DC Debuts the Deadliest Green Arrow of All Time

Once again, DC Comics’ Absolute Universe delivers another complete banger of a story and reinvention of a classic character with the debut of Absolute Green Arrow. The last we saw of master archer and billionaire Oliver Queen was Hawkman bashing in his skull. However, someone or something has emerged to take up the bow and arrow and continue Queen’s mission to punish the privileged elite of the Absolute Universe. While there’s still plenty of mystery surrounding the identity and backstory of this Green Arrow, what’s clear is that he’s one of the best and deadliest interpretations of the character DC Comics has ever done.

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Absolute Green Arrow #1 was more than worth the wait, as it delivers a compelling mystery and horror story that takes everything we love about the Emerald Archer in an extreme direction. This Green Arrow creates dread. Dinah Lance is hired as a bodyguard to protect the billionaire Hector Hammond, and she quickly finds herself trying to uncover the identity of the person who’s hunting her client. Instead of a jovial and wisecracking Robin Hood-like figure, this version of Green Arrow is one that the corrupt elite should fear.

Absolute Green Arrow Is a Killing Machine

Since the original Green Arrow’s inception back in 1941, he was a hero who, like Batman, lacked superpowers and instead relied on his vast wealth to develop high-tech gadgets and weapons. And despite his signature weapon being a bow and arrow, the Emerald Archer rarely uses them for their intended purpose of taking lives. Instead, he relies on an assortment of trick arrows like tasers, knockout gas, and even boxing gloves to deal with bad guys humanely. Of course, in the Absolute Universe, there’s no room to be soft on crime. The Absolute Universe revamps Green Arrow so that he’s a certified serial killer who’s out to butcher the most depraved and corrupt members of the wealthy elite, and his new arsenal reflects that.

The tagline for Absolute Green Arrow is “No Trick Arrows… No Money… No Mercy… What’s Left is the Absolute Hunter.” Ironically, this version of Green Arrow very much still has trick arrows and gadgets, but they are far more lethal and disturbing than anything the hero has ever had before. On top of strapping grenades to some arrows that detonate on impact, even his standard arrows hold a terrifying surprise. Just a single prick from one of these arrows can cause a person to break out into hives as blood oozes from their mouths and eyes. Even Green Arrow’s bow is a deadly weapon as it can break apart into twin machetes held together by the string, allowing for lethal close and long-range combat.

The deadliness of Green Arrow’s arsenal is matched only by his unrelenting brutality. The first target of the Longbow Killer was Jubal Slade, Oliver Queen’s former business partner and a notorious pedophile. Slade lived his entire life believing he was untouchable, because of his position in society which had shielded him for so many years. However, Green Arrow made Slade suffer unimaginable pain for the lives he ruined by slicing up and mutilating his body and driving arrows into his eyes. And while his second target, Hector Hammond, lived, Green Arrow still managed to chop off one of the billionaire’s hands. Even by the standards of the Absolute Universe, no other hero has gone to such extremes to take down their enemies.

Absolute Green Arrow Stays True to His Origins

Part of what has made the Absolute Universe such a tremendous success is its fundamental understanding of DC Comics’ heroes. Even with drastic reinventions that strip away their support structures, they still fundamentally retain their core characteristics. In Green Arrow’s case, of course, his swash-buckling and campy attitude wouldn’t be able to survive in the Absolute Universe. However, what he manages to retain, despite his advocacy for torture and murder, is his unflinching resolve to tackle real-world issues and punish those who abuse their power and would otherwise remain outside of the law’s reach.

Green Arrow has always been one of the most socially motivated superheroes in comics, as, despite his status as a wealthy billionaire, he fights to protect the little guy whom society has abandoned. Many of his best stories involve him calling out various socio-political injustices that have festered in society, such as racism, underfunding, corruption, and pollution. What the Absolute Universe does is take Green Arrow’s initial mission and philosophy to its most extreme yet logical conclusion. Like the best Green Arrow stories, it tackles topical controversies that show the sickness embedded within the 1% and the government. In a world dominated by villains, making Green Arrow a vigilante who’s willing to kill underscores the rage and hate that everyday oppressed people have towards the corrupt ruling class.

Interestingly, this wouldn’t even be the first time a lethal version of Green Arrow has been depicted. In his CW series Arrow, Oliver Queen began as a vigilante known as “the Hood,” who would kill corrupt businessmen. Even in the main continuity, Green Arrow has been pushed to the brink and killed villains he knew must be put down for good, like Prometheus and Parallax. In contrast, the Green Arrow of the Absolute Universe is one who, at least for now, hasn’t gone through the arc of becoming a non-lethal vigilante. Absolute Green Arrow is a version of the Emerald Archer who has definitively decided never to hold back when dealing with the scum that run society.

Absolute Green Arrow #1 is everything readers could have hoped for and more. It has great action, characters, horror, and mystery, all of which make for one of the most engaging and distinctive Green Arrow stories in recent years. It strips away key elements of the hero while remaining true to his character, in a way that feels right at home in the Absolute Universe and mirrors real-life issues. Absolute Green Arrow can’t be bought or reasoned with; he’s vengeance incarnate against those who use their wealth to spread misery and corruption.

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