Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters Saga Omnibus Vol. 1 by Mike GrellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters Saga Omnibus Vol. 1 collects Green Arrow #1-50 plus The Longbow Hunters #1-3.
This has been on my radar for years but it finally dropped into my cheapness range a few weeks ago at the same time I had a giftcard burning a hole in my pocket.
Green Arrow was one of the lynchpins of the DC's Mature Readers line of the late 1980s/early 1990s that preceded Vertigo. With the Longbow Hunters, Mike Grell establishes Oliver Queen as a guy who is no longer fucking around. When Black Canary's life is in danger, Oliver takes matters into his own hands. Gone are the gimmick arrows and super hero trappings.
Boy howdy, is it a good read. Green Arrow patrols the streets of Seattle, picking up where the cops leave off. It could easily devolve into killing for the sake of killing but this is a mature readers book. Ollie grapples with his choices all the time and his biggest nemesis is getting older. Over the course of the volume, Green Arrow spends a lot of time in Seattle but travels far and wide before finally returning home.
It's a great read and I didn't even mention Shado. Anyway, Grell writes and draws Longbow Hunters but the Green Arrow regular series has a host of artists, namely a young Dan Jurgens, an older Dick Giordano, Ed Hannigan, Rick Hoberg, Denys Cowan, and others.
The 80s political climate makes some of the stories feel slightly dated but unfortunately, corruption and douchebaggery never go out of style. The coloring can be a little garish, as was the style at the time. The pencils and inks hold up very well, though. Grell emphasizes the hero part of super hero and you never forget Oliver is mortal. He takes a few ass kickings in this.
I don't know what else to say without revealing all the plots and such. Suffice to say, the reputation this run carries is well earned. This is great stuff and I don't know why we don't have more books like this on the racks thirty years later.
Five out of five stars.
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