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in: Issues Rated T, Bobbie Chase/Executive Editor, Andrea Sorrentino/Cover Artist,
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Green Arrow Vol 5 21

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"The Kill Machine; Conclusion": After being marooned in the Arizona desert, Oliver Queen has had a lot of time to think about his double life as the Green Arrow, and he has come to the conclusion that he was never worthy of what he aspired to be. He has mad

Quote1 So what if we don't have millions of dollars to make trick arrows anymore? Maybe the bottom isn't such a bad place to find a new way to be Green Arrow... a better way. Quote2
— Green Arrow

Green Arrow (Volume 5) #21 is an issue of the series Green Arrow (Volume 5) with a cover date of August, 2013. It was published on June 5, 2013.

Synopsis for "The Kill Machine; Conclusion"

After being marooned in the Arizona desert, Oliver Queen has had a lot of time to think about his double life as the Green Arrow, and he has come to the conclusion that he was never worthy of what he aspired to be. He has made too many mistakes, and innocent people that he cared about got hurt or killed as a result. He wasn't good enough.

He wandered for days until arriving at the tent of Magus, where he now demands answers. The man had been cryptically hinting at some kind of destiny for him, and he orchestrated the ordeal that led Oliver to this state. This time, though, Magus is open to giving answers, and he invites Oliver to sit and talk.

Oliver demands to know why his father was on the island that he later wound up stranded. Magus points out that it was not mere happenstance that Oliver washed up there with only a bow to survive with. As Oliver prepares to hear the truth, he is suddenly overcome by the sensation that the tent is filling with colorful fluid and that he might drown. He realizes too late that he's been drugged with some kind of hallucinogen, which Magus explains is a lubricant for the discovery process.

Oliver finds himself in a very vivid hallucination of the island, plagued by monstrous visions of the super-villains he has fought to this point—except for Komodo. Finally, he escapes into a vision of the past, where he sees his father as a younger man, with his companions, as they looked in the photo he saw in the secret room at Queen Industries. He overhears his father and Walter Emerson arguing. Robert Queen has brought them there in search of the original home of the Arrow Clan, which he read about in the journals and maps in his grandfather's vault. Emerson, however, is not convinced that the Arrow Clan is even real, despite the fact that the Outsiders have obviously been on the island recently. He warns that Robert cannot keep shirking his responsibilities to Queen Industries, not to mention his son and wife, Moira.

Magus appears beside Oliver, and explains that the Outsiders are a collective of seven clans, each taking its name from a totem weapon; the arrow, spear, fist, shield, axe, and a final forgotten weapon. He had been a member of one of those clans, centuries ago. Robert Queen had become aware of the Outsiders when he discovered a secret vault belonging to his great-grandfather, who was once the head of the Arrow Clan. Whoever possessed the ancient totem weapon of each clan was its head, and each head became one of the Outsiders' inner circle. But these totem weapons are not merely artifacts, they were said to imbue true enlightenment upon their possessors.

Oliver discovers that the third man with his father is Simon Lacroix, the man who now calls himself Komodo. Magus explains that Lacroix was everything Oliver was not. He was born into poverty and had nothing to live on but ambition and smarts. With those, he rose to prominence in Queen Industries. Lacroix was everything Robert hoped Oliver would be, as Oliver was merely a spoiled teenager at the time. Unfortunately, Lacroix killed Robert in order to possess the legacy of the Arrow Clan, once he learned it was real. The story Emerson had told Moira and Oliver of Robert's death was merely a cover, to hide Robert's secret obsession with the Arrow Clan from them. As this news begins to increase Oliver's stress, he is suddenly shaken from the hallucinations into reality by a vision of a massive and ferocious dragon with three heads.

Oliver finds much of the story hard to believe, but Magus assures him that his affinity for the bow is no accident. While Robert had tried to instill an understanding of archery in Oliver from a young age, he had never cared to take it up in earnest. That was why, after Robert was killed, Emerson arranged to have Oliver stranded on the island with nothing but a bow, in order to prepare him for the day that Komodo inevitably came for him. Magus explains that Komodo wants to become a member of the inner circle of the Outsiders, but the group is using him as the public face of Stellmoor, which is their front corporation. If Oliver wishes to find them, he will have to find the three dragons that he saw. It is likely that Komodo is represented by one of those dragons, but since Oliver saw two more, it is likely that two others await. Magus has an idea of who another of them might be, but he says nothing of who it is.

Magus prepares to leave, leaving Oliver with the man called Butcher, who had been the man to attack him on the highway in the first place, stranding him in the desert. Instinctively, he looses an arrow at the man, only to watch him slice the arrow in half with an axe. Oliver realizes quickly that the man is a member of the Axe Clan. Magus states that John Butcher is a friend, and the man's expression softens as he offers his hand to Oliver. Butcher states that they should trust each other if they want to survive against the Outsiders.

Magus reveals that the second dragon is currently in Vlatava, a tiny country in the mountains of Eastern Europe. He warns that Oliver will face his greatest challenge ever, there. Oliver responds that despite losing to Komodo twice, he is only further motivated to pay him back for all the blood he's spilled.

Oliver returns to Seattle, and rendezvous with Henry Fyff and Naomi. Despite her recent brushes with death, Naomi insists on accompanying Oliver on his trip to Vlatava as part of the so-called Team Arrow. Komodo had terrorized her for days and killed her partner Jax. She will not let that go unanswered.

Despite being officially broke, thanks to the destruction of Q-Core and his own foolishness, Oliver insists that his JLA salary will be able to support them, and besides, he has little interest in Queen Industries, anyway. It's time for him to become something more than a corporate leader. It's time for him to become a man of the people; to fight the corporate system as Green Arrow.

Appearing in "The Kill Machine; Conclusion"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

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Vehicles:



Notes

  • In the hallucination sequence, Emerson refers to Oliver's father as Richard. This is most likely a mistake by the letterer.



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