Absolute Green Arrow #5 Review
Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Cover Artists: Rafael Albuquerque & Marcelo Maiolo
Variant Cover Artists: Gerald Parel, Seba Fiumara & Mirka Andolfo
1:25 Variant Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl
Editors: Sabrina Futch, Katie Kubert & Chris Conroy
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99 US/Variant $5.99 US (Card Stock)
Release Date: September 16, 2026
Her mother broke her father's heart. Then, cancer broke his body. Like her parents, Dinah Lance had planned on a career in the Star City Police Department. Instead, she has worked as a professional fighter and a bodyguard to society's elite.
Now, Dinah works for Hector Hammond. The billionaire employs a surgeon to experiment on people. Hector claims it's all about achieving Longevity Escape Velocity. But really, he's just a rich kid who wants to play with people like toys and turn them into monsters.
Can Dinah Lance escape Hector’s House of Horrors? And can she bring down his empire like Kal-El imprisoned Ra’s al Ghul and forced Lazarus Corp into bankruptcy? Or will the "Black Canary" and the mysterious Green Arrow become two more of Hector Hammond’s playthings? Let’s grab our bows, leap into Absolute Green Arrow #5, and see!
Story
When Dinah helped Hector Hammond enter Oliver Queen's Arrow Cave, the Green Arrow took Hector's hand. Later, when Roy Harper led Dinah to Jubal Slade's "Island," the Green Arrow used Hector's hand to infiltrate Hector Hammond's security. As Dinah and the Green Arrow battled Solomon Grundy, Hector's monster took the Green Arrow's hand. Then, as they sit together in Hammond’s House of Horrors, the Green Arrow broaches the subject of Dinah’s mother.
Hector and Solomon Grundy's return cuts short the Green Arrow's revelation. But then, Hector gets a surprise when he removes Green Arrow’s mask. While the discovery shakes him, Hector quickly regains control. He’s too used to treating people like disposable commodities to feel the sting of betrayal.
As Absolute Green Arrow #5 begins with an insight into the past, more revelations follow as the Green Arrow reveals what prompted them to pursue this course. These insights link evidence from Dinah's investigation with Oliver and the Green Arrow's past. Yet flashbacks reveal two sides of Oliver Queen as the Green Arrow tries to empower Dinah, while Hector seeks to disillusion her.
Amid the action and drama, the narrator contemplates the world Dinah inhabits. These ponderings dovetail with Dinah's concerns and why she refused Hector's employment until he threatened her father's life. Pornsak Pichetshote’s story is filled with plot twists and leaves the reader hanging. Yet in this story about the forces that sicken society, the people who struggle with their conscience emerge as heroes and antiheroes, even if they walk on feet of clay.
Art
While Hector Hammond conducts business elsewhere, Dinah Lance and her fellow captive sit back-to-back in Absolute Green Arrow #5. Unable to face each other, Green Arrow studies his bandaged stump as he broaches a difficult subject. Dinah cranes her head as far toward him as she can and shouts in reply. Panels frame a wide shot of Hector and Solomon Grundy’s entrance. While Solomon Grundy seems an unbeatable monster, the eyes staring at them from his limbs and torso evoke the child found in Oliver Queen’s Arrow Cave.
As Rafael Albuquerque’s detailed art fuels drama, revelations, and action, Marcelo Maiolo applies a limited palette to Absolute Green Arrow #5. Green Arrow relates his backstory with green, indigo, and violet, while Hammond retells history in green, yellow, and orange. Yellow, orange, red, and green dominate Hector's House of Horrors. Yet half of a red, orange, and yellow close-up fades to black, comparing Hector Hammond with the Controller of MU in Absolute Green Lantern.
Black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons grow bold for intonation, shrink for lowered voices, and enlarge for raised voices. Dark green letters in green balloons convey recollections of Oliver Queen, while painful utterances, whether small or large, fill cloudy balloons. Letters in green boxes show the narrator's words, while sound effects heighten a battle to survive a nightmare. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.
Final Thoughts
Hector Hammond's security advisor, Malcolm Merlyn, wanted Dinah Lance to protect Hector Hammond and Reese Tyler while investigating the Green Arrow. The former Star City police detective's search for truth won her entry into Hector Hammond’s private lair. While a prisoner awaiting medical experimentation, torture, or death, Dinah learns more about the people in her life and aspects of society the media never reports on. Yet Hector Hammond, who believes he is one of the few Humans who can handle cosmic insights, clings to assumptions and refuses to accept the truth in Absolute Green Arrow #5.
Rating 9.6/10
To look inside see Absolute Green Arrow #5 Preview.
For how Dinah learned Oliver Queen's fate, see Absolute Green Arrow #4 Review.
For what happened before that see Absolute Green Arrow #3 Review.
For what happened even before that, see my preview of Absolute Green Arrow #2.
For how this series started, see my preview of Absolute Green Arrow #1.
For how Oliver Queen died, see my preview of Absolute Evil #1.
For more on the series, see Pornsak Pichetshote on Absolute Green Arrow.
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