The Absolute Universe is one of DC’s biggest, boldest projects in decades. It’s an entirely new universe with new takes on classic heroes. They’ve all been stripped of a core aspect of their identity and broken down to their barest essentials, emerging as something that feels both refreshingly new and perfectly familiar. Superman is fighting to save the world from itself with memories of Krypton’s explosion, Batman is a working-class rebel fighting against the billionaire Joker, and Wonder Woman is a princess of Hell fighting to restore peace. One of the most dramatic changes came with Absolute Green Arrow, as he’s not a hero. He’s a serial killer, and Oliver Queen is dead.
Absolute Green Arrow has been flying off the shelves faster than any arrow, to the point where it was just extended to double its original length, ending now with issue #12. It follows Dinah Queen, who, in the wake of Oliver Queen’s murder, is thrust into a deadly mystery with the Longbow Killer hunting down anyone associated with Jubal Slade and Hector Hammond. The series’s first two issues already introduced us to a smorgasbord of Ollie’s extended cast, and issue #3 gave us plenty of new faces. It even showed us the Absoltue version of the long-forgotten Brittany Brandon, aka Moonbow.
Brittany Brandon, in the original universe, wasn’t actually a Green Arrow character at all. She debuted in The Fury of Firestorm #48 as a love interest for Ronnie Raymond, but most people remember her better as Moonbow, if they remember her at all. She was set to live a boring life as the head of her parents’ company, but craved excitement. She donned her own blue archer’s costume, picked up a bow, and decided to battle crime. She modeled herself after Robin Hood, aiming to steal from the biggest crime families in the city. Her career was short-lived, but she left enough of an impact to reappear in this other archer’s story.
In the Absolute Universe, Brittany is totally different. Instead of a nepo-baby with time to kill, she runs a podcast/small-time news network channel dedicated to keeping people informed about what’s going on in the world. In her small section, she spoke about how she understood and felt the same vitriol for the corrupt ruling class that everyone else did, but also needed there to be a better solution than letting a serial killer run loose in her city. She was against the Green Arrow, believing there was a better way to fix the world, but didn’t know what it was. She was the voice of the major theme of the entire book, which asked what we could do when faced with the false dichotomy of choosing oppression or murder.
It’s very possible that Britanny was chosen for this minor role because she herself was an archer. This book has made a point to introduce as many of DC’s expert archers as it can, from Oliver Queen on down. Turning a previous nepo-baby who only adventured for kicks into someone working her tail off to keep people informed in an age that wants nothing more than to overwhelm someone, and someone who managed to keep her cool despite being tugged between two extremes, is really awesome. Of course, Brittany could be much more than an archer deep cut. She could be a lot more involved in this story than we give her credit for.
It’s highly likely that this will be Brittany’s only appearance, but there’s always the chance that she is involved with the Green Arrow killings. Her Prime counterpart certainly has the skillset and connections for it. She could easily be someone whose family was involved with Hammond and was helped by Ollie, only for him to die, and for her to take up killing in his name. It’s unlikely, but she wasn’t the only suspect introduced in this issue. Emiko Queen was name-dropped, and her contentious but loving relationship with her brother is more than enough motive to don a green hood and pick up a bow.
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