Stephen becomes suspicious when Oliver mentions the sunken boat nearby. Then, at night, Oliver explores the boat and finds evidence that Stephen pretended to be the ship’s captain after being discovered in the US as a serial killer. Stephen then attacks Oliver, but he fights back and prepares to kill him, but he resists the urge. Oliver then recognises Stephen as Nicholas Eugene Kotero, the Love Boat Killer, who would go on cruise ships just to murder women. Oliver then decides to leave him on the island and escape on his boat. Using the boat, he heads to another island and uses a yacht to get back to the mainland. When he arrives home, Oliver becomes bored with his role in charge of Queen Industries and he becomes Green Arrow, a crime fighter. However, some months later, Oliver is confronted by Nicholas, back to his old murdering ways as he has killed Oliver’s girlfriend. As Green Arrow, Oliver finds that Nicholas has kidnapped another woman and he takes him out, still refusing to kill him. Ah, the happier days when Green Arrow wouldn’t kill. Yeah, if you’ve read Green Arrow: Year One or Green Arrow: The Wonder Year, then you get the basic gist of the story involving the desert island. However, Dixon adds a new element with Nicholas, an interesting villain with a hatred of Oliver. It’s a shame that this is the only story he appears in where he fights Oliver, as Nicholas’s hatred of him could lead to some more interesting stories. But most of the annual doesn’t add anything new to the origin as it was only really written because all the other annuals in 1995 were focusing on “Year One” stories. But that doesn’t mean it should be missed, as it will be important later.
The art isn’t really much to write home about. Burchett’s simple style with Eduardo Barreto is effective and looks appealing, but the origin scenes by Chris Renaud and Gerry Fernandez just look plain and too ordinary. There really isn’t much else to say about it.
Story: 7.5/10
Art: 6/10
VERDICT
Overall, Green Arrow: Crossroads is… weird. There really isn’t much of anything linking all ten issues together. At the start, there appeared to be some sort of overarching plot with the Yakuza, but that just vanished. I guess the overarching plot is a character arch of sorts, that being Green Arrow just doesn’t know what to do with himself. But that doesn’t exactly make for enjoyable reading. Green Arrow’s quest starts with him thinking that he is useless and ends with him knowing that he’s useless. Yes, there are some good stories here (Deathstroke and Anarky), but there are so many mediocre ones to the point where you might as well miss out the whole Crossroads saga. Really, if you wanted to condense your reading list, after finishing Grell’s run with Green Arrow (vol 2) 80, you should go straight to issue 0 and then 91 onwards. Crossroads is really just a waste of time that only serves the purpose of thrusting Green Arrow back into the DC mainstream. But, when there are so many writers, a lack of consistency and no overarching plot, what is the point of this ten-parter? Overall, it may have some good elements, but it leaves so much to be desired…
Stories: 4.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Next Week: Green Arrow: Where Angels Fear to Tread (Green Arrow (vol 2) 0, 91-101). Written by Kelley Puckett and Chuck Dixon with art by Jim Aparo, Gerry Fernandez, Michael Netzer, Rodolfo Damaggio, Frank McLaughlin, Rob Leigh, and Robert Campanella.
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