Absolute Green Arrow #1

It’s our favourite day of the week readers, new comic book day, and today is an extra special one! If you are a fan of the Absolute universe, DC’s much darker elseworld comics which have been selling put left right and center, taking the world by storm, we finally have a new edition, Absolute Green Arrow. This is not the first time Green Arrow has appeared in this comic, about half a year ago he made his bloody debut in Absolute Evil #1, but that just raised so many questions when his own series was announced, questions we hope to answer today in our Absolute Green Arrow #1 review.

This review will be relatively spoiler-free. However, we suggest reading Absolute Evil #1 before continuing if you would prefer a completely spoiler free experience, as we will be discussing details about that immediately… you have been warned.

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The Review

Image by DC Comics

Absolute Green Arrow follows the death of Oliver Queen who was brutally murdered. Less than a year later, his ex-partner is brutally murdered, an eye for an eye, murdered by a guy who looks awfully like Green Arrow. Something twisted sure is going on in this series. Despite the name, the story follows Dinah Lance, who some may recognise as Black Canary, as she is hired by Malcolm Merlyn (another big name drop) to protect and ex CEO and potentially the next target in this series of murders.

If you can’t tell already, this is quite a dark comic, even by the Absolute universe standards. So much blood shed already. Not to mention, there are some quite dark undertones which might be a slight trigger for some readers. To be brutally honest, I love a dark and twisted bloodbath of a comic and can quite easily set aside any dark narrative, so this was completely my vibe. The fact that it also read as a detective comic, not too dissimilar to a Batman comic, really had me hooked.

It was not all smooth sailing however. This issue, spent a lot of time name dropping, and while I get that it is important to build the universe and introduce all its characters, it felt unnatural. Roy Harper, Mia Dearden, Tom Hallaway, all were name-dropped with next to no follow up literally just as suspects, and the rest of the issue was like ‘here’s this guy, now that guy, and oh look this guy’s here too’… The gimmick wore off quickly.

That being said though, Tom Hallaway was a very interesting name drop as he is one of the lesser popular names within the Green Arrow comic books and given his usual story, would make so much sense if he was this universe’s Green Arrow if Oliver Queen really is dead. I am very excited to find out where that goes.

Image by DC Comics

The excessive name dropping was honestly my only issue with this comic. The story is heading in a direction that seems to be an exciting one, and having another female main protagonist in the Absolute universe has been needed for a while, though I’m not sure how long it will remain that way given the name of the series. Lastly, the artwork…

This is that part of the comic where I give praise to the artists, Absolute Green Arrow #1 is no exception to that, in fact this is some of my favourite artwork to date. Something about it really reminded me of The Boys comics, which given the brutality felt so natural. It’s a weird thing to say that something so graphic is beautiful, but honestly this artwork in a weird obscene way really is stunning. An excellent job from Rafael Albuquerque and Marcelo Maiolo, two absolute stars in the Absolute series.

In short Absolute Green Arrow #1 was a success, with so much to offer. Even though the series has only just begun, its building powerful character relationships and a plot which can only head in a positive direction.

Image by DC Comics

Absolute Green Arrow #1 is one of the darkest entries to the Absolute universe so far. It thrives on shock factor, gore and horror in a way that will hook you from the first page. Fans of horror and darker comics like The Boys will love this one.

What are your thoughts on the Absolute Green Arrow #1? Whatever your thoughts and feelings, share them with us in the comment section of this article or on our Instagram page. Until next time, thank you for reading!

See also: Absolute Evil #1 Review

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