Before I even delve into this issue there's good news about this series for Green Arrow fans, it's already been extended from six issues to twelve! During the build up to the release Joshua Williamson was telling fans to pre-order to the book, to pre-order all six issues, because if it sold well it could get extended. So thanks to the pre-release excitement and dedicated fans it's doubled in length. Now, let's see if we can do a Poison Ivy and get it turned into an ongoing too. But, to the issue itself.
The last time we saw Oliver Queen he was with the Justice League as they were travelling back to Earth-0 through the multiverse during Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, but something snatched him away from them and he never made it home. This issue opens with Ollie waking up on a beach somewhere, face down in the surf. Unfortunately, this isn't anything as simple as being washed up on a deserted island, as a bizarre alien sky hangs over him.
After catching up with the van the trio take them down, but one of the masked criminals starts to make an escape. Enter Cheshire Cat, a masked teen who's been living homeless in Gotham for a while now (she's appeared in Catwoman before). This is where things get a bit complex, Roy Harper had a young daughter called Lian, who was killed. That was, in real time for readers 13 years ago. Cheshire Cat is Lian, older, somehow returned thanks to all of the universe reboots and shenanigans; but no one really seems to know this. No one, except Roy.
In what is easily the best part of this first issue Roy calls out to Lian as she tries to leave. He reveals that she threw her first ninja star when she was two, and the information stops her in her tracks. From there, Roy describes his daughter, the life they had together, how she loved dressing up at Halloween but gave Roy all her candy, how they used to watch old action movies together, and how she died when she was five. He tells her that it's okay if she's not ready for this, if she can't come back yet, and tells her that he'll be there, waiting for her when she is. This results in Lian throwing herself into his arms in a beautiful full page splash that has the ghosts of their old selves in the background, as Dinah and Connor look on with joy.
Unfortunately, the reunion is short lived, as after she gives cryptic message about 'them' not letting them be a family together Lian and Connor are snatched away in some kind of weird light as Lian yells to the others to find Amanda Waller. Lian reappears in the strange place where we saw Ollie, and immediately comes under attack from Manhunters. Luckily, Ollie is there to save her, and the two of them run off together to a teleporter device that brought them to this place; which Ollie immediately destroys. He then tells Lian that they can never go home.
So, there's a lot of mystery after this first issue, and it's clear that this isn't going to be some nice and easy story that our heroes are going to resolve fast. There's something very weird, and very big going on that seems to be, in part, targeting the Arrow Family. Lian's message to find Waller might be a key part of it. We know that Waller was messing around with the multiverse before this, that she'd essentially left to take over Earth-3. We also saw her at the end of Dark Crisis with a group of mysterious individuals (some familiar, some new) in a high-tech place, making shady deals. Now, there's some sci-fi looking buildings in the place Ollie and Lian are; so could it be wherever Waller is?
Waller is going to be a key part of this, and her operating outside of our universe just gives her more options for crazy ways to screw with the world. Her having some kind of facility outside of the Earth-0 universe, patrolled by Manhunters, and able to snatch people out of their dimensions feels like something that would fit with where Waller is at the moment. This is clearly going to be a big part of the mystery of this series going forward, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.
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