Since when did death mean anything? The years that followed Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986 shook the DC Universe and the stories of virtually every character was altered in small or gigantic ways. Green Arrow was no exception. Mike Grell’s lengthy stint on Green Arrow (vol 2) from 1987 to 1993 transformed Oliver Queen from the vibrant green archer who fell prey to the hippie-culture of the seventies into a nineties brooding dark vigilante using only merciless arrows against mobsters. The Dark Age of Comics from the Crisis to the early years of the Millennium made the world a darker place for Green Arrow as his, to put it briefly, his life was left in ruins, his reputation destroyed, and his friends gone. And then he died a hero. Chuck Dixon provided Oliver Queen a noble death before the new chapter of Green Arrow commenced with Connor Hawke taking the lead. However, the original Green Arrow was gone. But after the revivals of Supergirl, Superman, and The Flash, and virtually every other character in existence, it was Green Arrow’s return as a very different
writer emerged. Enter Kevin Smith…
Green Arrow (vol 3) 1-10 was published from April 2001 to January 2002. The storyline was written by Kevin Smith with art by Phil Hester and Ande Parks. I’ve read the story in the Green Arrow: Quiver trade paperback.
Who is Kevin Smith? In short, he is a creator from the outside world of comics. Originally a filmmaker who came to notoriety in 1994 after the release of his comedy movie Clerks, Kevin Smith became famous for creating Jay and Silent Bob, a famous comedic duo who appear in many of Smith’s works. Overall, Kevin Smith was once an amateur filmmaker who became a titan of the industry; he was the type of name that DC were looking for. Since the 1980s, comic book companies have had some luck in obtaining writers from outside of the industry. Whether it be Harlan Ellison, Jeph Loeb, or Brad Meltzer, all of these writers take their skills from screenwriting or novel writing and apply them to this visual media. Kevin Smith joins for a story which aims to relaunch Oliver Queen’s Green Arrow. However, will his often-comedic tones spoil the darkened atmosphere created by Mike Grell over a decade before?
Green Arrow (vol 3) 1 begins during very unexpected circumstances. Anyone remember Final Night? It was one of those huge DC crossover events in the 1990s, this time featuring the villainous Sun-Eater who is defeated by Hal Jordan, then also an enemy called Parralax. Up to speed? Good. During that event, Superman and Batman stand on the roof of the Daily Planet building over a dark winter Metropolis. Suddenly, the Man of Steel senses a strange occurrence. He feels something leaving his person, but what? The rest of the first issue focuses on the present, featuring Arsenal, once Speedy, Black Canary, and Connor Hawke. Three individual scenes feature and focus on each of the three characters and how their life is after the death of Green Arrow. Arsenal is fighting against the drug trade, Black Canary is working with Barbara Gordon in Seattle against its own crime wave, while Connor is still at the monastery doing virtually nothing. They all, of course, still miss Oliver Queen. Smith does a great job in setting up the story and reintroducing us to the characters. When I first read this story, I hadn’t read Chuck Dixon’s run and therefore wasn’t totally sure who Connor Hawke was. All I knew was the basics. Here, Smith brings us all up to speed and everything is clear. And then, the true story begins. In the backstreets of Star City, where numerous children are going missing, a gentle old man named Stanley is nearly mugged and murdered by some criminals. But out of the blue, he returns. Covered in tatty clothes and bandages with the hygiene of a skunk, Oliver Queen’s Green Arrow appears to save Stanley. It provides a brilliant hook to Smith’s run, and it is a hugely effective cliff-hanger.
Some days later, a party takes place during the night in Star City. It’s a place where millionaires and playboys are given prostitutes for entertainment. One of those prostitutes is Mia Dearden, a girl aged just fifteen. She is sent to the penthouse of Freddy Dreyfus, a councilman with a huge reputation. However, he is caught red-handed in his abuse of Mia as Green Arrow takes out the security and confronts Dreyfus about the child killings in Star City. It becomes clear that Dreyfus is simply a fool whose only crime is underage prostitution. The police arrive and Dreyfus’s reputation is destroyed. One of the notable factors of this opening scene is Green Arrow himself. His costume, no longer the same as his Seattle get-up, returns to the same colours and appearance of his look in the 1970s. Also, the domino mask returns, and trick arrows returns. This is a reformed Green Arrow, one who doesn’t believe in sheer violence, let alone bloodletting. Meanwhile, Mia the prostitute returns home to her abusive partner. She has had enough and as he turns on her, she managed to slice his thumb tendon. With that, her days on the street are over. At the same time, Green Arrow returns home to the Arrow-Cave. No longer a hidden cave in the mountains, but now a spare room in the home of Stanley. The relationship between Oliver and Stanley is lovely. Stanley’s retro home with its lack of technology makes Oliver feel at home and the two have something of a father-son relationship. Stanley takes a keen interest in Oliver, asking him questions about his friends and why he hasn’t visited them recently. It’s here where we notice that something is wrong with Green Arrow. For starters, his language is very… old fashioned to say the least. He still talks like a hippie. He is also shocked to hear from the news that he has returned to heroism after revealing Dreyfus’s crimes, despite believing that he never left. This news attracts worldwide attention; in the Batcave, the Dark Knight recognises from the trajectory of Green Arrow’s arrows on TV that Oliver Queen has returned. One of the good aspects of Smith’s story is that you don’t really need an extensive knowledge of Green Arrow’s history. Smith fills readers in on most of the details, whether they are forgettable or crucial. But one thing is clear: something is wrong but is it the world or Oliver Queen. Perhaps it’s bit of both as somewhere in Star City, the child-killer strikes again. A robed Satanist forces a bizarre, caged wolf-like creature to drink the blood of a child. This definitely answers my earlier question about Smith’s suitability to write Green Arrow stories. There may be humour, but this is extremely dark.
The next day, Star City Comptroller Harold Leeds is confronted by Green Arrow, who is furious about the closure of the city’s youth centre. Leeds explains that the centre had to close after children were abducted. However, Green Arrow isn’t happy, and he threatens to arrest him, saying that Commissioner Durgin will take care of him. However, Green Arrow learns that Durgin retired after Mayor Major died six years ago. It finally clicks to Green Arrow that something is seriously wrong. Strangely, instead of heading straight to his Justice League friends to find out what is going on, Oliver reopens the youth centre and helps out, meeting Mia Dearden while doing so. She instantly recognises Oliver as Green Arrow (it really isn’t hard to work out, but Ollie thinks so) and she appoints herself as Oliver’s helper. Throughout Green Arrow (vol 3) 3, strange events occur. For starters, Oliver doesn’t realise that Coast City has long since been destroyed (even though that happened when he was still alive) and Mia speaks to Stanley, who admits to hiding all of his modern technology because he believes that Oliver has amnesia. She learns that Oliver is meant to be dead, and he decided to help the returned hero rediscover his true self. It becomes clear this early on that Mia is being set up to become the new Speedy. She has the right attitude to surprise Oliver, but she also has a lot to learn about the real world. It also helps that she is a decent archer. Yeah, that gives it away more than anything else. Meanwhile however, Green Arrow patrols Star City’s coast and tackles a cocaine deal. But suddenly, the waves of the ocean part and Black Manta appears, followed by Aquaman. The King of Atlantis is more than surprised to meet his old friend once again.
Green Arrow (vol 3) 4 is where the story begins to move along. The fight between Green Arrow/Aquaman against Black Manta hits the news. Smith plays around with the fact that Green Arrow no longer recognises the world he lives in. He notices that Aquaman’s appearance has changed, and that the hero has become far more violent. After defeating Black Manta and questioning how its possible to snort cocaine underwater, the two heroes reacquaint with one another in what is a heart-warming moment, until Aquaman tells Green Arrow that he died years ago, causing Oliver to shout in his old self about fascists and democracy. This really is the Green Arrow from the 1970s. Meanwhile, as Green Arrow heads off with Aquaman to meet the Justice League, another child is taken from the streets to his death… to feed the monster. Smith really knows how to vary his story. One moment there is some great humour featuring Aquaman and Green Arrow, depicting the writer’s excellent grasp of character. But the next scene, we’re given something incredibly grim and dark. There is something very House of Secrets/House of Mystery about this child kidnapping story and it creates a very interesting secondary story. Green Arrow’s reunification with the Justice League is another fun, if strange scene. Ollie’s humour at meeting his old friends works against the confusion of the heroes, all of whom still thought he was dead until seconds before. That includes Superman, who was there when Oliver was killed. But they all recognise that Oliver Queen is not himself, instead showing the signs of his character from a decade before. However, the reunion falls apart from when Oliver notices Green Lantern. No longer his friend Hal Jordan, the new incumbent is Kyle Rayner. He’s the only one who tells Oliver that he is dead, and that Connor Hawke is the current Green Arrow. This causes Oliver to go on another of his anti-authoritarian rants which comes to an end when Batman comes out of the shadows and knocks him unconscious. In short, the Justice League fail to bring Oliver up to speed and make him comfortable in the modern world. All of them side-step around the issue of Oliver’s death and those who don’t reveal it without any cushioning. That job is now down to Batman.
Green Arrow (vol 3) 5 begins with a scene which, at first, appears to have little relevance. A mysterious man cancels his air flight to Star City to catch the next one,
believing that the flight he missed was doomed. Seconds later, the plane explodes; his name is Jason Blood. He’s not a character you’d expect to turn up in a Green Arrow story but trust me he has a role to play. Meanwhile in the Batcave, Batman scans Oliver Queen’s body with an x-ray. This scene is filled with several references to previous Green Arrow stories, but it’s for a purpose. Batman finds that Oliver’s wrist is normal, and it was never broken, an event which took place in Green Arrow (vol 2) Annual 5 when Black Canary was possessed by Eclipso. Also, there is no evidence of by-pass surgery on Oliver’s chest. In Green Arrow (vol 2) 10, Shado shot Green Arrow close to his heart, but no evidence of that appears. Smith uses references excellently here as they have a purpose and also, it’s a very clever idea when you think about it. Suddenly, in the present, Oliver wakes up naked to find Batman standing over him with a torch. Naturally, Oliver throws a punch in shock. However, Batman calms him and finally reveals the whole truth to him. He shows Oliver proof of his death and shows him what happened to Hal Jordan; Oliver learns that he himself defeated his old friend (in Zero Hour). This moment epitomises the tragedy of Smith’s story. This Green Arrow is from an age of (mostly) innocence. He simply doesn’t recognise not just the people and the world around him, but also his own future acts. This Green Arrow is still the idealist, not the grim vigilante from the years ahead. From now, Green Arrow sees it as his purpose to discover why he has returned to life younger. Meanwhile, bored in the night, Mia tests out some of Oliver’s extra arrows for fun, only to be stopped when Black Canary and Arsenal arrive in search of Green Arrow. At the same time, Green Arrow and Batman head to the Queen Estate in the Bat-Plane. After this entertaining scene about the lack of originality on Green Arrow’s part (e.g., Arrowplane, Arrow-Cave), the heroes arrive at the Estate and Batman discovers the cut-off point in Green Arrow’s life. Green Arrow remembers crashing his Arrow-Plane but forgets visiting an Ashram and some monks afterwards (from Legends of the DC Universe 12-13). But before the heroes can ponder on this thought further, Jason Blood returns as the Demon. His victim… Green Arrow!
With Green Arrow (vol 3) 6, Smith really kicks up the pace and the action begins. Batman and Green Arrow fight the Demon, who continues to annoy us all with his rhyming tongue (still, at least Smith puts the effort in). However, one of Green Arrow’s old trick arrows comes in useful as the hero shoots a fire extinguisher arrow into the Demon’s mouth. With that, the Demon transforms back into Jason Blood. It’s good to see those arrows being up to good use. And then, the reunion continues. Arsenal and Black Canary arrive to meet their old lost friend in a truly powerful and emotional scene. Green Arrow’s relationship with Black Canary is particularly interesting here as you have to understand some of the context from previous Green Arrow stories. Oliver remembers nothing of his romantic affairs during Mike Grell’s run because of his memory. You have to feel sorry for him because he doesn’t understand the grudges that Black Canary holds against him. To him, the world is a simpler place and unrecognisable from the current one. Either way, she and Arsenal accompany Green Arrow and Batman to Jason Blood’s lair. However, it’s a huge trap. The Demon found Green Arrow because he sensed he was a “hollow”, a term for a person without a soul. The Demon’s role is to remove that hollow from Earth, which he does so; Green Arrow dies again. Of course, it’s obvious this is a short-term problem, but it does raise questions about how Oliver can survive in this world without a soul or any knowledge of the years he has missed.
As if it already wasn’t enough, the next issues of Green Arrow’s story are very personal. So, our hero ends up alone in limbo. Well, alone isn’t quite true as Green Arrow is met by the Spectre, none other than Hal Jordan. Although I much prefer Jim Corrigan taking up the role of the Spectre and haunting and brutally murdering criminals into submission, this is an exception. Oliver has only recently learned about Hal’s crimes and these scenes show how close the two characters still are, even after everything that’s happened. Hal explains that, after becoming Parralax and committing all the evil crimes he did, he felt guilty that he could never say sorry and goodbye to Oliver. Therefore, Hal took a sample from Superman’s costume (which explains the very first scene of this story) because, for some unknown reason, Superman doesn’t wash his clothes too often and Oliver’s exploded DNA is still present. Using that, Hal duplicated Oliver’s DNA and used his skeletal remains to bring him back from the dead. It’s very touching and all, but how did Oliver’s DNA remain on Superman’s outfit all this time? Providing such an in-depth explanation here just confuses things slightly. Hal could have just said that he is the Spectre and, therefore, God. That would have been good enough and more entertaining, but just as powerful. As for the present, it appears that Oliver has indeed died again. However, Hal grabbed him from his final fate on the advice of a higher being. While Black Canary, Arsenal, and Batman fight against the Demon, Oliver Queen enters Heaven. He meets the Phantom Stranger and Deadman, along with some of Heaven’s residents, such as Barry Allen and Jason Todd (poor bastards, both of them will be leaving their eternal rest soon). This issue is effective because it takes a break from the drama of the main story, but it also succeeds in making Oliver the centre of the story. I always got the feeling that when he died in Green Arrow (vol 2) 101, Oliver Queen died alone and unloved. Kevin Smith proves otherwise; everyone missed him. And, for the cliff-hanger, Oliver Queen meets the one person who has missed him the most: himself!
While, in the real world, Deadman possesses the Demon to tell the heroes that Green Arrow is safe and sound, Oliver Queen meets himself. This Oliver Queen is the one who died in Green Arrow (vol 2) 101, with his life in ruins. He explains that after he died, Hal Jordan visited him on the day he himself would die to save the world from the Sun-Eater. Hal wanted to make things right before he died and Oliver agreed that his body should return to life, from a decade ago. Basically, Hal chose the point in Oliver’s life when he was at his most happy, that time being the era of Green (continued)
Lantern/Green Arrow. From there, Hal made sure that the past Green Arrow would return to the present. It’s another moment which proves the bond between the characters and how everlasting it is. Oliver is given a second chance, one to avoid his mistakes and errors he made during his time in Seattle. However, this results in a problem for Oliver Queen. His soul is trapped in Heaven, but his body is on Earth. Oliver Queen may have his best memories, but his life isn’t complete. Green Arrow is forced to leave Heaven without the answers he wants. It’s one of my favourite issues of the Quiver storyline because it is effectively a monologue. Somehow, Smith conveys a noticeable difference in the two Green Arrows and their characters. The Oliver Queen of the past is far more brash and hard-headed, while the older is calmer, but perhaps not so much wiser. Although his past returns to the present, Oliver’s soul decides to remain in Heaven. Green Arrow’s journey is seemingly over; he returns to Stanley’s home. But that is just the start. Stanley listens to Oliver’s revelations about the absence of his soul and the old man knocks him unconscious.
Up until this point, the child kidnapping story had almost been entirely forgotten. Much of the middle of the story focused on Oliver’s journey, but now that element returns as Green Arrow awakens in Stanley’s basement, tied up along with Mia. So, Stanley is revealed to be the one who has been kidnapping and murdering children, feeding their blood to this strange, caged creature. This being, however, is simply a child wearing a costume. Earlier on, I compared the kidnapping story to something from House of Mystery or House of Secrets. I was half-right. The Fox and the Crow was an utterly bizarre DC title during the Golden Age, renowned by those who can even recall its existence for featuring talking animals. With issue 109 however, DC renamed the title to Stanley and his Monster. Its main feature was a child, named Stanley, hanging around with a giant purple monster nicknamed Spot. Why would this ever be linked to a Green Arrow story? Well, Kevin Smith has used this Silver Age idea and turned it into something far more sinister. Essentially, Stanley (the old man) is a secret occultist who aims to return an ancient demon to Earth. This demon just so happens to be the imaginary friend of Stanley’s grandson, also named Stanley. Stanley kidnapped his grandson in order to summon this demon and is sacrificing children to attract him from his supernatural realm. This is an extremely dark twist on a concept which was originally cheerful; that’s why its great. It’s already surprising enough that somebody should ever bring up Stanley and his Monster again, but Smith gives it a dark twist that makes it horrific and hugely engaging. From a personal standpoint, Green Arrow (vol 3) 9 is a very tragic issue. The relationship between Green Arrow and Stanley is shattered and the old man reveals that he has been keeping the hero for so long because he is a body without a soul, therefore making him easier to possess. Smith has been planting many hints throughout the story which show that Stanley is a villain hiding in plain sight, but it’s still powerful storytelling to learn that he has betrayed Green Arrow’s trust. Either way, Stanley senior is the true monster here and it appears that Green Arrow is defeated. Meanwhile however, some help is on the way. Upon hearing that Green Arrow is staying with Stanley, the Demon (Jason Blood) senses that Green Arrow is in trouble. He is aware of Stanley’s demonic past. At the same time, a character who really should have appeared earlier appears. Out of nowhere, Connor Hawke has a dream about the resurrection of his father, and he leaves the monastery to find Oliver. And oh yeah, Eddie Fyers turns up for three panels but that’s literally it. It seems like the reunion between Oliver and Eddie is, very unfortunately, postponed.
Just as Green Arrow (vol 3) 10 begins with Green Arrow facing his third death, Connor arrives as Green Arrow. However, the young hero is overwhelmed by Stanley’s demon allies, who just appear from nowhere. In his moment of need, Oliver Queen begs to his soul, still in Heaven. He orders that it is time for the two to unify to survive. Reluctantly, the older Oliver agrees. Green Arrow breaks free from his shackles and the violence of the post-Longbow Hunters is visible once again. However, all is not lost as Oliver uses one of his famous boxing glove arrows to take out Stanley once and for all. I think the return of Green Arrow’s memory was an essential move for this story. In some ways, I like the idea of keeping Oliver pure so he can’t repeat his previous mistakes but doing so makes him forget his few memories of Connor Hawke (apart from meeting him once at his birth). In the end, Smith creates a perfectly balanced Green Arrow. Oliver is not a hero too light and 1970s, nor too dark and Seattle era. This is how the modern Green Arrow should be; he is entertaining but serious. Perhaps I should just now entirely delete the word ‘serious’ from the previous sentence as Quiver ends with Stanley’s imaginary friend appearing. Spot, the demon that Stanley’s grandfather tried to summon, is far from frightening. He is a cuddly protective pal for Stanley junior and the two are reunited. Just to tie everything up nicely, once young Stanley leaves the basement, Spot picks up a frail Stanley senior and simply eats him for his crimes.
No complaints there. With the action over, it finally clicks into Oliver that he has a son, one who he has barely seen. The two of them leave the basement and head into the future together. To quote Oliver, “I think this is the start of a bee-you-tiful friendship.”
In most cases, I’d argue strongly that ten issues are far too many for a story focusing on one character. However, Smith uses the allocated space effectively. Quiver is never boring and when it doesn’t explore interesting or unique plot points, it is developing old and new characters. The purpose of Quiver is to bring Oliver Queen home. He left for Seattle and the darker side of DC’s world, but once Mike Grell left the title with Green Arrow (vol 2) 80, new writers attempted to place Oliver back into DC’s mainstream. Overall, it failed. Oliver died an outcast and when Green Arrow did return to the mainstream, it was Connor Hawke holding the bow. Kevin Smith returns Oliver Queen home, warts and all. While much of the main story is rightly about Green Arrow’s return, the kidnapping story is just as effective and made better by two great fast paced concluding issues. Because this story is full of plot, some characters perhaps don’t get the look-in they deserve. For instance, Mia just turns up here and really serves little purpose. The same applies to Connor, who really should have been in this story more because, at the start, he is the incumbent Green Arrow. That said, Smith captures all of the cast excellently and his understanding of their relationships is brilliant. Even after everything that has happened, the friendship between Oliver and Hal Joran is as strong as ever.
Green Arrow has been notable for attracting artists with slightly more realistic styles. With the obvious exception of pencillers such as George Papp and Jack Kirby, others like Neal Adams, Mike Grell, and Ed Hannigan have all given Green Arrow a realistic vigilante-like appearance. Therefore, you really wouldn’t think that Phil Hester would be a good choice for this new run. However, Hester still manages to capture some of the grim realism of the title even with his cartoony style. Sure, some of the inks by Ande Parks are a bit flat or ugly, but the layouts are decent. Think of Hester like a better Scott McDaniel. I would have preferred Hester’s slightly more detailed style which was far more visible in his Swamp Thing (vol 2) run during the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar era, but this is not extremely cartoony by any means. The drama is still there, and Hester provides Smith’s story with a recognisable style.
VERDICT
Overall, Green Arrow: Quiver is deservedly one of the greatest stories featuring the green archer. It successfully revitalises the character and places him back into the DC Universe in the way that it should have been done after Grell left the title a decade before. Smith understands the characters and he provides two brilliant stories in one which may be very referential, but also engaging enough for new readers. I apologise if my review is far too partial or praise-ful. But seriously, my words do not do Smith’s surprisingly skilled writing justice. Read it.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 8/10
Next Week: Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence (Green Arrow (vol 3) 11-15.) Written by Kevin Smith with art by Phil Hester and Ande Parks.
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