Green Arrow 4: Blood of the Dragon

Mike Grell's run on Green Arrow as a monthly magazine was a very decent one. It was the first time that the character had enjoyed a regular series of his own. Unlike the graphic novel he created, The Longbow Hunters, which featured his story and art, this series had other artist(s) assisting him. And while the art is good, for a Grell fan it lacks some of the dynamic visual impressions that made Longbow Hunters so special.This book has the special treat of a two part cross-over with the other character he was associated with, Travis Morgan The Warlord. That story was especially fun. The stories overall are fine, but in retrospect, seem a bit rushed or slow in pace, depending on what you are reading. Still, fun memories from childhood.

Great story for Green Arrow fans. The Oliver and Shado relationship always makes for interesting reading. Too bad Arrow kinda dropped the ball on that character.

This might be the overall weakest volume in Grell's series yet, while still being fairly good in my opinion. It consists of three stories, with the first featuring the return of Shado. I'll say right now that it isn't as good as the previous adventures Ollie had with her. This doesn't make it bad, but there's a surprising lack of dialogue. Words are sitll exchanged so you're not flipping through 4 to 5 pages without any, but a lot of scenes also take place without anything being said, specifically some of the action ones. This isn't necessarily bad, since the action doesn't really need words anyways and the artwork is able to convey things just fine. For the plot, Shado has had a son, gets attacked, and her son is kidnapped. He'll be killed unless she murders a politician in a few days time. Don't want to spoil anything else, but this is interesting in that even though Shado and Oliver technically win in the end, the bad guys behind everything win as well, accomplishing exactly what they wanted to.The next story delves into the mystical, seeing Oliver summoned to the UK in order to look into the death of an old man, possibly at the hands of his granddaughter, who many in the town accuse of being a witch. I really liked this story, as it takes place right in Sherwood Forest, which if readers aren't aware is the home of Robin Hood in pretty much every adventure he's ever had. It was nice to see Ollie lurk about in the land where his namesake sprung up. And this story really drove home Grell's previously used theme of Oliver being a Hunter first and foremost. The overall way he conducts himself here and his connection to the land/forest is a nice touch.The third story is probably my favorite, seeing Green Arrow run into Warlord, another character that Grell worked on for a while, who also happens to look almost exactly the same as Green Arrow. The main differences are that he's taller, has longer hair, and that is hair is also white. He's older too, as is noted in the story, but physically that doesn't really come across, except for perhaps the white hair. Now Warlord had his own series at the same time that this was going on, also set in the DC universe, but in a pocket dimension that was cut off from the likes of Superman. I don't know exactly what happened in it, as i've never read it, but for some reason he ends up in Seattle, where people mistake him for Oliver Queen and begin attacking him. Naturally, this eventually sees Warlord showing up on Green Arrow's doorstep in a pretty pissed off mood (I'd be angry too if some guy that looked like me was getting into fights, which got me in trouble). The resulting tale is fairly short, with Warlord's basic origin being detailed and featuring Ollie, Dinah, and Warlord fighting off a bunch of goons that are looking to take Queen down. Not really anything too deep to it, but I just enjoyed seeing the group work together. I'll also say that the beginning of this story is filled with some good Ollie/Dinah moments, as is the rest of the book as well.While this isn't the best volume, it is still filled with solid stories and i'd suggest picking it up, especially if you've read all of the previous volumes.

There's no question this is THE Green Arrow run of all time and Longbow Hunters is the greatest Green Arrow story ever told. That said, this volume has some issues. For the Blood of the Dragon storyline the comic became bi-monthly and with that what should have been another epic in the saga of Shado became an extremely brisk read, there's hardly any dialogue to speak of! To make matters worse the once-great colors are often times too dark to make out the shapes. There's a two-part story about a pagan witch that was not my cup of tea, and the series finally gets back on track with another two-part team up with Green Arrow and Warlord. It's not perfect, but the tale does begin the restore quality to the fledgling title. There might be another good volume left but if memory serves correctly, this is the beginning of a long downward slide.

Next to Jon Sable, these are the best. Thanks to DC for reprinting them. I can't wait for the next one. I put down what I'm reading when the trade arrives, good stuff, good art.

Not the best stories of Grell's run. But still an amazing read in my opinion

This is the fourth in the collection of Mike Grells run in Green Arrow.It contains a four party story ark revoking around Oliver once again celebrating his birthday (45 , this seemed old to me when I first read it yet it's a milestone I'm about to hit.. Not so old now) only to be pulled back into the world of Shado to help her protect her baby.There's also a 2 part story set in Sherwood Forest with a cameo from a certain cheeky scouse mystic and a couple of stand alones.Overall a good collection. I love the more adult feel of Green Arrow during this run, it's still my favourite version of the Arrow and one of my favourite comic runs of all time,

brilliant