Past and future collide in Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 preview

DC is marking the 80th anniversary of Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, with a 100-page giant one-shot anthology on sale Tuesday, June 29 that brings together characters and creators from throughout Green Arrow's history.

The character first appeared in 1941's More Fun Comics #73.

cover of Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 — (Image credit: DC)

Oliver Queen hasn't had a starring role since his last title ended with #50 in 2019, but now DC is putting him back in the spotlight for his landmark anniversary.

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The publisher has celebrated other landmark anniversaries with similar special oversized issues, including the Superman-centric Action Comics #1000, and of course Detective Comics #1027, which marked 80 years since Batman's debut in Detective Comics #27.

"Time to dust off your Boxing Glove arrow, fire up the Arrowcar and join DC in celebrating eight decades of emerald excellence!" reads DC's description of the one-shot. "On June 29, the Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 brings together some of comics' greatest storytellers to pay tribute to Green Arrow's legacy and the heroes and villains that have fought aside and against him."

Black Canary, Connor Hawke, all three of Roy Harper's superhero personas Arsenal, Red Arrow, and Speedy, plus villains Onomatopoeia, Count Vertigo, and more all get facetime in the special.

The over-sized anniversary issue features a who's who of notable Green Arrow storytellers, including Mike Grell, Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester, Otto Schmidt, Ben Percy, Tom Taylor, and Devin Grayson alongside new Green Arrow contributors including Stephanie Phillips, Mariko Tamaki, Ram V, Vita Ayala, Nicola Scott, Chris Mitten, Laura Braga, Max Fiumara, Brandon Thomas, and others.

The publisher has released three-page previews of two of the special's figuratively bookend stories: 'The Disappearing Bandit,' an old-timely story of Green Arrow and sidekick Speedy early in Roy's career by Mariko Tamaki and Javier Rodriguez; and 'The Last Green Arrow Story,' (which is exactly what it sounds like) by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino.

Both previews can be seen here:

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Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 will also include a variety of variant covers themed around each of the eight decades of Green Arrow's history.

Here's a list of the planned covers followed by a preview gallery:

'40s Variant: Michael Cho
'50s Variant: Daniel Warren Johnson
'60s Variant: Neal Adams
'70s Variant: Derrick Chew
'80s Variant: Gary Frank
'90s Variant: Howard Porter
'00s Variant: Jen Bartel
'10s Variant: Simone Di Meo

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Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 will feature some of the best Green Arrow villains of all time.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011, and now I'm the Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)