Green Arrow: Year One [Paperback]

Andy Diggle (Author), Jock (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: April 14, 2009

Oliver Queen has been a faithful member of the Justice League of America and defended Star City with his trusty bown and an arsenal of deadly arrows for years--now thrill to the definitive tale of how he became Green Arrow!

Queen is a frivolous playboy with little care for anyone or anything--apparently even himself. But when he's double-crossed and marooned on a jungle island, he finds that he does care about something: justice!

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401217435
• ISBN-13: 978-1401217433
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andy Diggle is a rising star in the comics field. He established himself as a writer for (and editor of) 2000 AD, has written Swamp Thing, Adam Strange, Green Arrow: Year One and The Losers. He is the current writer of Hellblazer. Jock has worked on The Losers (soon to be a major movie), Faker, and a series of stories for 2000 AD. He is also in great demand as a covers artist on titles including Batman.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401217435
• ISBN-13: 978-1401217433
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Diggle and Jock Rock GA's Year One Origin! June 14, 2008

By Mel Odom TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Green Arrow, as cheesy as he was sometimes portrayed with all the trick arrows (Net Arrow, Boxing Glove Arrow, Boomerang Arrow), was always one of my favorite heroes when I was growing up. When I got tired of wanting to grow up to be Batman, I'd want to be Green Arrow. Especially when he got changed from playboy to radical leftist and bleeding heart. That bearded free spirit with the attitude of sticking it to the man was just what I needed to grow up on in the 1970s. Oliver Queen taught me to think outside the box and question life and a number of other things.

He still remains as DC Comics' most radical hero. Mike Grell created THE LONGBOW HUNTERS and pushed away the trick arrows for a time, getting Ollie back to his roots as a cutting-edge back street brawler, then enjoyed a long run on the strip. Chuck Dixon shortly followed Grell and even killed Ollie off long enough to give us a new Green Arrow in Connor Hawke.

Even though he'd died and gone to Heaven, Ollie come back in issues penned by Kevin (DAREDEVIL, CLERKS) Smith. Lately Judd Winnick has married him off to Black Canary and invented a whole new Speedy for this generation.

But Andy Diggle (THE LOSERS) got the green light to pen the adventures of Oliver Queen's Year One origin while so many longtime DC Comics heroes are getting spotlight treatment. I really enjoyed Diggle's run on THE LOSERS as well as some of his other forays, but I didn't know if he was the right guy for Green Arrow. As it turns out, Diggle was just the guy to bring Ollie once more to the masses.

Diggle's scriptwork is excellent. He moves the story along and finesses the characters and relationship through dialogue and action, and the overall effect is like watching a movie with first-person voiceovers.... An added bonus in the graphic novel contains the first few pages of the actual script Diggle turned in to the editor and artist. He didn't just put the words on the page, he actually planned on where the action would go and how it would be revealed.

In the beginning, Oliver Queen was a playboy with more money than he knew what to do with. He rambled and tried extreme sports to fill the gaps in his life, constantly trying to find his happy. Diggle does a masterful job of portraying that, and even ties in the ROBIN HOOD touchstones of Errol Flynn and Howard Hill's longbow at a fundraiser where Ollie really makes an idiot of himself.

Jock's artwork is fantastic. The panels and spreads flow cinematically across the pages. Movement comes alive, tension is as tight as a bowstring, and the sweeping majesty of nature fills the senses so much I could almost smell the grass and the gunpowder. The fact that Diggle and Jock have worked together before shows. They're a well-oiled machine attuned to turned out powerful stories.

The plot of GREEN ARROW: YEAR ONE is absurdly simple, but it shows off so much of what has become canon for the character. Oliver's disenchantment of his own prosperity, the dislike of the image of so many of the rich and celebrity, the false platitudes so many hucksters and politicians spout, and his search for real meanings takes shape in these pages.

His inherent survivalist's nature shines through in the wilderness and the human adversity he faces. Diggle also touches on Ollie's abhorrence of drugs (which became a major plot point in the 1970s when it was revealed that Roy Harper, Green Arrow's original sidekick Speedy who has now gone on to become Red Arrow, had a drug problem). Understanding that Ollie got addicted to opium while healing on the island actually shores up Ollie's overreaction and disappointment in Roy at that time. There's even a comment made after a drastic injury regarding the potential of Ollie losing his arm that plays off the way Ollie was killed - for a time.

There's a lot to love about this graphic novel if you're a Green Arrow fan. I had a blast reading it, then re-reading it. And it's a great introduction to the character if you've never read anything about him. Despite the fact that his series seems to constantly respawn, there's a resiliency of Oliver Queen that just won't go away forever. He's become an icon in the DC Comics universe, and Diggle and Jock reveal here in these pages. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Some Inspiration for the CW's ARROW. Excellent retake on Ollie's origin May 26, 2012

By Sue

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been a huge fan of Oliver Queen since I stumbled across the Longbow Hunters mini series in the early 90s. Mike Grell and Denny O'Neill shaped my opinion of who Oliver Queen should be.

While I like Kevin Smith's Quiver, the Judd Winnick years were atrocious. So I was pleasantly surprised (okay knocked off my butt) by Diggle and Jock's excellent tweak of Ollie's origin. I love the early Island scenes as Queen loses all of his rich boy ideology to the simple principles of survival. The villains are truly awful, and as Mel Odom said in his review, the tweak on Oliver's hatred of heroin is very well done. Art wise, Jock delivers a bare, yet very detailed story. His art is almost storyboard-like and works quite well.

As I am looking forward to the CW's Arrow, I was happily surprised to see the costume, primal vibe and cinematography of the island in the available previews seem to instantly echo Jock's art. So I hope to see more of Year One incorporated into the coming series. And not just in character names (Ollie's chauffeur is named John Diggle.) If Arrow borrows more than these, it will be a great live action tribute to my favorite DC hero

I am rather disppointed in the nu52 Ollie and do not understand why DC did not run with the young Oliver Queen from the Year One series. This is a very smart, exciting and cinematic read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for a Casual, New, or Longtime Comic Fan! December 21, 2012

By Preston Dixon

Format:Hardcover

I picked up 'Green Arrow Year One' after watching the show Arrow on the CW. I had previous comic reading experience, especially with DC Comics' titles, but was unimpressed by other Green Arrow stories. This story was not only is beautifully drawn by Jock, but legitimizes Green Arrow as a hero. Green Arrow is so often viewed as an 'off-brand' Batman, but this story shows his unique identity and set of values. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable. Great for new or casual comic fans, as it is extremely accessible, and is self-contained.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Average read December 7, 2010

By Jason Ambacher

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is not quite the Green Arrow I grew up with. I know it's his origin and all but this is a little too modernized for my liking. I grew up reading the Mike Grell and later Kevin Smith/Judd Winick Ollie Queen and this just doesn't have the same writing style or the same feeling to it. It's an ok story for an origin, but again, it's been heavily modernized. Ollie being stranded on a tropical island with modern machine-gun-toting pirates? The better GA origin is Green Arrow the Wonder Year or the GA Year One Annual from the mid '90's. The artwork is what really made this un-enjoyable for me. The artwork would be better suited for an indie comic rather than a major DC character. It lacks depth and detail. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this. You're better off reading GA the Wonder Year.

5.0 out of 5 stars Slimmed down to basics. June 6, 2013

By para

Format:Paperback

"Real's just for people who can't afford to fake it."

This trade collects the entire six issue Green Arrow: Year One mini-series.

Oliver Queen is a spoiled rich kid all grown up who thrill seeks to fill the void inside and specializes in drunken spectacles involving truths high society doesn't like to hear. But he'll become something else, something more, when he's betrayed, stranded, and left with only himself to rely on...

I've always liked Green Arrow but haven't read a lot of his stuff, so I'm not particularly attached to any given incarnation. This gave me more or less a clean slate going into Diggle's take on GA's origin, without much preference as to how the character was "supposed" to act. This is a very boiled down exploration of the character's core. Life changing danger, some very nasty villains, and a man that needs to become more than what he currently is. Everything built well for me and I loved the exploration of Ollie's doubts and what he needed to do to overcome them. There's a fair amount of well done action here, but this is a story of one man in way over his head, not a summer blockbuster of epic scale.

The art is also minimalist in style, using sparse backgrounds and a lot of shadows. It compliments the story though, makes excellent use of varying subdued, largely monochrome color palates and is very detailed as needed (especially for character faces and expressions). As is general with this trade, it won't appeal to some but I really liked it. There are some panels and pages in particular that are jaw-dropping.

The premise and events of GA: Year One aren't terribly original, but they're executed to perfection and with a style that makes them fresh and engaging.... It ends up transcending it's components to become something unique, which personally just made me enjoy it even more.

Highly recommended. Read more ›