Green Arrow Annual #1 Review

Dream Warriors

Written by: Ben Percy
Art by: Eleonora Carlini, Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 29, 2017

It's Annuals Week and at the Weird Science Studios, that usually means kicking our feet up, drinking hot chocolate and playing with our actions figures and MIGHTY MEN AND MONSTER MAKER KIT.  Good times!  However, this month, I got stuck reviewing 5 books and while I promise to not let my frustrations affect my scores, I am not a happy camper.  Did Green Arrow Annual turn my frown upside down?  Let's find out...



The issue starts back in the Arrow Ewok Village (this takes place way back before issue #25) and the gang's all here.  Emilo, Dinah, Henry, Roy, Oliver and even Diggle are hanging out celebrating the Holidays.  Except they aren't.  After Ollie gets swarmed by Christmas Tree Bees, we see it's all a VR simulation for Oliver...by Vertigo Designs.  Dum Dum Dum!  Maybe I should put "dumb" in there as well as I would think Oliver would recognize the handful of red flags here.

I guess it's sort of explained by the issue continuing in a dream with a young Ollie going home to his mother and having some fun...until Diggle kills her and he wakes up tied up by Diggle himself.  I kind of got a grip on things as we get a little recap of why Ollie and Diggle hate each other (women problems, am I right?), but the scene ends before the shit hits the fan and we are whisked away to Roy Harper.

What we get with Roy is a fast track story of his addictions, rock bottom fall and rehab.  If you are a Roy fan, you may like this, but it's all too quick and continues that dream state feel that never lets you settle in and enjoy what's going on.

Next up is Emiko who must have a major crush on Dick Grayson.  It's funny seeing Emiko act like a school girl here...and then Shado comes in and ends it.  When Ollie picks Emi up, it's the first time in the issue where I noticed what was going on with his eyes.  Going back, the eyes are the key to the entire issue.

Dinah is the last one up and we get the reveal of what is happening along with an explanation of why Canary isn't under it's spell.  The rest of the issue is devoted to a good gal versus bad guy fight and in the end, all's well the ends well.  I know that seems like a cliched way to end this review, but hey, if the shoe fits!  Seriously, this issue ends with the neutering of one (if not the) biggest Green Arrow villains and a hokey "on Christmas, even the bad guys deserve a happy ending".  I liked the sentiment, but it was way to corny to like it too much.

Unfortunately, this is the standard Annual we get on the fifth week of the month.  A generic story with no real ties into the ongoing series so also, no real reason to buy.  Throw in that it's a story we've seen over and over (and even in this week's Aquaman book) and this one is a stinker.  I did like Eleonora Carlini's art, but Ben Percy could have at least given us some character development to go along with this nonsense.

Bits and Pieces:

This Annual can be skipped by Green Arrow readers which makes it necessary to nobody.  The story is full of quick stories that don't amount to anything and a corny ending that  may have been better off being condensed and thrown into this years Holiday Special.  Let's forget this happened and get back to the regular series in a couple of weeks.

4.0/10