10 Best Green Arrow and Green Lantern Team-Up Comics, Ranked

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Green Lantern and Green Arrow might not be as old as Superman and Batman, but they’re still one of the oldest pairings in DC Comics. The two heroes have a history dating back to the ’70s when Green Lantern’s comic briefly became Green Lantern/Green Arrow, where the two heroes teamed up and traveled across America. The two emerald heroes only shared a comic for a decade, but their time together resonated long after fans grew tired of the pairing.

Their history together is so strong that it lasted through generations, as future Green Lanterns and Green Arrows became friends based on Hal and Oliver’s history. Even today, DC will occasionally release a team-up between both heroes to rekindle the “hard traveling heroes” fire that made the characters so popular in the past. Of course, some of their team-ups make for better stories than others.

10

Kyle And Oliver Struggle To Accept One Another

Black Circle: Urban Knights By Ben Raab, Judd Winick, Charlie Adlard

Hal and Connor didn’t have much trouble getting along, but the same can’t be said for Oliver and Kyle. Not long after Ollie returned, he and Kyle met under…less than ideal circumstances. While both were chasing criminals that turned out to be part of the same case, Kyle managed to get on Ollie’s nerves badly enough for Green Arrow to punch him in the face.

Surprisingly, this six-part storyline turned out to be fairly important. It introduced the alien criminal group the Black Circle and future Sinestro Corps member Amon Sur. Still, it’s hard to rank it higher than tenth place thanks to Kyle and Ollie bickering the entire way through. They barely try to become friends by the end of the last issue, but it’s not convincing–Ollie’s certainly never going to be one of Kyle Rayner’s closest allies.

9

Hal Reminds Ollie Of All His Allies

Green Arrow Vol. 4 #2 By J.T. Krul, Diogenes Neves, and Vicente Cifuentes

Just before the New 52 era, Star City underwent some major changes. The supervillain Prometheus devastated Star City with a massive earthquake, then shortly afterward, during Brightest Day, the White Lantern caused a massive forest to emerge in the city, upending more of its geography. With the city desperately needing help, Ollie made the forest his home, offering aid to people even as the city turned against him.

Feeling like a failure thanks to the battle against Prometheus, Oliver began ignoring all his friends and family…except one. Hal made a point of traveling to Star City and visiting Ollie in the heart of the forest, where he learned that even his mighty Green Lantern ring didn’t work. Still, even without his ring Hal and Ollie were able to fight off a group of mercenaries who aimed to bring the Green Arrow in. There’s not a lot to this issue, but it at least showed how Hal and Oliver are always there for one another.

8

The Emerald Warriors Become Allies

Green Lantern Vol. 2 #76 By Denny O’Neal and Neal Adams

This is the crossover that started it all, where Green Lantern and Green Arrow journey from co-workers to Hard Traveling Heroes. It begins when Hal unknowingly protects a landlord from some rowdy tenants, only for Oliver to stop him from standing up for a corrupt slumlord. At the time, Hal was a stickler for obeying the rules, and Ollie helped remind him the rules were there to protect the innocent, not the guilty.

This issue might have aged poorly, but it’s still a great first meeting. Its historical importance alone justifies it being on the list, but there are other aspects to love about this first pairing. Mainly, it’s nice to see DC heroes confronting real-life issues for once rather than just another Silver Age supervillain. By the end of the issue, they even agree to take a trip around America to try and get a better grasp of their country.

7

Green Lantern And Green Arrow Try To Prove They Can Be Normal

The Green Lantern #8 By Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, and Steve Oliff

Grant Morrison’s The Green Lantern gained a reputation for getting the Emerald Knight back in touch with his Silver Age roots. The series took Hal Jordan to the end of the universe and beyond, but even Green Lantern has to get back in touch with Earth sometime. In a Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up, Hal helps Ollie stop a drug scheme…only to find out the crooks aren’t normal drug dealers.

Throughout the issue, Ollie tries to convince Hal to come back to Earth to reconnect with his human side. Yet their own case just keeps getting weirder and weirder, as they fight demons who use souls to create drugs, work with alternate-dimensional versions of themselves, and even save the entire world. It’s one of the weirder stories they’ve ever had, yet through it all, the friendship they have for each other shines through.

6

Kyle And Connor Shut Down A Grifter

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #125, Green Lantern Vol. 3 #92, Green Arrow Vol. 2 #126 By Chuck Dixon, William Rosado, Doug Braithwaite, Ron Marz, Darryl Banks

Kyle and Connor worked together more frequently than people today might remember. On one such mission, the two of them worked together to shut down an old enemy of Oliver Queen, a mass murderer named Nicholas Kotero. In a three-part story that feels shockingly relevant to the modern era, Green Lantern and Green Arrow are forced to stop a villain whose only goal is to stir up hatred in America through racial strife.

While both sides are a bit clumsy in “Hate Crimes,” this three-part story is Kyle and Connor at their best. After working together many times, they operate like a well-oiled machine here. The two trust each other implicitly, and Kyle can even help Connor with a problem in his home life. Readers don’t get nearly enough of these kinds of crossovers in the modern era.

5

The Next Generation Of Hard Traveling Heroes

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #76-77, Green Arrow Vol. 2 #110-111 By Chuck Dixon, Rodolfo Damaggio, Ron Marz, and Paul Pelletier

The second time Kyle and Connor met turned into a direct reference to the original Hal/Ollie team-ups. Entitled “Hard Traveling Heroes: The Next Generation,” the four-part team-up saw the heroes travel across America to track down Kyle’s missing father. Along the way, the two heroes recounted their lives as heroes and what it was like for them growing up without their dads. It wasn’t long before their adventure brought them to a familiar location to fans of the original Green Lantern/Green Arrow series, a town known as Desolation.

There, Kyle discovers a man he believed to be his dad involved in a secret plot to create a second American Revolution. Though Kyle went along with it at first, Connor was able to help him see the light before things went too far. Fortunately for Kyle, the man he helped was his uncle rather than his real dad. This is a great crossover with many humanizing moments for both characters, but the unnecessary fight in the middle holds it back from ranking any higher than fifth place.

4

The Next Generation Has Its First Meeting

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #104 By Chuck Dixon and Rodolfo Damaggio

By the mid-’90s, Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan were gone, and Connor Hawke and Kyle Rayner had taken their roles in the DC Universe. Still, they had never met one another until Green Arrow Vol. 2 #104. It began as a distinctly Green Arrow-focused mission, as Connor and his partner Eddie Fyers tried to track down Connor’s missing mother from a dangerous gangster. When Connor and Fyers were in over their heads, Kyle appeared just in time to protect them both.

Though Kyle and Connor don’t initially get along, their relationship is far from the antagonistic rivalry Kyle shares with Wally West. The issue makes it clear this new version of Green Lantern and Green Arrow aren’t on the same wavelength, yet they both still respect what their predecessors did. By the end of the one-shot, it’s clear they’re building a strong new friendship.

3

Hal Jordan Helps Connor Hawke Get Closure

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #136, Green Lantern Vol. 3 #104 By Chuck Dixon, Doug Braithwaite, Ron Marz, Paul Pelletier

In the late ’90s, DC had moved on from Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen, but that didn’t mean there weren’t stories to be told. Hal Jordan appeared briefly in the modern DCU, thanks to some time-traveling shenanigans. While visiting from the past, Hal encounters Ollie’s son while Connor is looking for help from Kyle Rayner.

Together, the two look into Ollie’s last case against the eco-terrorist group New Eden. Though this version of Hal is too young to have developed a connection with Ollie, he still fights just as hard to help a fellow hero get the justice he deserves. This two-part story gives readers a glimpse into Hal and Connor’s friendship without ever making Hal feel condescending toward the rookie hero. This is one of the last issues of Connor’s solo comic and a perfect penultimate issue.

2

A Distant Glimpse Of What Could Have Been

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #96, Green Arrow Vol. 2 #130, The Flash Vol. 2 #135 By Ron Marz, Paul Pelletier, Chuck Dixon, William Rosado, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, and Paul Ryan

This isn’t just a crossover between Green Lantern and Green Arrow, but it’s too good to ignore. Three of a Kind is precisely the story readers should’ve gotten more of from DC Comics in the ’90s and 2000s. It showed the next generation working together as Kyle Rayner, Connor Hawke, and Wally West vacation together only to run into a supervillain heist aboard a cruise ship.

The teamwork between the three heroes is raw, but it’s still enough to help save the day. This is technically “just” a standard superhero story, but it’s also the kind of story readers never get to see again after this. The early 2000s focused heavily on event storytelling, and by the mid-2000s, both Kyle and Connor had been replaced by Hal and Ollie again. The DC Universe returned to the Silver Age era, but with “Three of a Kind,” fans briefly saw what it would be like to follow a young group of heroes.

1

Green Lantern And Green Arrow Start Taking Their Home Lives Seriously

Green Lantern Vol. 4 #7-8 By Geoff Johns and Carlos Pacheco

Readers today can once again take Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-ups for granted. Yet when this two-parter story launched in 2005, that was far from the case. Instead, it was the first time Hal and Ollie could hang out together since both had returned to life, and it felt special. The two-parter focused on Hal struggling to slow down after his revival, just as Mongul’s son landed on Earth.

Wielding the Black Mercy, Mongul subjected Green Lantern and Green Arrow to their “perfect” lives, forcing them to think about how they’d been approaching their time outside the costume. Though they hadn’t worked together in years, their deep friendship made it easy for them to fight off Mongul and his sister, sending them back where they came from. This brief crossover sets the bar because it takes advantage of decades of history and makes both heroes look at their lives honestly.

“}]] Green Arrow and Green Lantern have a decades-long history, with several memorable team-up stories to explore between the iconic DC Comics heroes.  Read More