Review: Green Arrow Vol. 3- Harrow
Quick Summary
Pros: The issues involving the Justice League are fun.
Cons: Green Arrow feels like a secondary character in the Hawkman crossover. The majority of the book’s stories are below average reads. The artwork isn’t that good.
Overall: Though better than the previous volume, this still is not a volume many fans will be excited to read. It consists of several short stories that fail to truly grab one’s interest or provide a substantially entertaining narrative. The best portions of the book actually end up being crossovers with Hawkman and the Justice League and serve those comics much better than this one. Overall, this volume indicates that the Green Arrow series is still not worth reading.
Story
Green Arrow Vol. 3: Harrow is a significant improvement on the previous volume, though that doesn’t really mean all that much. The story, as a whole, is still lacking in quality and doesn’t quite feel like the book Green Arrow fans were hoping for. It mostly consists of short and below average stories with only vague hints of a greater story connecting everything together. The best part of the book is the Justice League crossover, but even this would read better in the context of the actual Justice League series. This collection is an improvement but is still not a collection I would recommend to anyone looking for a Green Arrow story.
(spoilers start here)
The book starts out with two “Hawkman: Wanted” crossover issues. For the most part, these issues are pretty entertaining; they have the action and drama that one would hope for from a superhero comic. However, the spotlight is mostly on Hawkman, with Green Arrow serving a mostly supportive role. This means that fans going in with no knowledge or care for Hawkman’s situation will miss out on most of this arc’s positives.
Once the crossover is complete, the book dips back into a storyline that feels similar to those featured in the previous volume. Though it feels similar in tone, it is actually of significantly higher quality and reads much easier. The action is fun at points, the sexism is toned down, and the overall structure is much easier to understand.
However, a story only slightly better than the previous volume means that it is a story that went from absolutely terrible to simply below average. The entire arc still feels rushed in places where it should be slow and slow in places where it should be rushed. It tries to insert some sort of meaningful message by detailing the villains’ unfortunate history but doesn’t connect the reader to these characters enough to make this message have any impact. It is definitely an improvement over the previous volume, but that still isn’t saying much at all.
After this, Green Arrow’s two appearances in the Justice League series are detailed. These two issues are short but feel like a breath of fresh air among the rest of this collection. They tell the story of Green Arrow’s attempt to join the Justice League in a fun and lighthearted way that also sets up serious events in the future. Though the events here do not really affect the Green Arrow series much, they help readers get excited for Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous (Review) in which Green Arrow plays a major role.
The collection closes with the story of Green Arrow’s origin. Once again, this is a below average tale without nearly enough positives to allow it to rise from mediocrity. The only big draw here is that it sets up Tommy Merlyn to come back into Oliver’s life at some point in the future.
(spoilers end here)
Art
Unlike the story, the artwork in this collection is actually slightly worse than the volume before it. Freddie E. Williams II’s work maintains the style of Harvey Tolibao’s work in the previous volume, but stumbles in places where Toibao did not. Specifically, facial expression and action sequences are lacking, something that is integral to a book like this. In addition, there are more than a few moments where the placement of dialogue balloons feel off and make it hard to read the flow of the story.
Continuity
Green Arrow Vol. 3: Harrow continues the story from Green Arrow Vol. 2: Triple Threat (Review).
The main story here continues in Green Arrow Vol. 4: The Kill Machine (Review). The Justice League story here continues in Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous (Review).
This volume also makes a reference to other comic books, detailed below.
- This volume includes part of the “Hawkman: Wanted” crossover. More about this crossover can be found within The Savage Hawkman Vol. 2: Wanted (Review).
- The Justice League’s past success is mentioned in the Justice League issue. This is detailed in Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (Review).