Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Green Arrow Year 1- #5 of 6
DC Comics
Diggle & Jock

Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow continues on his journey from becoming a care-free, irresponsible, millionaire brat to his emergence as a non-super-powered hero. This issue is the first issue where Oliver Queen is Green Arrow, never to look back.

This issue picks up with Ollie burning his yacht to attract the attention of the drug lords and their henchmen who run the Island Ollie is stranded on. Ollie decided at the conclusion of the previous issue that he is done running and he won't simply flee the Island alone once he found his beached yacht. No. This Ollie is meeting the problem head on by taking down the drug runners, freeing the people enslaved to harvest the drugs and taking out the man who betrayed him, Hackett, or die trying.

Ollie has three pursuers who find the burning yacht. They walk right into Ollie's trap. A few arrow flings later and Ollie has them tied up on the beach while he has secured their bad guy boat. This scene may sound simple but Jock and Diggle really show the character of Ollie. From the artistry of his intense eyes to the coloring in the red feathers of his arrows to mild taunting he gives his enemy, Ollie has never looked or sounded more classic.

While on his enemy's boat we see more of what makes Ollie tick. He finds guns and quickly tosses them overboard. He has no use for them. He finds a map of the Island and immediately decides to cruise the boat right to the front gates of the drug dealers. Charging right into the hornet's nest. No plan. Just charge.

Just prior to Ollie arriving at the enemy's headquarters he realizes what drives him. In prior issues of this series Ollie is wounded and cared for by a pregnant slave who risks her life each time she goes to tend to Ollie. He figures out that, while he had it all, back as a rich boy, he had only emptiness and someone who has nothing as a slave was willing to give him everything she possibly could - even if it meant her life.

Ollie finds that the drug base is a converted Japanese submarine base from WWII. While infiltrating the base Ollie uses a gimmick arrow - the old "knockout arrow". What Green Arrow story is complete without a gimmick arrow? Once inside the camp, Ollie observes his pregnant friend in danger and Ollie opts for chaos by firing a flare arrow (gimmick arrow #2) at some fuel.

The ensuing melee sees Ollie slam the sub base doors on the drug freight while its in a hurry to get out of dodge. Anyone else find it odd that the Japanese sub door controls had written "Open", "Close" and "Door" in English? The issue ends with cliffhanger of Hackett getting ready to square off with Ollie for round three (Scoring so far: Hackett 1-0 with 1 draw).

The one nagging question throughout for me is Hackett's boss - drug lord "China White" is so cold and so fed up with Hackett's failures why doesn’t she just kill him? Sure she threatened him with some torture, but how is this guy part of her inner circle if he apparently screws up more assignments than Jimmy Olsen's rookie year at the Daily Planet?

I loved this issue. The art, the story, the action, the colors were all impressive. The series has been fantastic and the conclusion looks to be an excellent one.

Can someone pick this up without reading issues 1-4 or any other Arrow story? Yes. Would they like it? I'm not so sure, but this story is better than any Green Arrow incarnation currently on the stands right now.

An enthusiastic 4 out of 5 geek goggles.


Green Arrow Year One #5