• Dark Crisis Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1
    Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1
    Writer:
    Stephanie Phillips
    Artist:
    Clayton Henry
    Letterer:
    Troy Peteri
    Cover Artist:
    Clayton Henry, Marcelo Maiolo
    Publisher:
    DC
    Price:
    $4.99
    Release Date:
    2022-10-11
    Colorist:
    Marcelo Maiolo

The DC omniverse is currently facing a Dark Crisis like none other. The villainous Pariah has trapped the Justice League in their own dream worlds. These dreams keep the heroes trapped in seemingly perfect worlds while Pariah and the Great Darkness use their bodies for fuel. Dark Crisis: Worlds Without a Justice League is a five-issue limited series spinning off from the main event, with the sole purpose of showcasing these fake realities. Written by Stephanie Phillips and Dennis Culver with artwork from Clayton Henry, Nik Virella, colors by Marcelo Maiolo and Romulo Fajardo Jr., and letters from Troy Peteri, Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1 reunites two classic lovebirds.

Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1 transports readers to the medieval age, where the brave outlaw Green Arrow and his merry band of men protect the innocent and weak from the clutches of tyrannical men. Green Arrow's old foe, Malcolm Merlyn, flees into the surrounding woodland. Oliver Queen quickly gives chase, only to enter a strange dimension filled with sky-high concrete structures. But as soon as he steps in, a mysterious woman attacks him. It's love at first fight. In the other story, Oliver finds himself dreaming about a beautiful woman every night. He builds a machine to travel dimensions to unite with his true love, inadvertently dooming both his and Black Canary's Earths.

RELATED: REVIEW: DC's Batman Incorporated #1

Dark Crisis Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1 Green Arrow

Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1 uses the alternate Earth setting as a pretext to merge the legend of Robin Hood with that of the Emerald Archer. It is a fun retelling that embraces the odd nuances of both iconic stories. The plot loses no time building up to the main narrative after a brief bow-and-arrow exhibition that plays more on the mythical outlaw trope. But once out from his forest cover, Oliver finds the new world more depressing than the green he's used to. Writer Stephanie Phillips makes Dinah Lance the perfect foil for the archer. It takes the Black Canary to show Oliver the beauties of her "depressing" world, bringing them closer and closer as sparks fly. The backup feature by Culver is quite loose. The thematic bindings may be the same as the tale before, but the execution is poor. Luckily, it functions as a means to an end to show the love shared between these star-crossed lovers.

Between colorist Marcelo Maiolo's lighting skills and Clayton Henry's sweeping art style, every element of this issue looks graceful and dramatic. Henry uses clean, bold contour lines, with minimal inking, to keep the attention on the foreground where all the action happens. Hence, it is no wonder that every hand-to-hand movement is well laid out and dynamic. Nik Virella pencils the second story and creates a strikingly different aesthetic that revels in hatching lines. Romulo Fajardo Jr. also embraces the darkness in the background and colors around the inks to add volume to reality as it shatters around the two protagonists.

RELATED: REVIEW: DC's Detective Comics #1064

Dark Crisis Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1 Oliver and Dinah

At its heart, Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1 is a love story. While the heroes of the Justice League fight together as colleagues, Black Canary and Green Arrow have always fought as partners and lovers, watching each other's backs forever and always. The writers of this issue capitalize on that idea and show how, time and again, the two always find a way to merge their worlds or die trying. Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League - Green Arrow #1 celebrates this fighting spirit, which is what keeps the book alive.