In this review of the Green Arrow 2024 Annual #1, Oliver Queen is back on the island being hunted by his most dangerous adversary yet, his own “grandchildren.” To pass the time, Ollie regales them with his adventures against the villain, Firestarter. Will a fresh perspective help him finally unravel the mystery of his log-time enemy?
Green Arrow 2024 Annual #1
Writers: Joshua Williamson
Artists: Sean Izaakse/Amancay Nahuelpan
Main Cover: Sean Izaakse
Variant Covers: Phil Hester
Page Count: 48 pages
Release Date: November 6, 2024
This Review will contain spoilers
Green Arrow 2024 Annual #1 begins in the not-too-distant future, where an aging Green Arrow is babysitting the kids of his family and anxious for a nap but the kids are having none of that, they want to hear a story. Not just any old story about how Ollie saved the world again, they want to hear a story about a time that Ollie missed his shot. Oliver gives in and we are introduced to Green Arrow’s long-time battle against the villain, Firestarter.
Beginning right after his return from the island, Green Arrow runs up against an arsonist, despite missing with his boxing glove arrow, GA still has the arsonist in his sights until a call for help allows the villain to get away. Oliver comes across the arsonist time and again always unsuccessful in bringing him to justice. Finally, the arsonist goes too far, lives are lost and the arsonist gets a name, Firestarter.
Ollie comes close a couple more times until finally he has narrowed down Firestarter’s identity to three people. Using his family, he gets all three of them, sure that one of them is the villain. Unfortunately, all three have alibis and Oliver is forced to watch them all walk free, never to be encountered again.
This ending is understandably unsatisfying to the kids and even to Oliver, who tells them despite never catching Firestarter, he’s had a pretty good go of it, being able to grow old with his family and never having to go it alone. This revelation sparks an epiphany and he realizes the true identity of Firestarter. Taking the kids with him, appropriately garbed in Speedy gear, Green Arrow finally takes down his career-long adversary.
Analysis
Green Arrow 2024 Annual #1 is your basic flashback episode. What sets it apart from the usual and makes it worth the buy is that it doesn’t just re-hash old familiar Green Arrow stories, it adds to the history (and the future) of Oliver Queen with a new villain and new members of the family. It also serves as a goodbye for Joshua Williamson’s highly successful run on the book. I’ve already covered my thoughts on Williamson’s turn so I won’t re-hash that here, suffice to say, I thought it was one of the better runs Ollie’s had in a while.
I enjoyed the story that acted as the catalyst for this retrospective and it gave Williamson a chance to add to Green Arrow’s rogue’s gallery with another interesting character. Ollie’s interactions with his “grandkids” was also a highlight. While a couple of the kid’s parentage is obvious the others are kind of nebulous which I guess adds to the interest and whimsy of having them in the story.
The art in this issue, and throughout the run, was excellent. It gives us a nice look at Oliver throughout the years including just about every one of his costumes and facial-hair iterations. There are also several splash pages depicting various stages of Green Arrow’s past career and possible future events (I can’t be sure as there are gaps in my GA knowledge). The whole book wraps up nice and sentimental with the Firestarter loose end tied up and Oliver and his family all one big happy bunch.
You can tell from the run and from this last story how attached Williamson is to Green Arrow and it shows in his grip on the character. I’ve read a few things recently contrasting Green Arrow and Batman, two characters so similar on the surface but miles different underneath. I think, and from Williamson’s characterization he may agree, that Batman is Batman, the Dark Knight; meaning Bruce is just another disguise for him. However, Green Arrow is, at his core, Oliver Queen; for better or worse. That, to me, is the main difference in these characters and Williamson has consistently done an admirable job expressing that.
Final Thoughts
Green Arrow 2024 Annual #1 is a very solid and satisfying ending to a seminal run. Between this and Green Arrow #17 the stage is set for Green Arrow to continue being one of DC’s most complex and interesting characters.
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