Amongst some, to be a superhero, one must have superpowers. Those people, who I now name as fools, are completely wrong. Of course, some of the most known characters in DC, Marvel, Image and all the rest, have powers like Superman, Spiderman, Spawn, etc. But what you must remember is that some of the most popular and best-known heroes don’t have any powers. A significant one obviously being Batman, who would get on the list of the top three most famous superheroes ever. To me, I think that some of the best superheroes are indeed those who don’t possess any powers, purely because it makes the characters human and the stories based around them feel much more impactful. This is why many of you would see my problem’s with Grant Morrison’s JLA run, which although it begun very well, it became a load of nonsense with over the top and unrealistic characters, which made the whole thing unbelievable and pretty awful to read in some places. This is also why I don’t get on well with Superman and his character, mainly because he can basically do everything and due to that, it makes his fights and deaths pointless because in the end, he will always come back, which makes the stories too formulaic and dull. Oppositely, this is why Batman works much better as a character and concept as he is human and we see him engage in situations which are tough that highlight his mortality, making the plots and characters more interesting. To me, although there are hundreds of superpowered characters in DC Comics (some of which I like, others I don’t), there are others who are purely super powerless and human, for example Green Arrow, a rich guy named Oliver Queen who was stranded on an island and learnt how to use a bow and arrow for survival. When he returned to Star City, his American home, he became Green Arrow to fight crime along with his sidekick, Speedy. Created in 1941 for More Fun Comics 73 by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, the duo were very much similar to Batman and Robin and that remained so until the late 1960s when writer Dennis O Neil reimagined him in not only the Justice League of America title, but also in the Green Lantern title, where Green Arrow shared the title with the hero (due to sales reasons and probably because they both have the word green in their names). For the run, which was pencilled by comic legend Neal Adams and lasted for over a dozen issues and some backups, changed Green Arrow’s character, making him much more politically confident along with a much harsher, but good personality. Additionally, to this, he travelled around the USA with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), which begun their long-time friendship. This also featured famous stories like a two parter where Green Arrow’s sidekick, Speedy, had been caught injecting himself with drugs due to the accidental neglection of his sidekick, which caused the two to grow apart. Sadly, the title was no longer sustainable and got cancelled, Green Arrow entered the Wilderness Years, where he featured as a backup in other titles along with a miniseries. He also appeared in the relaunched version of Green Lantern/Green Arrow, which didn’t take off with readers. One constant throughout all the eras since the late 1960s was that Green Arrow was in love with Black Canary and the two teamed up together to the point where they were inseparable. Therefore, all seemed lost with the two characters, but that is when writer and artist Mike Grell (who created, wrote and drew the Warlord title for DC in the 1970s) came onto the scene to write for a three part miniseries, known as Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, which was published in 1987. This three-issue miniseries was made to not only make Green Arrow and Black Canary popular again, but to also spin off into its own ongoing series which would last a number of issues, which it did indeed.
For this review, I will be reviewing the three-part miniseries, which is obviously Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters 1-3, with the three issues being titled The Hunters, Dragon Hunt and Tracking Snow respectively. It is written and drawn by Mike Grell, with additional art and assistance by Lurene Haines. The series was published from August to October 1987 with all three issues being published in a prestige book format, meaning they were long issues that were printed on high quality paper. I have read this story in the Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters trade
paperback, but I do own the original three issues, which were really well produced in the higher quality format, similar to the standard of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns four issue miniseries.
THE PLOT
One night in Seattle, a prostitute is murdered by a mysterious killer with a knife. Newspapers report on the murder, calling the killer the “Seattle Slasher” due to the eighteen people he/she has killed, most of whom are prostitutes. Reading the newspaper is Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) with his girlfriend and partner Dinah Lance (Black Canary), who are both unpacking their bags in an empty building which they will transform into a shop known as Sherwood Florist, obviously a flower shop (duh). However, just as they are both talking about the murders, a young girl crashes through the window. While at first, both Oliver and Dinah think that the girl could hurt them, Dinah works out the girl has taken drugs, specifically crack cocaine. As this is going on, Oliver phones the police, telling them about the girl and the drugs. After Dinah goes into an ambulance, Oliver stays behind to continue the decoration of the shop. Dinah comes back soon after, telling him that the girl is alright and that she will investigate the case on her own because she theorises that this could be a lead on the cocaine trade. After eating dinner in their new home (which is above the shop), Oliver remembers the old days when he used to be crime fighter Green Arrow and how times used to be better simpler and better. Along with remembering his old ward, Roy Harper (Speedy), he also recalls Howard Hill, who was the trick shooter in a Robin Hood movie that he remembers when he was younger. He also remembers his origin, about how he was stranded on a desert island and how he taught himself to fire arrows, along with the mention of the Robin Hood influence on the costume and his gimmick. After realising that Oliver has been talking to himself, Dinah returns dressed as Black Canary, which prompts Oliver to go into bed with her. Later on, Oliver asks Dinah to marry him, but after speaking about the aspects surrounding it, she tells him that she doesn’t want to have any children with him. While at first, he is shocked, Dinah tells him that because they are heroes who fight crime, there is the obvious risk of them dying and if they had children, it would make them orphans, which she obviously doesn’t want. This makes Oliver think to himself about their future together. Meanwhile however, the Seattle Slasher strikes again, claiming his nineteenth victim. Sometime later, Dinah finds Oliver in the basement of their home which has become a sort of lair of himself. She reminds him that it is his birthday and as a present, she gives him a new Green Arrow costume, which is more adapted to colder weather, making it suitable for Seattle (a cold place at night). Later that night, Oliver goes out on the street as Green Arrow, saving an old married couple from a gang of criminal youths. His violent attacks on the criminals leave them scarred with arrows being stuck in them. He questions the defeated youths about the knife attacks, but only gets information on the drug trade, which he isn’t interested in at the moment. But, one of the youths tells him of somebody known as the Tunnel Rat, who is somewhere under the city who has a history of attacking and killing people with knives. He then searches the underground areas of the city through an abandoned building and locates the hideout of the Tunnel Rat. In the hideout, he finds newspaper clippings which hint that the killer is a former soldier and veteran who enjoys killing people. Suddenly, just as he keeps looking at the clippings, he is attacked from behind and knocked unconscious by the killer. After telling Green Arrow that the city belongs to him, the lamp which Green Arrow brought down to the underground catches fire and causes the whole area to begin to burn down. Luckily, Green Arrow manages to escape from the fire and begins chasing after the murderer, who has found his next victim on the streets and he is charging towards her. But just as he is about to attack the woman, Green Arrow notices a female archer on top of a building in dark robes, who is aiming the bow and arrow at the killer. Although he tries to tell her to not kill him, she lets go and fires it, killing the Seattle Slasher along with a man in a car, who
had some link between the killer and a higher figure, who he has been speaking to on the phone. Green Arrow then begins thinking of the next mystery, which is who was the mysterious archer.
Three evil businessmen, one of whom is known as Magnor, who has been behind the Seattle Slasher killings are arguing about the death of the killer and who somebody is interfering with their plans. After the argument develops, one of the men leaves, telling Magnor that somebody is out there is finish him off and his plans. Magnor then tells the other person in the room about how a number of his associates have been killed with a black arrow, saying that the people hunting him, and his people are the same. That other person then leaves, and he and the other businessmen are killed by the mysterious archer with the black arrows. At the same time, Green Arrow is speaking to Detective James Cameron (not the film maker), trying to tell him that he wasn’t the killer, but instead it was a woman who killed the Seattle Slasher. Although the two come to an agreement of sorts about how the victims of the archer have a military connection, Cameron isn’t convinced with the death of the Seattle Slasher and he complains to Green Arrow about how he shouldn’t be tampering with evidence from the crime. Green Arrow then leaves the police station, telling Cameron that he is going to be staying in Seattle for a while to stop crime. After helping two old women from getting robbed and offering to dance with them to some music, Green Arrow heads homes, but is surprised to find a letter from Black Canary. He reads it and discovers that she is getting close on her drug lead and that she is going undercover for it, meaning that she will be gone for a few days. He then goes to bed alone but cannot stop thinking about what Dinah said to him about the idea of children, which makes him feel sad. The next day, Green Arrow quickly spies on Black Canary to see if she is alright, which he finds out is the case. He decides to leave her to her drug tackling mission. Sometime later, Oliver becomes Green Arrow and heads out onto the rooftops of Seattle. To his surprise, he quickly locates the woman archer. Although he aims his bow at her, she tells him that he hasn’t got the eyes of a killer. The two begin a fight, ending with the killer managing to divert Green Arrow’s arrow that he was going to fire, shooting it at the person who the killer was trying to murder. She then escapes from the scene, as Green Arrow lays on the floor, angry with himself. Some time later after his failure, Oliver is at home and on the radio, he hears that a person who Dinah was with when he saw her undercover earlier had been found dead in a dumpster. He also hears how his death was drug related, which makes Green Arrow force himself out into undercover himself in order to look and help Black Canary. He goes to investigate the area where he saw Black Canary earlier, which is a dodgy pub. He forces the bartender to reveal information about the dead man, which he reveals to Green Arrow that he had connections with Magnor and his illegal shipping. Green Arrow then goes to Magnor’s place, where he hears that he has been behind the drug trade along with a location for where Dinah may be. Green Arrow visits this location, which is a warehouse which is heavily guarded. He obviously takes them all out but discovers that some were killed by the archer due to the black arrows sticking out of them. Green Arrow then gets to a vantage point and finds Dinah tied up with her clothes ripped and covered in blood. She is being tortured by a criminal with a knife, which causes for Green Arrow to shoot an arrow through the criminal’s chest, killing him. He then reaches Dinah and violently takes out all the other guards in the area, one of which he burns to death. Just as he is trying to escape with an injured Dinah, he is helped by the archer, who is known as Shado, who kills one of the guards and obviously allows for Green Arrow to escape. As everyone has been killed, Shado
watches Green Arrow hold onto Black Canary as the sun rises behind them.
After the events of the part two, Green Arrow keeps having nightmares about when he found Dinah tortured. He remembers himself personally killing Dinah’s torturer, but imagines that he becomes a giant red dragon that breathes fire, telling Green Arrow that he and the dragon are the same. After this daydreaming, Green Arrow comes back to reality in a hospital, where Dinah is sitting in bed recovering. The doctor tells him that she will recover, but a police officer wants to speak to him. The officer is obviously James Cameron, who suspects a link between Green Arrow and Dinah, questioning him about why he was so violent to save one person. But then he asks Green Arrow about the events that happened in the warehouse and he then shared information with Green Arrow about how the person torturing Dinah was formerly in the military as well. He also tells him about how two different types of arrows were found at the scene (green for Green Arrow and black for Shado), but Cameron leaves before he bothers to question Oliver further. After leaving the hospital, Oliver decides to visit a tattoo artist in order to get information on the arm tattoo that Shado has. He tells Oliver that the tattoo is related to the Yakuza, which are the organised crime of Japan. This makes Oliver theorise that the tattoo was drawn on her from a very young age, which then leads to the origin of Shado as she was given the tattoo as a reminder of the debt of honour she must pay to redeem her father’s actions as he was trusted with two million dollars of gold, but when war came, he was put into a military camp. Enemies found out about the gold he had, and they forced him to give it up to them, otherwise they would kill his family. After that, he was sent back to Japan where he asked to kill himself for his dishonour, which meant that his daughter, Shado was trained in archery by the Yakuza to kill the men who dishonoured her father. Meanwhile, with Magnor and his drug operation, he is speaking to a corrupt CIA agent known as Gregory Osborne, who is offering full protection of the drug operation. But, the two have concerns with Dinah, saying that she may still be alive. Therefore, Osborne assigns CIA assassin and mercenary Eddie Fyers to take her out because she is a danger to the operation. After leaving the tattoo artist, Oliver speaks to a homeless woman who claims to have spoken to Shado and after Oliver tries to get information from her, which just appears to be some cryptic message of sorts, but as she walks away, it can be seen that the homeless woman is actually a disguise for Shado due to the dragon tattoo only being slightly hidden away underneath was clothing. Cleverly, Green Arrow uses his head to work out that the message that the homeless woman (who he was unaware was Shado) gave him was coordinates for a place in the Mt Rainier area. He therefore drives to the area, which is in a snowy forest. He runs in the snow and quickly locates Shado. Like before, the two have their bows pointed directly at each other, but this time Shado tells Green Arrow that the two have similar goals. She also tells Green Arrow that he now has the eyes of a killer, which he didn’t have before. This makes Shado feel more connected with him and because of that, she reveals to Green Arrow that the area they are standing in is a drop point for the deal between Magnor and Osborne. Suddenly, just as she tells him that, a helicopter flies above them, prompting for Green Arrow to duck to the ground. The helicopter then lands with Magnor and Osborne getting out of it. The two speak about their concern for deal, along with Magnor asking his colleague about Eddie Fyers, who tells him that he is hiding somewhere, waiting for it all to go wrong. The two then wait for another helicopter to arrive which contains the drugs which Magnor will get by exchanging over three hundred thousand dollars. But, after Magnor receives his drugs, Eddie Fyers notices Shado hiding and as he is about to fire his sniper to kill her, Green Arrow manages to fire an arrow at his arm, causing him to miss and fire into the air, which scares and worries Magnor and Osborne about their illegal deal. It all goes wrong after that as Shado shoots multiple guards with arrows and Magnor manages to escape in another helicopter. But the other helicopter remains, which Green Arrow then fires at, causing it to malfunction and explode, all with the help from Shado. After this happened, Green Arrow confronts Osborne, claiming that he and the CIA are guilty of working with a drug dealer and smuggler to keep him in business. But Osborne tells Green Arrow that there is no evidence for his claim, but instead tells Green Arrow to keep the money from the deal, warning him about the IRS and how he should hope they don’t find out about the event. Therefore, Osborne walks away from the scene, knowing that he cannot be linked to any crimes. Some time after the deal, back in Seattle, Green Arrow visits Magnor, who tells the hero about the backstory of Shado and about her father, revealing that the money given to his father was taken by his associates, in which a portion of it was shared to him. Green Arrow then tells Magnor he has a witness for his crimes, which Magnor denies. Oliver confesses it was as lie as it signals to Shado to fire an arrow through the office, which kills Magnor. Lastly, Oliver visits Dinah in hospital, who tells him that she is sorry about what she said about not having children and marriage and as the two hold each other, he tells Dinah about the money which he got from the broken deal.
MY THOUGHTS
Wow. When looking back at the Green Arrow stories from his early years, you can really see how much of a Batman rip off he actually was and how dull and formularised the stories were at points. While that did change dramatically in the Green Lantern/Green Arrow run that Dennis O Neil and Neal Adams worked on in the late 1960s and early 1970s, The Longbow Hunters takes that further, making him much more different and there are so many risks and steps that are taken throughout the three issues that work so well and because of that and loads of other aspects, this is the best Green Arrow story that I have ever read (next to Kevin Smith’s Quiver storyline (Green Arrow (vol 3) 1-10 and Meltzer’s Archer’s Quest story (Green Arrow (vol 3) 16-21). I mean, where to begin with such a classic story? I guess I should really begin with the story, which doesn’t just feature one storyline, not two either, but three epic and engaging plots which all link into one during the climax in part three. I think that the story involving the Seattle Slasher is done very well, mainly due to how mysterious and sinister it comes across as. Reading the story from the very start (as all stories should be) gives the readers the impression that this slasher topic will be the main villain throughout the whole book, but they would be wrong due to the surprising and excellently performed twist with Shado killing the murderer, which begins a whole other story. The slasher is a great mystery story and it really shows how Green Arrow functions as a character, making it a great starting off point for new readers of the hero. Moving onto the second story, which is the drug trading. Now, in most circumstances, this type of story absolutely bores me because of how serious it can get and due to that, it can so very easily be boring and dull. But in here, Grell writes this incredibly well, taking pacing and drama into consideration. While I may be coming across as very dramatic and over the top myself saying all of this, let me explain. Because these types of stories can be dull very easily, Grell writes it as a background story. We first get the out-of-nowhere scene where a girl jumps through the window where Green Arrow and Black Canary discover that she has been on drugs. Now, Black Canary takes care of this story in the background during both the Seattle Slasher and Yakuza plots while Green Arrow hears numerous mentions of the drugs. This not only makes it sound very interesting due to its dominance on Seattle (which is explored more throughout Grell’s run), but it makes readers like me curious about what is going with Black Canary’s investigation. And when we see that shocked and outright classic scene where Green Arrow discovers her tortured, it answers our questions and makes the drugs trade story seem even more engaging, Plus, it must be said that Green Arrow’s reaction is also superb and brilliantly done by Grell, which I will go into more detail about in a little bit. But when that story converges with the others, with Magnor and Osborne along with Fyers, it gives a great sense of satisfaction for the reader as that is when you find out that every single piece of writing in this issue is important and everything, whether it be big or small, must be taken into account. Thirdly and finally, the last storyline of sorts in the miniseries is the Yakuza one which focuses on Shado most of all. This is also very well done as it builds up mystery and curiosity throughout. This is because Shado’s origin isn’t
shown from the start and it is some time into the third part where we learn more about her background and while it delves into areas which have already been previously explored (like organised crime), it really makes Shado’s character more human and because of that, you really get to see throughout the miniseries and the ongoing series will followed this how much of a villain that Shado actually isn’t, which works well. Speaking of character, as this miniseries may well be the first thing that newcomers to Green Arrow may read, this story introduces his character incredibly well and even in just the first issue, you really get to see the very violent and crime fighting side to him, along with his more human side. An excellent example of this is in part one, where Dinah tells him that she doesn’t want to marry him or have kids with him. In the space of a few panels, you can really see the character development in Green Arrow, and you can really see how much that is going to affect him for a long time to come. This also applies to when he discovers Dinah being tortured, where he absolutely just snaps and loses it, making him kill loads of people which he has never really done before. Aspects like this and the softer and gentler aspects if you’d like really to show how a character should be made and here, Grell succeeds excellently. This miniseries also highlights why I think that Black Canary is the best female superhero. This is because she is written very strong and tough while coming across as attractive, but not too overly sexualised (modern day Wonder Woman anyone?). I think that this is more so how female readers would like to see female heroes be written as they aren’t characters that are just there to be saved and they can have good personalities as well which doesn’t base itself around the fact that they are a woman. This story adds great character to Black Canary and although the scene where she is tortured is very graphic and perhaps more defining for Green Arrow’s character, it realty signifies her importance to him as a character and how the run that follows this series belongs to both of their characters, not just Green Arrow. As I have earlier discussed with Shado, she is done very well and has a degree of sympathy, which is definitely a benefit for her because otherwise she would just come across as plain and two-dimensional. In conclusion to that, I think its safe to say that it would come to absolutely nobody’s surprise that Grell brings her back as a constant and returning figure in the ongoing run because of her great character and how significant she was to this story. In terms of other minor characters, I think that James Cameron (again, not the filmmaker) is done well, despite only being in the story briefly on few occasions. This is because he becomes a larger part of the Green Arrow run and he isn’t a plain copy of Commissioner Gordon as he has got a much of more gruff and serious tone to him, making him feel different. In fact, all of the minor characters are done well, ranging from the Seattle Slasher to Eddie Fyers, even if I wish that he appeared more in the story, but not to worry, he appears in Grell’s run incredibly early on. The story itself is paced very well and it is told excellently. It is very fast pace and action packed, which certainly is a plus as it is more accessible and nothing in the story overstays its welcome. I must confess though, the only real problem I have with the story is both Magnor and Osborne, who while they aren’t dull, I do think their characters could have had more defining features to make them feel different. That said, they did work well in the context of the story. I mean, Magnor got a great ending to the story, which really shows how serious Green Arrow has become and how he is now condoning murder and Osborne and the money ending will obviously come back to bite Green Arrow’s ar*e, which is a great way to get readers invested in the series. Now, while I could go on for hours about how great this story is, I have already dragged this on long enough and I think I’ve made it clear about my views on this story. To simply summarise, this story is excellent.
In terms of art, Grell and his assistant Haines do a superb job on the story and it is told in a variety of interesting and great ways. Not only are the page layouts and panel backgrounds done incredibly well and tell the story professionally, but it is clear that the artists used a variety of different tools and methods for the art. I mean, there are aspects of it which are told by the regular pencil/ink method, which features some great colouring by Julia Lacquement, but there are some parts which are drawn using paints, charcoal and pencils. These not only look very great and really break up the story, making it feel more unique, but the methods can also work very with the tone. (text continues after image)
For instance, when Dinah tells Oliver that she doesn’t want to have children, it is told with only pencils and the art in that panel is really top quality. Overall, this story shows how much of a great storyteller and artist Grell and his team are. I have no problem giving the art a ten. No question about it.
VERDICT
Overall, Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters is not only a satisfying read, but it is an excellently constructed story which features great storylines that all brilliantly converge into one along with many revelations to surprise readers like me with superb characters for the most part. The story also clashes beautifully with the art due to Grell’s excellent storytelling and the sheer number of tools he used to draw it, which show how much of a dedicated and experimenting artist he is. The thing that keeps me from giving this a complete ten is that the villains of Magnor and Osborne are a bit plain and I think that they could have been written more distinctively to make them feel unique. However, that being said, this is excellent and although it takes a lot from me to give a story a complete ten out of ten for both story and art, Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters would be in my top ten list of best miniseries that DC has ever published…
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 10/10
Highlighted Character: Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)
Next Review: Green Arrow: Hunters Moon (Green Arrow (vol 2) 1-6 Written by Mike Grell with art by Ed Hannigan, Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin. Expected to be published on 02/06/2019.
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