I usually try not to spoil stuff in comics, but this particular "shock ending" has been telegraphed for months. Here's how that went down:
First, DC shocked its fans by announcing that former lovers Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen and Dinah "Black Canary" Lance would be getting married late in 2007, despite a recent history in which the characters had been apart for years and headed in very different directions. If one word were to come to mind as that news broke, it would be: contrived.
Next, the wedding-related special events started popping up like pimples on a candy-loving teenager's face. The final issue of the current Green Arrow series, # 75, would feature Ollie's proposal. Then there was the four-issue Black Canary mini-series - guest-starring Green Arrow! - in which Dinah would ponder the question and eventually deliver her answer. Not to take too much suspense away from that - like there was any to begin with - we then heard about the Black Canary: Wedding Planner one-shot, followed by the Justice League of America: Wedding Special and then finally the Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special. And finally, we were told, there would be a brand new Green Arrow/Black Canary ongoing series, following the wedding specials.
Which was all well and good - except for the contrived part - until cover images for the early issues of the GA/BC ongoing started getting shown. Without getting too far into the complicated history of either character, suffice it to say that middle-aged "lady's man" Oliver Queen has at least one illegitimate child that he knows of: a son, Connor Hawke. During the time Ollie was dead - like I said, complicated - Connor took over the Green Arrow title (and comic) during a period in which both Marvel and DC were attempting - mostly unsuccessfully, in the long run - to replace their graying characters with younger versions. After Ollie's return from the dead, both father and son held onto the Green Arrow name, and are best buddies, to boot ("ahhhh"). Which brings us back to those GA/BC covers... all of which show Dinah and Connor on them!
The most obvious conclusions to draw from this odd turn-of-events were that the wedding had been called off at the last minute, Ollie had died in the process, or *cringe* possibly Connor had swept in and stolen his old man's lady right out of the church, in the grand tradition of Dustin Hoffman and Katherine Ross in The Graduate! (OK, so in the movie it was actually a guy stealing his former lover's daughter from her betrothed, but close enough. People are nutty sometimes, eh?) Before long, speculation raged that the new groom wasn't actually killed, but just incapacitated, such that Mrs Oliver Queen and son-in-law Connor would team up to track down his attacker(s). Based on the final page of the GA/BC Wedding Special (shown above), that appears to be what's going on. I mean, sure, that looks fatal (arrow in the neck and all that), but c'mon, the guy's already returned from the dead once! What's a little mortal wound to someone like that?
And the ending could've been a big surprise, if DC had simply withheld the covers for the upcoming series, or used iconic images of the two leads, or simply showcased Dinah and indicated that the first story arc was all about her. Instead, the way they chose to go, that final page had all the impact of a wet noodle.
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