and often the complete absence of it to ensure that every page strikes at the reader and remains lodged in their brains9 justice league rise and falljustice league rise and fall image credit dcprior to the demise of the preflashpoint universe there was one last great green arrow story to tell justice league rise and fall following the events of james robinsons cry for justice roy harperarsenals daughter is dead roy has lost his arm and is in a coma star city lies in ruins the villain prometheus is to blame and green arrow breaks the line that no hero should ever cross by killing the bad guy in cold bloodwriter jt krul together with primary artists federico dallocchio and geraldo borges deliver one of the more divisive stories in ollies recent history green arrow has been at the center of multiple justice league stories but rarely has his humanity been put so starkly on trial ollie had turned his back on the league in the past when they didnt gel with his politics but here they do the same when his desire for revenge was put ahead of the titular notion of justice ollie is ultimately confronted by the league has his engagement ring returned to him by dinah and turns himself in for his crimes it led to the dawn of a new era for green arrow but it continued to prove that his lowest points also made for the best stories8 new bloodnew blood image credit dcas one of the longestrunning creators on green arrow since mike grell writer judd winick carved an indelible mark on the character returning to the spirit of the relevant comics made famous by denny oneil and neal adams in new blood collected in green arrow moving targets winick uses the framework of a cracking action story to explore social issues and continue the work he began in the earliest days of his writing one of the most highly publicized aspects of his fiveyear run was the character of mia dearden introduced by kevin smith and destined to be the new speedy during this arc she tests positive for hiv coming out to her adopted family and classmates and adopting the dual role of hero and educator in a poignant moment winick puts the words of his late friend and activist pedro zamora directly into one of mias speechesunder the skilled hands of artists phil hester and ande parks mia is transmogrified off the page to become something close to real a fictional character who educates the reader while picking up the twin legacies of speedy and zamora as winick said at the time i figured one hero story should follow another 7 identity crisisidentity crisis image credit dcthe term crisis has always had a particular meaning in dc usually referring to the collapse of one continuity and the rise of another in its place while the stakes were far more personal in the controversial sevenissue limited series identity crisis by brad