Green Arrow #3 Review

   

Written by: Joshua Williamson

Art by: Sean Izaakse
Colors by: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Letters by: Troy Peteri
Cover art by: Sean Izaakse, Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: June 27, 2023

Green Arrow #3 reunites Ollie and Lian with Connor in the future with the Legion to investigate what's causing the random teleportations that keep pulling the Queen/Harper family apart.
Is It Good?

Joshua Williamson is taking a gamble in Green Arrow #3, and I'm not sure it's paying off. I was largely positive on the first two issues of this series because we get more Green Lantern, which is like asking for a cup of cool water in a desert within DC's Bat-heavy title lineup. Williamson nailed the feel-good moments as the separated members of the family briefly find each other, creating a mystery to be solved so readers can get their highly-prized happy ending. But when Williamson pauses to begin explaining the nature of the mystery, the story leans closer to Bravo Sierra than believability.

When last we left Ollie and Lian, they were busy carrying on everyday hero duties on an alien world until they could figure out what was causing their random teleportations. Meanwhile, Dinah and Roy went on a hunt for Amanda Waller at Lian's urging, and the trail led to Count Vertigo, but Peacemaker arrived to stop the vigilantes.

Already, the setup is a bit wonky, but we always try to give the writer the benefit of the doubt to make it make sense. This issue is Williamson's attempt to make it make sense.

Lian and Ollie teleport to the future where Connor and the Legion are waiting. After hugs, thanks, and a wardrobe update, they get to work with Brainiac 6s future tech to spell it all out. Each of the Arrow family has a brain bomb in their necks, ala Amander Waller's MO, that triggers the teleportations. Ollie reveals he received a message from his very old, future self portending the Arrow family will bring about a Great Disaster that will kill billions, and the only way to prevent it is to keep the family apart. Oh, and Hal Jordan/Parallax is somehow involved.

Williamson provides the pieces and the pieces make sense individually, but when you fit them together, it gets ugly. You have to be very specific and very careful when it comes to Time Travel stories, so Williamson is treading on very thin ice with the unfolding plot because the pieces make sense, but the context does not.

If a Great Disaster is set to occur, why doesn't the Legion know about it? Why on Earth would old man Ollie make a deal with Hal Jordan/ Parallax for help? How does Waller have the tech to create teleporting brain bombs, but Brainiac 6 (working from over 1,000 years in the future) doesn't know how they work or how to remove them? Why is Count Vertigo in jail WITHOUT a power suppression collar? If the goal is to find Waller, why interrogate Count Vertigo when Peacemaker works for her?

Many pieces fit together poorly.

To be fair, not everything about the plot is revealed, so there's still some mystery left to unravel, and Williamson has time/space to pull it together. If he does, I'll take it all back. For now, this issue feels like a miss.


About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces:

Green Arrow #3 goes a long way toward explaining why the Arrow family is separated, why/how the random teleportations are happening, and the justification behind it all. Unfortunately, this is a case where the answer is less satisfying than you hoped. Williamson has time to make it make sense, but this issue feels like a step back for the series.

6.0/10