Writer: Joshua Williamson
Art: Sean Izaakse, Phil Hester, Trevor Hairsine, Ande Parks, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Troy Peteri
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 28th, 2023
Ever since Dark Crisis, 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?! Let’s dive into Green Arrow #6 by Joshua Williamson and find out!
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the Green Arrow #6 Review.
THE DISPATCH
Well, Green Arrow #6 comes to a close as Williamson ultimately Scooby-Doo’s the fans with what was meant to be an epic reveal as to who was behind the time traveling. I think the reveal was supposed to be more shocking than it was, however, it just didn’t deliver. Why? Well, because there was no setup. There were no clues. There was no real detective work. All we got was Ollie jumping through time randomly while Arsenal, Black Canary, Conner, and Lian looked for Green Arrow. But again, that has been the problem with this series. There has been no rhyme or reason behind where to look, why the jumps were happening, who has been out to get Ollie, where the jumps would take him, and how everything worked. Williamson just thrusts the idea as to who was behind everything and jams it into the story as if he pulled the emergency break on his own issue.
Heck, even the cliffhanger carried no weight. Do you really think any of those individuals at the end of Green Arrow are going to die? Of course not. Plus, as far as masterminds pulling strings in the dark go, Amanda Waller just doesn’t cut it anymore. So, she’s spying on everyone. Ok. Hasn’t she always done that anyway? How is this any different? Moreover, I just want to hammer home the point as to how much I absolutely hate when writers throw in the villain of the story without any proper direction, explanation, justification, setup, story clues, or actual motive. I won’t spoil who the culprit is BUT you’d probably be able to guess anyway since the rogues gallery of Green Arrow isn’t the widest anyway. But fans, I’m sorry to say, Green Arrow #6 is just lazy storytelling.
ART
To top off the lazy storytelling, the illustrations were a bit too cartoonish for this reviewer on a variety of pages. Now, I know that’s more of a personal taste, however, isn’t that also the point of a review? Why would it come across as a Saturday Morning cartoon on one page and then switch to more detailed and intense illustrations on the next as he’s fighting the villain? It just seemed weird. The entire beginning appeared to have different renderings than the rest. The end of Green Arrow #6 was spot on. I loved the detail and wish the opening was aligned with the same renderings. If the purpose was to make Ollie look more classic and old-fashioned since he was at the Circus, I think they simply missed the mark.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When Green Arrow first came out, I was pumped for this series. It’s been a long time since we had an actual Green Arrow ongoing. I was looking forward to dipping my toes back into the character. Heck, it even started off intriguing with the time traveling. However, as the series progressed, it became more and more clear that we were just being tossed around from issue to issue without a true direction in sight. The only reason anyone knew Green Arrow #6 was ending this story arc was because of solicits. Nowhere in the last issue or even as this one kicked off would you have been able to tell by the plot that Ollie would discover who was behind this and why? How do I know? Well, think of how Green Arrow #5 ended with Ollie ultimately getting shot by a bunch of other Green Arrow’s in the chest only for him to arrive in some random new time period.
And because the story was so whimsically put together, Williamson had to Scooby-Doo the fans do even come close to discovering who was behind everything and why. Now, as much as this feels like an attack on Williamson, this is actually a common trend by comic writers now. They continue to throw curveball after curveball to make the story so wild that they paint themselves into a corner and have to quickly reveal and summarize in a matter of three pages the entire premise of the arc/ series. It’s poor writing. It’s a poor setup. It’s poor storytelling. And frankly, I don’t know why writers continue to do this. I followed this arc through to the end hoping for clues and answers only to be forcefully told who was behind this and why. Green Arrow #6 made all the prior issues pointless and made me hop off this series. I know we can do better and I especially know Williamson can do better because we’ve all seen him do it before. Let me know what you think, have a great week, and God Bless!