I’ve been reading the Green Arrow/Black Canary mini-series, and so far I am really enjoying it. The story is interesting and the future of Connor, who is now brain-dead, is in question. So, I thought I would review a trade paperback containing stories of Green Arrow and Black Canary.

The TPB contains some of the best talent around. For example, there are stories from the writers Alan Moore, Brad Meltzer and Elliot S! Maggin. However, there’s some really important content missing which made up this duo. Most of this TPB contains stories involving and revolving around Green Arrow. There is not much consideration for Black Canary. For one, where is the four issue mini-series that Black Canary had in 1991? Or the 12 issue series in 1993? Or the many appearances she made in Birds of Prey where some of the storylines featured her? Or maybe even the 2007 four issue mini-series? There aren’t any excerpts of those as well. Most of the stories containing Black Canary has her as a plot device, such as her being held hostage and Green Arrow avenging her because a villain shot her. The Black Canary I know isn’t that easy to down!

Which brings me to my next point. The stories featuring Green Arrow and Black Canary are merely excerpts from full issues. Their relationship build up is poorly documented. While these excerpts do show a good amount of how they work and their personalities, I didn’t feel satisfied with how they met each other; this TPB is missing work from Neal Adams who wrote the Green Arrow/Green Lantern issues, which showed the Green Arrow/Black Canary chemistry.

Green Arrow/Black Canary: For Better of For Worse:
Rating:
4.6/10 (How’d you get that?)

I think this is certainly a nice way to celebrate the marriage of Green Arrow and Black Canary, but it’s poorly executed. It seems very messy when I read it and very incomplete. Most of the stories are about Green Arrow, and I really thought this issue would show the both of them working as a team, but I am clearly wrong. If you like Green Arrow, then this is probably the trade paperback for you. As for the Black Canary fans, you should probably look into the Birds of Prey TBPs.