STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS - “Green Arrow: Year One”

“My name… is Oliver Queen. After five years on a hellish island-”

Yeah, I’m going to stop right there. This isn’t about the show Arrow, which the quote is from.

It’s the first week of April. What can I say?

That being said, there are plenty of story elements from this story that inspired the show, especially with its flashbacks.

Written by Andy Diggle, and illustrated by Jock, Green Arrow: Year One is a six-issue limited series that tells the story of Oliver Queen before he became known as the vigilante, Green Arrow. Oliver is a rich playboy wasting his life away in Star City. At an auction, where he makes a ludicrous bid on a bow used by Howard Hill, a real life archer who appeared in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood. At this auction, Oliver becomes and drunk and makes a fool of himself.

At the end of the night, he decides to go on a sea voyage to get away from the impending bad press.

By his side is his only friend and bodyguard, Hackett, whom he betrays on the yacht they are on. They fight, and Hackett dumps Oliver’s body in the sea, instead of shooting him like he was ordered to by someone.

Oliver washes aboard on a deserted island, where he makes himself a makeshift bow, and survives for months alone.

However, one day, he finds that the island is not deserted; on the other side of the island is an illegal operation run by a woman named China White. She has enslaved the island’s population to grow opium and manufacture heroin. Her business partner: Hackett.

The comic is a classic redemption story. Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to begin on describing this series because it’s written very clearly and efficiently. It’s an origin story of a hero who has no superpowers using his wits and skill to fight crime.

Really, my only criticism is the art itself. It’s… way too jagged and sharp for me; not a lot of detail in the character designs, but just enough to recognize who is who.

I’ll admit I don’t know much about Green Arrow. My introduction to him was in Justice League Unlimited and the Arrow series (I have not watched Smallville) and that his thing is that he dresses up like Robin Hood, and has many trick arrows with many specialized uses, like grappling hooks and explosives (none of which are present in this comic.) His rogues’ gallery is primarily made up of non-superpowered villains.

I bought this comic blindly. It was during a period of time that I wanted to read comics, but was only interested in buying limited series. As I said, I was aware of Green Arrow, and felt that this would be a good introduction of the character, given the title.

The comic introduces him well, focusing on his character and skillset. I was expecting that the villain of the comic, China White, would be a recurring villain in his life, but it seems that never made an appearance comic wise outside of Green Arrow: Year One. However, she can be seen in multiple episodes throughout Arrow.