Every once in a while I choose Fridays to take a look back at classic storylines in the world of comics. For our die hard fans they know this is what I call my Flashback Friday post. Today’s post deals with a classic Green Arrow story arc known as “Cross Roads”. The arc takes place from Green Arrow issue #81 all the way to issue #90. It was published by DC Comics in 1993-1994.
Those of you who know me, know that I have several DC Heroes that I really like. There is Firestorm, Green Lantern, and of course the Emerald Archer himself, Green Arrow. When these titles originally came out, I didn’t have the pleasure of owning them because I was paying for college tuition, but when I saw the cover for issue #85 with Deathstroke on the cover, I knew it was a must have. So, I did some research to see how many issues I would need to get to complete the story. Then, with the great invention of ebay, I was able to get all the needed issues through a kick ass ebay seller known as Spencerkiddd’s Comics and More ( stores.ebay.com/spencerkidddscomicsandmore ). Once I received my books I dove in and was a very happy camper.
“Cross Roads’ finds Ollie at a rough time in his life. Dinah has left him, he feels unwanted by all, and he just isn’t have a great year so far. Well, he ends up crossing paths with some new super humans known as Shrapnel and Nuklon. His involvement in this battle forces him to leave his new home of Seattle due to the negative feedback he receives. While on his journey of rediscovery, he makes a stop in San Francisco to visit a friend. While there he intervenes in a domestic dispute and almost looses control.
The next stop fro Ollie is Hollywood where he is hunting Yakuza. While he is there he runs into the Huntress and helps her catch a killer. After he helps crack that case, he decides Vegas is his next stop on his journey. While there he gets mistaken for Deathstroke and ends up teaming with him to survive. Ollie then visits Dallas and ends up running into Catwoman of all people. They were both there looking into some museum robberies.
His journey doesn’t end here. He even has a clash with the JLA as Zero Hour approaches. The story arc ends in issue #90 with Ollie standing over his dead body when Batman comes to him letting him know that his assistance is needed. Of course the Green Arrow is going to take the call. The book the ends with nothing but white pages to indicate that Zero Hour has begun.
I give this series a strong rating of 8 out of 10. Not all the issues were rated 8’s in my opinion, but the others scored high enough to make the average a strong 8. I recommend this read for any Green Arrow fan. If you are not lucky enough to find the books like I did, I suggest going to Comixology and at least getting the digital downloads. You will be glad you did.
