The only part of Connor Hawke's time in the title role of volume 2 of Green Arrow is collected in this volume, labeled as part of the Green Lantern series despite the fact that five of its eight issues were originally Green Arrow releases. They all feature team-ups between Connor and Kyle Rayner, the then-Green Lantern of Earth, both young men unexpectedly thrust into a long-running superhero mantle. The material that works with this is probably the best stuff here.

The first story is "Bad Blood," a one-issue first meeting for the two heroes that is decent, but not spectacular. The largest section of the book is "Hard-Traveling Heroes: The Next Generation," which apes the GL/GA team-ups of old by having the two of them travel the United States looking for Kyle's father. Denny O'Neill's early team-ups were known for their over-earnest social commentary, and there's some of that here, but it fits oddly. The story is okay, but let down by a villain plan that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The best story in the book is the last one, "Hate Crimes," which sees New York City pulled apart by racial rhetoric from both white and black commentators, and gets some nice material in as a result, as well as showing us both heroes in their element.

I liked this brief chance to get to know both Connor and Kyle; in some ways it's a shame that both had to be replaced in their roles by the returns of their predecessors.

Green Arrow and Black Canary: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

When the son of the original Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) get together to deal with family issues. In the first episode it's Green Arrow's Mother who needs saving in the second sequence it's to search for Green Lantern's father, who left him and his family years ago. They find themselves caught up in conspiracy and hatred and find perspective on some of their life issues.

It's interesting and sometimes over the top but fun. The two lads are good together as a team and the banter rings pretty true. ( )