Green Arrow #7 Review

    

     

Written by Joshua Williamson

Art by: Carmine Di Diandomenico, Trevor Hairsine
Colors by: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by: Troy Peteri
Cover art by: Sean Izaakse, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: December 26, 2023

Green Arrow #7 takes a break to reflect when Ollie is surprised to find the Justice League disbanded. What's a Green Arrow to do when so much has changed in his absence?
Is Green Arrow #7 Good?

After a decidedly botched ending to the first arc in issue #6, Williamson needed to hit the ground running in Green Arrow #7 with the only open thread that matters - finding Roy and Jade. Instead, Williamson takes a less obvious path by having Ollie question all his former Leaguers to find out why they disbanded. Does the gamble pay off? Well...

When last we left Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, we learned it was Malcolm Merlyn all along who trapped Ollie in Time and Space (with Amanda Waller's help) to make Ollie suffer. With the help of Legionnaire tech from the 30th Century, Ollie is rescued for a saccharin sweet happily ever after that brings the family together without explaining how or why Amanda Waller and Malcolm Merlyn are working together. The issue ended on a cliffhanger, with Roy and Jade gunned down by Waller's command.

Now, Ollie takes a walking tour of former Justice Leaguers to figure out how and why the JL is no more. Ollie gets the scoop sans details through an issue-long montage of visits with assorted heroes because Dinah was too busy to fill him in. In the end, Ollie and Connor reveal their hero visits served a dual purpose as recon to confirm Ollie is back on the right Earth at the right time, and now he's ready to look for Roy.

"Wait! That's it?" you'd rightly ask. Yes, that's it. Apparently, Williamson was so tuckered out writing a lopsided ending to the first arc that he needed to insert a cooldown issue that's cooler than a snowball thrown during a Green Bay Packers home game. Except for the appearance of a villain in the last panel, nothing happens in this issue that moves the plot forward or tells loyal readers anything they didn't already know.

What's great about Green Arrow #7? Reading through Ollie's catch-up with other heroes is mildly entertaining because you're reminded of the different rapport he has with each hero. How Ollie talks to Superman is different than how he talks to Wonder Woman, for example, so it's nice to see how his network of friends works. Still, this is a novelty positive, at best.

What's not so great about Green Arrow #7? Williamson needed to come out of the gate strong in this issue after a very lackluster ending to the previous arc. Instead, Williamson treads water in a throwaway issue that has almost no value or purpose. If you presume the hunt for Roy gets going in the next issue, you could skip Green Arrow #7 entirely and not miss a thing.

How's the art? Jarring. Art duties shift from Di Diandomenico to Hairsine near the midpoint, and their handoff is very obvious because the two artists' styles do not complement each other, and the transition point is random. It's as if Di Diandomenico had to stop mid-sentence. Whatever the reason for the transition, it was handled poorly.


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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Disclaimer:  Weird Science DID NOT receive this comic for review purposes.  We are not trying to become besties with the creators of this comic.  We try our best to write honest reviews so if our scores don't match up with the rest of the "comic book press", it's might be because we are not shills looking for handouts and/or retweets. 

Bits and Pieces:

Green Arrow #7 begins the next arc with an issue-long recap of the past that doesn't tell you anything you didn't already know and does nothing to find Roy. Williamson picked the oddest time for a cooldown issue after the poor finale in issue #6, and the art team's output is jarring.

4/10