The Archer's Quest

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Comics & Graphic Novels
Author:	Brad Meltzer

Oliver Queen is really a jerk, always getting into women's pants even if they're married or partners of his friends. But thankfully, he is also one of the most interesting characters in the DC universe.

Unlike others who got superpowers or the practically omnipotent/omnipresent/omniscience batman, Oliver Queen's flaws are all too clear, but Brad Meltzer wrote him such that you can't help but feel for the guy.

The Archer's Quest started with the resurrected Oliver Queen standing before his own tombstone, asking Clark Kent who was at his funeral. After some cajoling, Clark Kent gave him the photos. It was then that Ollie noticed someone he did not know at the private send-off, someone who was not mourning.

Through Oracle's assistance, the unknown party was identified as one Thomas Blake, alias Cat Man, who was one of the B or C grade villains. Wondering why Blake would be there, the Green Arrow tracked him down with his former protege, Arsenal's (alias Speedy), help.

Turned out Blake was hired to attend the funeral by the Shade.
Turned out that earlier, after the successive deaths of the Flash (Barry Allen) and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), the Green Arrow approached the Shade to be his 'porn buddy'. They were unprepared for Barry's death and despite all their efforts, the world came to know that Barry Allen was the Flash. The Green Arrow acted as 'porn buddy' for Hal Jordan, destroying all possessions of Hal that would indicate Hal was the Green Arrow.

That's right, 'porn buddy' turns out to be a slang of British origin, not a companion for enjoying porn, but someone entrusted to destroy one's secret stash of porn after one's passing, lest it be discovered and embarassed one's relatives and cause them more upset.

For superheroes, 'porn buddy' is someone who acts to clean up any possible evidence that'd reveal the real identity of the superhero, to protect the privacy and ensure safety of the relatives.

The Shade did a thorough job, almost. A couple of stuff he won't retrieve, especially if related to the Justice League.

The subsequent adventures saw the Oliver Queen tracking down the items himself, with the help of Speedy.

First was a visit to his old Arrow Cave. There, he discovered Solomon Grundy had taken residence. Arsenal should have been a better combatant that Oliver, so Brad had Arsenal taken out by a surprise attack. It would have been unbelievable otherwise.

After the Green Arrow finally knocked Solomon out, he showed Arsenal what he came for, the JLA membership cert of Green Arrow.

Next, they broke into KORD industries, a division of Wayne Enterprises, Inc. Hidden in a basement room was a teleporter to the JLA tower in space. The Green Arrow went solo and was met with the Green Lantern (Kyle Rainer). Here, Brad earned his pay through a dialogue between Arrow and Lantern. Kyle's insecurity at being accepted as a JLA and Hal Jordan's successor showed, though he was aware he went through s**** himself. Arrow's assurance to him was classic - he only looked funny at Kyle because 'it's like someone showing up at your house on Halloween dressed as your dead best friend."

Kyle "That's it?"

Arrow "That's it."

Arrow lied that he was meeting Martian Manhunter, but actually went to retrieve his arrow collection from the trophy room. Arsenal could not understand why Arrow had to lie to friends.

Arrow didn't answer directly, but I suspect he was really enjoying himself by pitting himself against the JLA. He did confess that the most important item he wanted was the diamond tipped arrow. Arsenal commented it looked picture in the pictures, but it was really the size of an engagement diamond. Bingo.

24 hours later, they arrived at the Flash Museum in Central City. Having been warned by Kyle, the Flash (Wally West) stopped the Arrow from entering the museum, and even topped Arrow's expectation by remaining still for over an hour, quite a feat for Wally.

But Wally did not realise that Arrow was acting as decoy, and had sent Arsenal to retrieve one of the Flash's ring from the museum. The Flash normally kept his costume in the ring, but this particular ring contained the costume for Green Arrow, specially made for him by Barry.

Their final stop was abandoned airfield of Ferris Aircraft where Hal Jordan used to work. There, in a hanger, was the old truck that Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen rode in in their legendary ride across America. Within the truck was a Green Lantern ring.

The next scene showed Arrow dating the Black Canary, but chickened out from offering her the diamond ring.

In the conclusion of the Archer's Quest, it was revealed why Oliver chose the JLA cert to be retrieved first. At the back of the frame containing the cert was a photo, showing beardless Oliver carrying Connor Hawke the day Connor was born in the hospital. He lied to everyone, that he never knew he had a son.

But he also began to make some changes, reordering the retrieved items, and deciding on Connor to receive them, this time.