Posts Tagged Red Arrow

Let’s recap… Oliver Queen the Green Arrow is upset.  Strike that, he’s freaking pissed.  And he wants justice, the ultimate kind of justice.  He took real issue with Prometheus.  The guy who maimed Red Arrow, destroyed Star City and killed Lian (Oliver’s grand daughter and Roy’s child.)  And the cover of this issue shows us exactly how Oliver solved his issues with Prometheus, he put an arrow right in the center of his forehead.  Pinning him to the wall of his secret little hidden world being left to rot.

I love how Ollie explains how he was able to get the drop on Prometheus.  The dude is well informed, knew all of Green Arrows skills.  His proficiency with the bow, his hand to hand combat training.  But the thing he forgot about Ollie, at this core he’s not a hero.  He’s a hunter!

This issue is full of some really good panels of the destruction of Star City.  Green Arrow and Canary are on patrol, trying to stop the looting and rioting that are staples of a city that is virtually leveled.  Canary is really worried about Ollie and knows that something is up.  She finds it incredibly strange that he isn’t on the hunt for Prometheus with Hal and Barry.  His need for isolation is truly disturbing her.

We then get a really forced dialouge between Wally and Dick about how they feel about Roy and his situation. They remenice about how all three of them started as young heros and how their lives have all turned out so differently.  Are they just that lucky Dick wonders?  Can they continue to be or are they fated to end up just like Roy someday?

Hal and Barry travel to Opal City to confront Shade on his involvement and whether he has any clues to where Prometheus is located.  He explains that everywhere has shadows and takes them to the hideout.  We are presented with a great image of a dead Prometheus (helmet missing) and an arrow protruding from his bloody skull.

All in all this one shot issues does a great job setting up a new chapter in the Green Arrow world.  Lays the foundation for some dark roads and sets up the four issue limited series:  The Rise of Arsenal.  It also ends with a great multipage “newspaper” article from The Star Gazette.  A rather heart felt article about what happened to their city and how the Green Arrow is both a savior and a menace to their great city.

Definitely worth checking out if you are a Green Arrow fan or if you are interested in getting a little back story on the new Arsenal story arch.  But what do you think?  Was this issue meant to truly setup a compelling and fulfilling story arch going forward?  Or was this a shameless opportunity to release yet another one shot to snag a few bucks outta your wallet?  Let us know what you think!

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