This special has something for any era of Green Arrow fan and is absolutely worth getting. It also serves as a reminder that DC really needs to get a passionate writer and artist to deliver a new Green Arrow series " and Hawkman, Atom, Firestorm, Cyborg titles while they're at it. Read Full Review

Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 is a grand celebration of the Emerald Archer's legacy, featuring a wealth of talent and stories celebrating multiple points in his history. Whether you've become aware of Oliver Queen via the comics or Arrow, this one-shot is highly recommended reading for all Green Arrow fans. Read Full Review

Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 is a pure delight for any Green Arrow fan. This really has me wishing that there was a current Green Arrow title, but I'm sure that another will come around eventually. This special really lives up to the term "special". Read Full Review

This book, and all the creators past and present, most definitely hit the bullseye. Read Full Review

Highly recommended for sure and packed with entertainment value throughout! Read Full Review

A near-perfect tribute to a long-time superhero character, Green Arrow 80th Anniversary Spectacular #1 stands as one of (if not the) best of DC Comics' 80th birthday anthologies. This book is well worth the price of admission Read Full Review

A beautifully touching tribute to Dennis O'Neil closes out this issue. With no dialogue, every frame of the story tells a wonderful story that is both touching and emotional. Read Full Review

Green Arrow 80th Anniversary Special brings together an embarrassing wealth of talent to celebrate the Emerald Archer, and for the most part, succeeds in painting an all-encompassing picture of Ollie Queen's life and times. Read Full Review

Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular is as good of an anniversary issue as readers have seen in a while. Read Full Review

Overall, not all of these stories are brilliant, but they all come together to form an excellent portrait of a unique hero. Read Full Review

This story features Green Arrow and Grell creation Shado (think Daredevil's Elektra but more polite) taking down human traffickers. Grell doing both the writing and the art shows he hasn't lost a step in either area. If you desire A more grounded Green Arrow story this is one you're want to check out. Read Full Review

If you're a fan of Green Arrow, you need to pick up this special, if only for the walk down memory lane and a tip of the bycocket to the creator who made it all possible. If you're not a fan, some of these stories may well make you into one. Just be ready to ask your friendly neighborhood comic shop about ordering some trades. I personally recommend starting with Quiver. Read Full Review

This was a good but safe collection of Green Arrow stories that might not wow you but is worth checking out.  I wish there were a little more focus on Ollie's villains, but we did get to see the extended Arrow family, which was cool.  Overall, it is a good, not great anthology issue that gives Green Arrow fans an Anniversary to celebrate. Read Full Review

All of these stories are quite good, but the Larry O'Neil story about his dad's life all told, and executed so well without a single word and just creative word balloons makes this really stand out as a 10/10. Probably the best of all the anniversary books.

Amazing green arrow stories that show why he is popular amongst the fans

for when a regular series of green arrow?

" Goodnight, pops "
- GREEN ARROW

For Green Arrow fans.

If anybody needs to look at what can make the Green Arrow so enjoyable, this anthology is a good place to look. The campiness from the Gold and Silver ages are good places to start in regards to humble beginnings. I mean the boxing glove arrow came as a result of Oliver training with a friend of Black Canary, Wildcat. I almost can't get enough of how lovable that couple is in such absurd ways. Also seeing Connor Hawke in action with a unique fighting style really got me hoping to see more of him down the line. Then there's how Roy's daughter Lian tells her father's story to Oliver, encompassing everything Roy is as a hero. Can't forget about the modern takes where Oliver's story that serve as epilogues to their runs. No definite endings, just open ended discussions on where they'll go.

But I gotta ask how or even if some of these characters are going to reappear after this. I mean, I like the idea of two Shados, the original with the complicated relationship with Oliver and the newer one whose his half-sister's mother; and then there are the characters who looked like they were supposed to be important only to get pushed to the side like Star. Or how Mia Dearden and Arrowette can coexist with everyone else. more

Decent anthology, the only decent thing published this week in DC comics

Standouts were:
-"Punching Evil" = 8/10
-"The Arrow & The Song" = 9/10
-"Green-Man & Autumn-Son" = 10/10
-"Star City Star" = 8/10
-"Tap, Tap, Tap" = 10/10

Ben Percy's story had a pretty brain-dead message, but its in character for Ollie to have such staunch left wing views so I don't really give a shit.

Mariko Tamaki's story attempted to imitate Silver Age one-offs but ended up being all style no substance.

Mike Grell's was boring, but great to see his art nonetheless.

Everything else was mediocre.

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• Merlyn

Merlyn - Jul 30, 2021

I don't know if you noticed or if you care but Psycamorean gave a whole rant about you because you don't like socialism. :))

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I really do not like anthologies. They're rough and they go everywhere.

The Disappearing Bandit by Mariko Tamaki is an allegedly fun throwback to simpler, silver age Green Arrow stories. I say allegedly because I didn't find it very fun, but rather tiresome, and I've read very little silver age Green Arrow. It's fine.

Punching Evil by Tom Taylor is a lot of fun. I love the art by Nicola Scott and the story is cute. Nothing much to say about it.

Who Watches the Watchtower? by Stephanie Phillips is another really fun one. I like the smartass attitude Ollie has here. Probably because I'm also a smartass. The art again is pretty great here.

...Just the Usual Sort of Stuff by Mike Grell is not my favorite in terms of writing, but I do really enjoy the artwork.

The Arrow and the Song by Ram V is a verifiable dud for me. I just plain found it boring.

One by Brandon Thomas is the same as the previous story. I was shocked to find that Brandon Thomas wrote it, since I usually like his work. I was convinced it was Joshua Williamson the whole time.

Green-Man and Autumn-Son by Devin Grayson also didn't work for me. I get what the intention was. I think representation for indigenous people is important. But man, this was boring.

Star City Star by Phil Hester is good. I don't have anything to say, really.

Happy Anniversary by Vita Ayala is cute, but not very interesting.

The Sympathy of the Woods by Ben Percy is boring. Much like his Rebirth run. But of course, there's a bit about Socialism in it. And that scorned at least one user, for no good reason. SONOFBATMANN, aka SONOFBADTAKESS, really got annoyed with the brain-dead message that this story has. To briefly sum it up, Ollie compares a forest to socialism, and says, "There's no greed or loneliness. Everybody takes care of one another. That's how you survive and grow. Community, sympathy." I don't know the specifics of what SONOFBATMANN finds dumb here. I would assume it's the idea that Socialism leads to a communal society where there's no greed. And not that community and sympathy don't lead to survival and growth. But I guess I'll cover both. Socialism is essentially the idea of a social ownership of the means of production, and the abolishment of the commodity form. Now, you can get in the weeds here, as there are different forms of socialism, but we'll cover both Market and Non-Market Socialism. In Market Socialism, the use of monetary prices, factor markets and the profit motive are maintained, with respect to the operation of socially owned enterprises and the allocation of capital goods between them. The profits generated in this system would be directly controlled by the democratic workforce, or dispersed into society as a whole. In Non-Market Socialism, the profit system and capital accumulation doesn't exist in favor of economic planning. In either of these systems, greed is an eliminated factor as the people are no longer exploited for their labor, and the profits are dispersed equally, either to the democratic workplace or to society at large. And if you couldn't tell, both of these systems would be extremely communal. And to cover our bases, community and sympathy are integral to societal survival and growth. We are social animals with developed emotions and language to express those feelings, we thrive with our ability to empathize and sympathize with one another, as that allows us to learn and work together towards common goals. Without community and sympathy, humanity would not be where it is now. That's all, I just think people need to do some research!

The Last Green Arrow Story by Jeff Lemire was very confusing to me. I never read Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow run so that's probably why. The art was good though.

Tap, Tap, Tap by Larry O'Neil is hands down the best story here. A beautiful tribute to one of the most influential comics creators ever. If it doesn't hit you in your emotions at least a little bit, you need to do some self-reflection. more

I'm really glad that after such a long time DC decided to give Green Arrow the spotlight, even if briefly. That being said, as usual, these anthologies seem like they prioritize the number of stories over the quality and here it shows. There were three stories here that I really liked: Tom Taylor's with great art from Nicola Scott, Phil Hester's with 2000s Green Arrow who was the best Green Arrow ever (not to speak ill of the dead but O'Neill's version was too obnoxious at times even if that was the point) and Larry O'Neill's, which besides being an emotional story, made great use of Fornes' art, something the Rorschach book isn't capable of. The rest, unfortunately, were pretty mediocre and forgettable, especially Percy's (no, Ben, socialism isn't an utopia, it's a nightmare, stop trying to indoctrinate people) which I expected the most from given his very good run. Again, I'm glad Arrow is back and I hope that DC brings him back for good in his own book but they should do better than this. more