What are the most important characteristics of Green Arrow?

Hello guys, just as I promised in my How can Green Arrow's old enemies be reimagined in the New 52? article, I'm here to talk about what are the defining aspects of the Emerald Archer that made him different from any other bowman or superhero.

"Hey! What makes you think you're so special to know what makes Green Arrow the character he is?!"

Calm down, I'm not here to say that I know better than you (actually I kinda am, but that's besides the point), I only want to express my opinion about the most important factors of my favorite hero that I have been able to discover over the years of his appearances in his multiple titles and distinct cameos in different other series.

I have commented in the past how Oliver Queen has been evolving over the years from the adventurous and reckless rich boy from the Golden and Silver Age to the loudmouth and preachy liberal from the Bronze Age to the serious vigilante from the late 80's and early 90's to the resurrected guy who tried to correct his mistakes from the 2000's to finally, the reborn young boy who has discovered a bigger universe around him from present day.

There are several aspects that have been constant and present in all of the incarnations and I'm going to try to discuss the most important of them. By the way, despite that he was Green Arrow for a while, I'm not going to talk about Connor Hawke here (although I love him) since I plan to do that in a future article. This time I will focus exclusively in Oliver Queen.

So, what are the most important characteristics of Green Arrow?

There have been a lot of arguments from different people about what they consider his most relevant traits so instead of citing them, I'm going to present a bit of discussion about what people usually believe about the character.

"Green Arrow is not Green Arrow without his goat beard"

WRONG! That is one of the biggest fallacies that I have heard in the comic community and I can't believe that it's even a thing.

I blame this on people who only know the character in a superficial way and the limit of their knowledge comes from the Dennis O' Neil and Neal Adams version of Green Arrow (which is not one of my favorites).

Most comic readers forget that in fact when Green Arrow was created in the Golden Age he sported a clean-shaven look and he remained that way until the wake of the Bronze Age when O' Neil/Adams arrived into the scene with the title "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" and gave Ollie the look that defined him for generations.

I'm not saying that the goat beard is terrible or anything, it became popular for a reason, it's a pretty distinctive look for him. The problem comes when people starts saying "I don't want to read about a beardless Green Arrow" without even considering any of his personality traits, it just makes their opinions shallow.

"Green Arrow needs to be preachy and liberal"

Not necessarily.
 

When Oliver was first created he didn't show any of those traits and in fact he just started to show

some hints about them when he lost his fortune (which is something I will discuss ahead).

I once again blame this O' Neil/Adams interpretation of the character. Don't get me wrong, for the time it was introduced it was a pretty bold move from the creators and it created aspects of the character that have become really important for his history.

The thing is that, as I've said in the past, something that worked for an era might not find the same luck in another one. For its time it was an innovative direction but for the current age doesn't really work as well, such problems still exist but they're not as abundant as in that time.

Should Ollie have a social conscience? Of course, that's a really important factor of his personality. However, it should be presented in a subtle way and not in the manner how it was originally introduced since it would become pedantic and insufferable pretty quickly nowadays, it needs to come naturally and actually reinforce the story that it's being told without looking like you're judging the audience.

"Green Arrow needs to be a serious vigilante firmly cemented in reality"

Again, not necessarily, at least not to that extreme.

I know that's something that became really popular due to Mike Grell's grim and gritty incarnation of Green Arrow after the event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" but it's something that actually restricted his universe instead of expanding it.

I mean, this is a guy who just uses a bow and arrows in a world of impossible science, magic and

aliens for Pete's sake. Trying to negate those elements from his world so he can play on his own realistic corner is just ridiculous, I'm not saying that the character should interact with all the people from the DCU, what I'm saying is that there should be a balance between street-level stories and supernatural tales, Green Arrow Vol. 3 was the perfect example of this idea, it mixed both aspects pretty well and did it in a way that actually integrated them better to the character's universe.

Now with that out of the way, let's state the facts about Green Arrow.

Since the creation of the character in 1941 at beginning of the Golden Age by Morton Weisinger and George Papp in More Fun Comics #73 there have been several aspects that have defined Green Arrow but there has been one that has been constant in all the incarnations no matter how different they were from each other: The sense of adventure.

Yes, even if you may not believe it, the liberal, preachy and realistic aspects are not the most prevalent elements about this hero, hell, not even the island origin created by Jack Kirby in the wake of the Silver Age was the original. In fact the first origin of Oliver Queen states that he was an archeologist who wanted to save the treasure from a place called Lost Mesa where he mets Roy Harper and both decide to become Green Arrow and Speedy respectively. Everything what follows are a bunch of crazy and energetic adventures following these archers and their love for being superheroes.

Sure, there are other really important traits that have been developed for Oliver Queen like how deep inside he's an incredibly flawed person but at his core the character will always be an adventurer and that's something that must never be lost.

Now, let's talk a bit about how his relationships with other superheroes work to try to explore more about his personality shall we?

Green Arrow and Roy Harper

Yes, their relationship have changed a bit due that Roy is no longer a child and Ollie didn't actually adopt him but again, at its core the dynamic remains the same: Both characters made mistakes and both probably responded in the worse way possible.

The difference being that surprisingly, Roy is better at progressing. While Ollie tends to commit mistakes and swears to not make them again he usually fails at that (cheating his loved ones, abandoning his loved ones, murdering criminals, you name it), Roy on the other hand actually became a more responsible person by getting rid of his more dangerous relationships and addictions and turning into a pretty capable superhero, father and man (until that idiotic Rise of Arsenal mandate came on board of course).

Things have changed in the New 52 as I mentioned but they still follow the same theme: Roy has actually improved himself by becoming a pretty competent hero (and smarter than ever) while Ollie is still on his way to become one. I like how this dynamic has remained the same so far, it shows that the characters are more similar to their previous incarnations than what one might think.

Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Yes, we all know the story about these two because they certainly have an history. Both became a couple in the Bronze Age and were really relevant additions for the Justice League from that era, that's the reason why both are a pretty nostalgic memory for many readers and have a soft spot in their hearts, they are so prominent as a pairing that you hardly see one without the other and their relationship has been translated into other media like animation, live action, etc.

But you know what? They're waaay better when they're separated.

I'm serious, especially in Dinah's case. The problem with the relationship is that writers often tend to make the presence of one of the two much more relevant than the other and often, that character turns to be Green Arrow.

I suppose you don't need me (nor want me) to talk about the atrocity that was the series Green Arrow and Black Canary so I won't get into details, that's a topic for another day, but even in the times of the Bronze Age, Dinah's character usually got lost into the relationship and we didn't get to explore her full potential.

That changed when she broke up with Ollie and became a better heroine for that reason. If you need more proof just go and check both Chuck Dixon's and Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey, that's where the character was portrayed the best and actually exploited her possibilities. Sure, you can go and say "Oh, she was written by competent writers so of course she was going to be well depicted", but that's not always the case. after all Judd Winick wrote one of the best Green Arrow runs ever for me and he didn't exactly got Dinah's character right.

In Ollie's case, yeah, he also becomes a stronger person, mostly because it's his own fault when they break up. We all know that Ollie is just a step away from cheating up on her so I don't think they're made for one another.

In fact, I often consider that their relationship is mostly based on attraction, not love. Hell, most of the writers tend to look their history that way and that's why it always fails at the end, attraction can make a relationship begin but not last, at least if it's completely dependant of it.

Green Arrow and the rest of the DCU

Oh, I was waiting for this segment, let's see how Green Arrow tends to interact with the rest of the superhero community.

Batman and Green Arrow's conversations should always be a goldmine, if an author is not able to get an interesting dynamic from these two he/she simply fails. Both are so different, yet so similar, one should criticize the other for not taking things seriously while the other should mock him for taking things way too seriously. I would love to see more of these interactions in the New 52.

Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen's friendship is something legendary but also something that was cemented based on O'Neil's misguiden characterization for both men. Hal especially was portrayed as a clueless guy full of doubts who needed Ollie to actually start thinking by himself (which goes against every portrayal of Hal before or after this run). Still, I believe their friendship can still be used currently, especially considering that their New 52 personalities have more in common now than ever before. Both are really hotheaded characters who act before thinking but a big difference here is that Hal usually doesn't regret his actions as much.

Superman and Green Arrow is a bit harder to do. GA should appreciate that despite all of his powers, Superman is still a human being deep inside, but always making fun of him for some of his actions while Superman should see in GA a pretty common man that he needs to help.

Hawkman and Green Arrow, another goldmine.In their current incarnations is a bit more difficult to define their interactions but I still believe that one is much more serious than the other, except that this time both seem to be extremely emotional.

Green Arrow and Hawkeye

Heh, this is a tricky one. I'm going to compare two of the most famous archers in the comic industry.

I'm not even going to talk about who would beat who *cough*greenarrowkickshawkguysass*cough* but what are the most important differences between them. Some people tend to believe that both have the same personalities but that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Clint Barton, Hawkeye, is the figure of the everyman in the Marvel universe. Yes, I know that he started his life as a criminal but that was only for a while, after that period of his life he quickly became the kind of guy that you would find anywhere, the kind of guy which you would quickly become a friend of, the guy who might have some flaws but doesn't let those overtake his life.

Oliver Queen on the other hand, is not an everyman and this is where people often confuse the two, Ollie is the representation of the real man in the DCU definitely, but it's a representation that goes to the extreme. Ollie's is an incredibly emotional person and his flaws tend to be the consequences of that character trait, that's why you often see so many stories where he abandons his children, betrays the trust of his loved ones, commits violent acts and even murder, because he doesn't think in the ramifications, he only thinks in the moment.

That's definitely human and I love how a superhero is able to represent some of the most negative aspects of us and still be a sympathetic character. It makes you realize how unique Green Arrow is among other superheroes.

How to not portray Green Arrow.

And of course, here's one of the main reasons why I wanted to write this article.

Green Arrow had a coherent representation over the different series where he appeared most of the time, but what happens when it goes wrong?

Let's see about that.

Joe Kelly is one of my favorite writers who have worked in the Justice League franchise based in his initial work in JLA after Mark Waid and his sequel on Justice League Elite, he truly knew how to create intense and creative stories that exploited the best elements of each character while also giving them the respect they deserved.

Except for one of course.

I'm not kidding when I say that Joe Kelly wrote what possibly is the worst portrayal of Green Arrow in his 70+ years of history. When I want to punch my favorite character in the face after his first lines of dialogue then you know you got a problem.

He depicted Ollie as a complete arrogant and insufferable douche who was all talk and no action, that's pretty much taking the worst aspects of O'Neil/Adams' version and putting them in comic paper which is awful. It doesn't even read like a Green Arrow portrayal, it reads like someone who just barely hear about the character and suddenly decided to write him.

In JLA he started openly cheating on Dinah by hitting on all the other girls from the team, I'm sorry but the character is not that much of a scumbag, not to mention that stupid. He even showed some homophobic traits which go completely against how he was written in his own series. Worst of all, he was completely useless, he did absolutely nothing to help the replacement JLA since they could have perfectly saved the whole team without him.

Oh, but it gets better! In Justice League Elite he had an affair with Dawn Raven despite that she was married to one of the most powerful members of the team and thus compromised the whole group dynamic, again, the character might betray the trust of others but he usually does it without thinking, he doesn't actively looks for it. It was simply terrible.

There are other cases of misguiden portrayals that don't go to that extreme but are still wrong. Take for example Tom Taylor's characterization of Ollie in Injustice: God Among Us, as I mentioned before, the character is not an everyman and that's exactly how he was depicted here. Sure, he was still likable and sympathetic but an everyman nonetheless.

Fortunately nothing has been ever as bad as Kelly's interpretation and hopefully there won't be any other again considering how popular the character has become recently.

Well guys, those are the most important aspects of Green Arrow in my opinion.

What? Do you think I was too preachy and pedantic? Well, at least you know where I got it!