Originally published on Patreon
So far the Dark Crisis: World Without The Justice League books have followed a pretty standard formula, half to book given over to one member of the league, where we get to see what the dream world Pariah put them into is like for them. But this month's is something a little different, as there's the titular Green Arrow story, but the also featuring advertises Green Arrow & Black Canary. So does Ollie get to be in two? Yes, but they both do too.
This book is split into two parts, as with the others, but it's kind of one story across both. The first part introduces us to Ollie as a literal Robin Hood. Living in the woods with his band of merry men who are just his sidekicks, and taking on the sheriff of Nottingham, Malcolm Merlyn. When chasing the sheriff through the woods Ollie stumbles through a tear in reality, bringing him to the present day where he meets Black Canary.
The two of them immediately feel a strong attraction to each other, like something is drawing them together. They get attacked by a weird version of Ollie, but working together they're able to defeat him and walk off together.
The second story sees the two of them on separate worlds once again. In one Ollie is a crime fighter with a high tech suit of armour, and in the other Dinah is a super hero cop. Ollie has been dreaming of a woman (Dinah), and has learned that she doesn't exist in this world. Believing that he must be dreaming of someone on another Earth, he builds a rocket that will break through the walls in reality and take him to her.
He does just that, and as the two are reunited once again we see that Pariah is watching over it all, wondering why the two of them keep breaking out of their world prisons and into each others. Whilst he contemplates killing one of them to stop the issue, Dinah convinces him to put them in a reality together, to stop the break-outs. The issue ends with the two of them in one reality, with no memories of what's come before.
I kind of like the idea that Pariah didn't take into account the difference in the relationships between these two and the rest of the League. Ollie and Dinah are more than just teammates, and their love for each other is that strong that being in different realities, with no memories of the other is literally not enough to keep them apart. This could be down to the fact that Pariah never actually intended for Ollie to be there, as he hitched a ride with the League when this all started, instead of actually being chosen to go.
It's certainly an interesting issue, though the split in the middle of it to keep with the structure that the other books have been in does feel a bit odd, and I can't help but feel it should have just been one story completely, instead of this weird hybrid between a single narrative and two separate stories.
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