Broken Frontier

Continuing from the first part of "Shooting Straight" (which can be found here), Broken Frontier continues its look at the history of the Emerald Archer, the Green Arrow.

Shortly after the “Post-Crisis” DC Universe launched (and under the guiding hand of Mike Grell), Green Arrow was re-imagined into a “realistic” superhero.  In the three-part series The Longbow Hunters (1987), readers found that Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance have relocated from the fictional Star City to Seattle, Washington.  Arrow, portrayed as now being in his forties, reinvents his costume, adopting a garb suiting the climate of the Pacific.  The series also did away with the archer's gimmick arrows, with the hero relying on traditional archery equipment in his battles against street crime.  Additionally, Grell expanded on Green Arrow’s origin, giving the character the feel of an urban legend.  In the course of the story, Black Canary is kidnapped and brutally tortured (costing her both her superpowers and her ability to bear children), Green Arrow breaks his vow to never kill and a new character, Shado (a Yakuza archer), is introduced.

Following on the heels of The Longbow Hunters came the first ongoing Green Arrow series (February 1988), once again helmed by Grell (this time solely as writer).  Continuing the tone and themes established in The Longbow Hunters, Queen existed in “the real world” introducing new supporting characters that included Police Lieutenant Jim Cameron, CIA agent Greg Osborne and mercenary Eddie Fyers (in addition to recurring antagonist/occasional ally Shado).  Queen’s superhero trappings continued to disappear, even removing his mask from the Green Arrow costume.  With the exception of The Question (who under Denny O’Neil had been reimagined in a similar “real-world” situation), Green Arrow seldom interacted with the outside DC Universe (when other superheroes did appear, it was usually in their secret identities).  The series also featured several milestones including Green Arrow coping with accidentally killing a kid armed with a paintball gun (#19, June 1989), the revelation that he (unwillingly) fathered a son with Shado (#37, September 1990) and a spilt with Black Canary (Green Arrow #75, June 1993). 

With the conclusion of Grell’s run (#80, November 1993), Green Arrow returned to its traditional superhero roots.  The series quickly removed Oliver from Seattle and teamed with several superhero characters, including Huntress, Catwoman and the Justice League, as well as beginning a long-standing rivalry with Deathstroke.  More importantly for the ongoing saga of Oliver however, was the introduction of a young monk named Connor Hawke in Green Arrow #0 (October 1994).  As part of the DC Universe spanning Zero Hour (September 1994), Green Arrow came face to face with a superbeing attempting to re-write all of reality – Hal Jordan (the former Green Lantern, now operating as Parallax).  In the conclusion of the crossover, Arrow confronted his friend, but when Jordan refused to back down, Queen buried an arrow in his chest.  Believing he had killed his former best friend, Queen returned to the ashram monastery (from The Flash back-up stories) to seek solace.  With Hawke’s aid, Oliver Queen returned, along with Hawke (now wearing a version of the Green Arrow costume) and Eddie Fyers. 

Before long, Oliver learned the truth readers had already been let in on – that Connor Hawke was Oliver Queen’s son (Green Arrow #96, April 1995).  At the climax of a multi-part saga, Oliver was killed in an explosion, leading Connor to replace him as the new Green Arrow (Green Arrow #101, October 1995).  As the lead in the series, Connor carried on many of his father’s legacies, earning the respect of Black Canary, forming a friendship with the new Green Lantern (Green Arrow #104, January 1996) and even joining the reformed Justice League (JLA #8-9, August-September 1997).  Although Connor developed a strong cult following, the title eventually slid into cancellation, despite frequent crossovers with Green Lantern and the Batman family of titles.  Although the true final issue of the series was Green Arrow #1000000 (November 1998, part of a company-wide crossover that explored the DC Universe in the far future), the last in continuity story was issue #137 (October 1998).  The series wrapped with Connor and Fyers retiring from active adventuring, while a cliffhanging final page found the reality-warping Parallax (Hal Jordan) appearing at Oliver Queen’s grave.

In April of 2001, Oliver Queen made a high profile return to the DC Universe with a new self-titled series.  Written by Kevin Smith and featuring the art of Phil Hester and Ande Parks, the story began with Oliver alive and well, but living as a vagrant and utilizing makeshift Green Arrow equipment.  As the story developed, Smith revealed that Hal Jordan (using his reality warping Parallax powers) resurrected Oliver’s body, but reset it to a time before the previous volume of Green Arrow comics (the intent being that this Green Arrow would be younger and less embittered by hardship).  Despite his initial refusal, Oliver finally allowed his soul to be reunited with his body, and Green Arrow was once again protecting the streets of Star City.  During Smith’s time on the book, Oliver’s new supporting cast was established, including an underage prostitute named Mia Dearden (#2, May 2001), Black Canary, Roy Harper (the former Speedy, now known as Arsenal) and Connor Hawke (who also continues to use the Green Arrow moniker). 

Around the same time, the animated Justice League cartoon underwent a revision of sorts, expanding its animated roster to include almost the entire pantheon of DC heroes.  One of the first recruits for Justice League Unlimited was the emerald archer, voiced by Kin Shriner.  First appearing in the July 2004 episode, “Initiation,” Arrow quickly became a regular featured character on the program. 

Back in the comics, summer 2003 saw Judd Winick take over as new regular series writer (#26).  Many of Winick’s earlier issues dealt with building Ollie’s rogue’s gallery (adding the Riddler and the mob-boss, The Brick) as well as some significant changes in the status quo to his supporting cast.  The most prominent was the revelation that Mia Dearden was HIV-positive, as well as with her adopting the role as the new Speedy (issues #43-45, December 2004-2005).  In 2004, Green Arrow was also a supporting character in Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis mini-series, a book that would sent the tone and direction for the DC Universe over the next several years.  For Oliver, a significant occurrence in this series was a confrontation with Deathstroke (Issue #3, October 2003), that would rekindle a rivalry between the two, as well as eventually lead the Arrow to expand his arsenal of skills beyond just the bow and arrow.  The aftermath of Identity Crisis would send Green Arrow and his allies on a collision course with two other villains, Dr. Light and Merlyn the Archer (issues #54-59, November 2005-April 2006).  At the conclusion of #59, the villainous pair succeeds in destroying Star City, as well as critically wounding Oliver Queen.

At this point, all of the DC Universe superhero titles jumped one year ahead in their continuities.  Green Arrow #60 (May 2006) revealed major changes in Green Arrow’s world – he and his allies had spent the lost year recovering and honing their combat skills, they helped re-establish Star City and, as Oliver Queen, Green Arrow became mayor of the city (an interesting contrast to his traditionally anti-authoritarian point of view).  In this “One Year Later” story, Green Arrow finally had a rematch with Deathstroke, ended his term of mayor and, in the final issue (#75, August 2007) proposed to Black Canary in a cliffhanger ending. 

Green Arrow has also recently made a couple of other multi-media appearances.  The most high-profile of which was as a supporting cast member in the 6th season of Smallville.  Justin Hartley played Oliver Queen, who first appeared in the episode “Sneeze,” and later, Green Arrow (who debuted in “Arrow”).  Beyond his initial appearances, Queen has remained an important off-screen presence in the show.  Green Arrow has also shown up in the animated series, The Batman, as a member of the Justice League.  Oliver Queen may also make the leap to the big screen in the near future, as David Goyer and Justin Marks are reportedly working on a film titled Super Max, that would feature the character framed for a crime he didn’t commit and sentenced to a super-villain prison. 

Despite the cancellation of his own series, Green Arrow has remained a strong presence in the comic book world.  In the pages of Justice League of America, he sponsored his former sidekick, Roy Harper, for membership in the League (Roy adopted the identity of “The Red Arrow”).  Writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock are also midway through Green Arrow: Year One, a modernization of Oliver Queen’s origin.  In terms of the proposal cliffhanger, this arc has been picked-up in a four-part Black Canary mini-series.  Moving into the autumn, solicitations provided by DC Comics suggest that the nuptials will move ahead, with a series of one-shots scheduled around the event (The Black Canary Wedding Planner, JLA Wedding Special and The Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special).  The saga of Green Arrow and Black Canary then continues in October with the debut of Green Arrow/Black Canary, a new ongoing series – although perhaps tellingly, the cover image does not depict Oliver Queen, but rather Connor Hawke.