Oliver Queen has decided to take the long road back to his regular life. The multiverse adventure he has been on is not something you would think works for the Green Arrow franchise. To Joshua Williamson’s credit he has made it work for the most part. Though we are at a point where it does feel like we are at the end of this Green Arrow adventure through the multiverse. How will things go next for Oliver Queen? Let’s find out with Green Arrow #6.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artists: Sean Izaakse, Phil Hester, and Trevor Hairsine
Inkers: Sean Izaakse, Ande Parks, and Trevor Hairsine
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr
Letterer: Troy Peteri
SOLICITATION
“THE REAL ARCHENEMY OF THE GREEN ARROW IS FINALLY REVEALED! Ever since Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, Oliver Queen has been lost in time and space, separated from his loved ones. And now he knows why and is pissed off. Does he choose revenge or to finally be reunited with his family?!” – DC Comics
REVIEW
As an Oliver Queen story Joshua Williamson does provide a satisfying end to his multiverse journey with Green Arrow #6. But when it comes to being a bigger Team Arrow story that brings the entire family together it falls apart from the weight of what it could have been.
Where Williamson found the most success in this story is simply focusing on Oliver going through the multiverse trying to find his way home. All of the other Team Arrow members were nothing more than plot devices to help break up the story to feel like it wasn’t just about Oliver. But as we see with Green Arrow #6 the best storytelling in this arc was seeing Oliver overcome everything thrown his way.
The big swerve Merlyn being the one who set all of the events of Green Arrow being lost in the multiverse is a smart move. This quickly reestablished Merlyn as being Green Arrow’s biggest villain. Its something that Green Arrow has needed to get back to for a while. Up to this reveal DC Comics tried to establish Deathstroke in that spot but that didn’t completely work as Slade Wilson was always better as a Titans villain.
Immediately when you see Merlyn the fit just seems natural. Merlyn has a similar aura to what Joker and Reverse Flash represent to Batman and Flash, respectively. Adding in how Oliver has been put through dealing with representations of all his previous versions, it all fits into Merlyn being responsible. He genuinely wanted to break Green Arrow by having him go through this endless journey.
It all made the fact that the way Green Arrow overcame Merlyn was through his family. Not being alone as Merlyn wanted to do to break his adversary was a good move. It helped awaken Oliver to the fact he has built a family for himself, even when he tried to deny it. By the end of it all he now embraces having more than just Dinah Lance in his life. This hopefully gives room Green Arrow Family members like Connor Hawke and Lian Harper to play bigger roles in the future.
Speaking of, while their appearance was a cool moment that is really all Connor, Lian, and Dinah’s appearance in Green Arrow #6 were. They were simply plot devices to resolve the story and have the family reunion moment. The way they were used did feel like Williamson had entire stories built for them but just did not have the page count to give them their own complementary story arcs. Its too bad because Connor and Lian saving Oliver and the reunion with Dinah could’ve been better if they had more development time.
The same goes for the ending with Arsenal and Cheshire’s mission finally bringing Amanda Waller out of the shadows. The hook ending did further establish Amanda Waller as a badass to not be messed with. But it all happens in a way that feels like Williamson was forced to tie this ending into the Titans: Beast World event rather than being part of the natural flow of the story.
The split with art assignments was as handled as well as it could with Sean Izaakse, Phil Hester, and Trevor Hairsine splitting up Green Arrow between them. With their styles being distinctly different having their own sections rather than going back and forth between assigned scenes was the best approach. It allowed them to fully get across the part of the story they were assigned to tell without getting in each others way.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Green Arrow #6 does a good job at wrapping up Oliver Queen’s multiverse journey. His return was given the proper payoff while reestablishing his archenemy’s previous status. Now that this story is resolved we can see the rest of Team Arrow integrated into the story better that elevates the entire franchise and not just Oliver Queen.
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10