Green Arrow, Vol. 7: Heading Into the Light

Green Arrow (2001) (Collected Editions)

by Judd Winick, Tom Fowler (Illustrator), Paul Lee (Illustrator)

Oliver Green, also known as the Green Arrow, is targeted by the newly empowered Dr. Light and the embittered dark archer Merlyn, who plan to attack his home and those he loves most--his son Connor and his ward Mia.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Crime

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Judd Winick is an American cartoonist, comic book writer, screenwriter, and former reality television personality known for his diverse contributions to storytelling across multiple media. He first entered the public eye in 1994 as a cast member on The Real World: San Francisco, where he formed a close friendship with AIDS educator Pedro Zamora, an experience that deeply influenced his later work. Winick memorialized their bond in Pedro and Me, a critically acclaimed autobiographical graphic novel that earned several literary awards and became a staple in school curricula.

Winick's career in comics took off with The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius and continued with major runs at DC Comics, including Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Batman. His stories often explored socially relevant themes, such as HIV, homophobia, and identity. He was recognized for introducing gay characters and tackling difficult subjects with empathy and clarity. His work on Batman notably included resurrecting the character Jason Todd as the Red Hood, a storyline later adapted into the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, for which Winick wrote the screenplay.

Beyond comics, he created The Life and Times of Juniper Lee for Cartoon Network and served as head writer for Hulu's The Awesomes. In 2015, he launched the Hilo series, an all-ages sci-fi adventure inspired by his own children. The bestselling series has been widely praised and is expected to reach its eleventh volume in 2025.

Winick lives in San Francisco with his wife, Pam Ling, also a Real World alum, and their two children. He continues to create heartfelt and imaginative stories for audiences of all ages.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really a dark arc. Expected from being a semi-followup to Identity Crisis.

Someone is hunting down Oliver and his family. They know who he really is, this isn't a game. They went after his home. So now Oliver recruits Black Lightning to hunt down Doctor Light because Oliver thinks for sure it's him. At the same time Doctor Light plays them both and goes after Oliver's family. Of course it's never that simple as Doctor Light is ALSO teamed up with another villain and they make it twice as hard on the heroes.

Good: I loved the stakes feel real. Without this being a Batman title you know some heroes could die. Some might have here, or badly injured, hell, it'll be interesting to see how they survive. I also really enjoyed the action scenes, both brutal, and highly entertaining. The dialog is solid and Doctor Light rapish ways are on full display here making him pretty creepy.

Bad: The art can be a little weird, especially the lips and facial expressions.

Overall loved this arc. I'm a huge fan of Identity crisis so I had extra enjoyment here. I am eager to see how Oliver gets through this. I give this one a easy 4 out of 5.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad volume. We have a few one shots that lead into an Identity Crisis crossover, and then we end with an Infinite Crisis tie in. Zatanna, Solomon Grundy, Dr. Light and more make appearances. Next up is One Year Later.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green Arrow Vol. 7 Heading Into The Light collects issues 54-59 of the series written by Judd Winnick and J. Calafiore with art by Tom Fowler, Cliff Chiang, Paul Lee, Ron Garney, and James Jean.

This volume of Green Arrow sees Olliver Queen battle the nefarious Dr. Light and Merlyn in a follow-up to DC's Identity Crisis.

This is darker arc than the last few as Dr. Light is vile, vicious, and doesn't care who he maims, kills, and rapes to show off his power. Not a fan of the rape acting as a plot point to just make the reader hate the character.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, but its essential to read Identity Crisis first. All about Dr Light's revenge.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but I'm not enough of a Dc boy to fully appreciate the history the characters have between themselves, namely GA, Dr Light and Merlyn.

Art is so-so, the issues drawn by Ron Garney being the best of the lot by far.

Apparently, this would be an Identity crisis tie-in, which I haven't read, but the story holds on its own. Scarce enough to be noted.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this to be a little too dark. I've never much cared for Identity Crisis, so the aftermath doesn't have much appeal.

We discussed this run, plus the Green Arrow's complicated history in a special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get that this ties into whatever stupid crisis was happening - but, without reading the supporting backstory I didn't think this stood well on it's own.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author, Judd Winick puts the Green Arrow through the ringer here and it felt forced and generic. I guess the point was to enforce the idea that the newly formed Society can get anyone any time. Unfortunately, their presence was only touched on even though there were a handful of villains here. Also, a ton of generic fights with explosions aplenty. The writer is obviously not responsible for this ending as it ties directly into Infinite Crisis and One Year Later but as a reader its unfortunate. The art was also up and down. Down for Tom Fowler, up for everyone else. Overall, if you like fights for the sake of fights, this will be for you. I just wanted, and expected more.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

What a cliffhanger!

[Matt town · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loses stars because Dr Light is a POS villain who ruins everything he touches

[Sydney Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

every time dr light spoke i felt years getting shaved off my life

[Adriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, my first read of any Green Arrow books. I've read a good bit on the Sue Dibney line and I appreciated the references to that. Not really sure about some of the characters which means I'll have to do some online research and it was very much a cliffhanger, but I could grow to like Green Arrow.

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[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winick does an awesome job of working a large crossover event into his ongoing story of Ollie and the rest of the Arrow Crew. Identity Crisis was one of the first DC things I ever read, so it's nice to see it getting some actual play in the DC Universe.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh god, some truly BAMF things are happening in Green Arrow now. That's about the most coherent thing I can say about this trade paperback's ending.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good. The art is still a bit angular for my tastes, but it's overall good AND a good story.

[Brendan Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on the train ride to work. A great adventure of Oliver Queen and some of his closest DC Universe companions. Hope they bring a story similar to this to "Arrow".

[Liquidshark · Rating 5 out of 5]

merlin you bastard. Noooooo!!!!