Having Carnero on art for this issue was like a breath of fresh air, each panel of Carnero's art was incredibly detailed. The change felt necessary for this tie-in issue, it may not be Francis Manapul, but it was just as clean. Read Full Review

Regardless, Green Arrow Annual #2 manages the neat trick of being an accessible continuation of the story of Justice League: No Justice and a pitch-perfect introduction to the character of Oliver Queen and the status quo of his life in the reality of DC Comics Rebirth. If you haven't been following Green Arrow before, this is the issue to start with. Read Full Review

If you don't add this to your pull list this week, you'll absolutely be missing out. Read Full Review

This was overall a great issue and a great tie in to No Justice as well. Julia and Shawna Benson seem to be able to handle Green Arrow very well and makes it even more exciting that they will be writing him from now on.This issue gets an A+ Read Full Review

If I thought No Justice lived up to the hype, this would undoubtedly be a 10/10 issue for me. As it stands, it was an issue that elevated a writing team and an artist that I previously respected into a circle where I will be in on any project they hang their hats on. If Carmen wants to chronicle a series that illustrates the life of a New York City trash can, Ill be on time for that. If the Bensons want to write a 200-page opus to paint drying on a wall? Sign me up. Read Full Review

Frankly, I wasnt expecting anything quite so good out of this issue. It was a pleasant surprise, and thats always something nice to be able to say. Read Full Review

Green Arrow Annual #2 is a fast-moving and fun one-off story that highlights a lot about what is great about Oliver Queen. Julie and Shawna Benson crafted a classically fun comic here, and the art team of Carnero and Mulvihill contributed excellent artwork. This one earns a strong recommendation. Give it a read. Read Full Review

This was a strong introduction of the Bensons take on Green Arrow. If this is any clue how their regular run will be, this book is going to stay in the crosshairs of readers pull list. Read Full Review

The Benson sisters, recently of Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, are jumping onto Green Arrow in a few months and this annual serves as a preview. It's also a tie-in with Justice League: No Justice " oddly, coming out the week that the main event closes but set during the events of the first issue. It's also, to my eye, a significant level-up over the Bensons' previous work. Read Full Review

The first entry in Julie & Shawna Benson's new direction for Green Arrow is very engaging, and the increased page count allows for a very well-told recount of how Oliver wound up in Justice League: No Justice, and captures both his voice and the love he has for Black Canary, quite well. Read Full Review

I was looking forward to seeing the future of the Green Arrow book here, but throwing the Benson's into a No Justice Tie-In handcuffed them and what we got was an issue that just was an unnecessary diversion until their real run starts.  I can't recommend this to anyone, whether they are reading No Justice or not. Read Full Review

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten.

This issue was a great surprise. I haven’t been reading Green Arrow lately because it really hasn’t been too appealing. That’s not necessarily a knock on the old creative team. I was just getting bored with it and like many books, you just stop reading it. So I went to Comicbookroundup like I do every week and I noticed the issue getting some play. I heard it was under a new creative team, so I gave it a try. And again I say, it was pretty dang good.

We open with a tie in to No Justice. It gives us the perspective of Green Arrow throughout the event. We see Ollie fighting some bum named named Brick and appearing to have a difficult time taking him down. When all of a sudden, one of Brainac’s flying skull ships attacked the city. He manages to save the civilians and take down the ship with an arrow right through the eye of the skull. It was odd that he could barely stop Brick but could take down an alien shape ship and blow it right up with one shot. But I’m cool with it.

Why? Because the creative team did a good job of making Oliver seem.... kind of dumb... but snarky, quick witted, and just lucky. He came off more like a human than any other Super Hero in DC. And that’s because he is... but I think sometimes it gets overlooked that GA is a guy that shoots arrows and the rest of them are like Gods. People try to play off Batman as a man playing with Gods. But not lately. We have gotten more of the Bat-God, especially with Metal. GA, especially in this issue, seems like the man amongst Gods. And I like that look for him. The man that will keep the Supermen in line.

Anyway, back to the issue. It turns out, which makes a ton more sense, that Ollie was working with Babs throughout this event. That’s how he got his intel on who was abducted by Brainac, and who was knocked unconscious by him too. GA tries to track down his “pretty bird” ( Black Canary) and it leads him to JLA HQ. That’s where he finds most of the JLA frozen by Brainac. Babs and Ollie figure out that someone hacked his Queen satellites and that someone wasn’t Brainac... it was Waller. So, GA gets in his arrow plane and flies to the arctic where Babs placed Waller’s signal. And that’s where the stories intertwined with No Justice.

Their issue ends with Oliver trying-to figure out what to do with the box Manhunter gave him. He doesn’t want it nor the responsibility. And, he doesn’t want to tell his Pretty Bird about it either. The less people that know about it the better. I just wonder what’s in the box. To be honest, when I saw it in No Justice, I thought it was just something to dumb that will eventually get forgotten. Or, a plot point that someone can come back to anytime but no one really “plans” to do it. Well, after seeing it come up in this issue twice, I think it’s going to be a pretty big deal. Maybe it will be the background of the Benson’s run? If so, I’m looking forward to it. And if not, after this issue, I’m willing to give their run a try. I hope many of you will too.

If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace more

Issue fills gaps from No Justice event, explaining what happened to heroes who were not chosen by Brainiac to be members of his four teams, and adding much needed Gren Arrow's backstory. I enjoyed reading it a lot. The art was amazing, the story, as I said, explained what wasn't explained in the main event. Call it No Justice #5 or No Justice supplement, it doesn't really matter - what matters is, this issue was fun and beautifully drawn. Couldn't ask for more. Or, wait, I could - hopefully when No Justice TP is released, it'll contain this issue and place its certain scenes in between main events we've seen in the miniseries, instead of it being a separate entity.

Very excited now to see where this run goes. These two seem to have a much better understanding of the character than Benjamin Percy did, and in the short bit we saw of Black Canary, it looks like she will be better as well. This was just a one-off comic and it doesn't do a whole lot story-wise, but I liked the tone.

Only one or two pieces of bad dialogue (something that plagued Percy's run), which for a comic book, is excellent.

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egonnn244 - Jun 1, 2018

Don't know anything about understanding of the character but I think Ben Percy did a fine job on his tenure as a GA writer. Great job even.

VanillaCone - Jun 7, 2018

I know it's not a popular opinion but I really wasn't that big on the writing. I loved the art, and I loved that he pulled Green Arrow in a direction away from the TV show. His run was definitely better than the stuff that we being done before him, but regardless, it seemed to me that his character was more like Justice League Unlimited cartoon Green Arrow, where he was still Ollie but with less depth...and as for Black Canary, all she did was get angry and flirt. She should be more central.

VanillaCone - Jun 7, 2018

I also just think the politics lacked any kind of subtlety. Like the "Wild Dog Gang," a bunch of libertarians who just straight up kill people in the name of free business. I can't take that seriously. And the villains in the Nth circle were similarly too direct with their political leanings. I still liked a lot of the series, don't get me wrong, but I was ready for Percy to leave. He's a talented writer though, his short story, "Refresh, Refresh," is excellent, for what its worth.

egonnn244 - Jun 7, 2018

I get it. Politics can be a tricky subject in comic books. But with Percy I didn't feel like I was beaten over the head with the subject. For comparison there was two-issue arc in Tomasi's Superman about independence. That one felt preachy as hell.

VanillaCone - Jun 8, 2018

Oh yeah, I couldn't stand that Superman issue. I still think Percy's run was decent but like I said I was ready to move on. I do agree with his political stances, I just felt it didn't feel real. The Aquaman story that started in issue 25 was a better example of intelligent political comics writing in my opinion, because the antagonists seemed to at least have believable personal justifications for their own views that reflect what real life Trump supporters are feeling as well.

egonnn244 - Jun 8, 2018

I need to get around to reading rebirth Aquaman.

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If this is the quality we get on Green Arrow from the Benson duo, then I am sold. Can't wait for issue 43.

It didn't add a whole lot, but it was competently written and enjoyable enough.

Reads a lot better than what the Bensons did with Batgirl and the Birds of Prey. The plot was kind of pointless.