History ComicBook / GreenArrow

* WriterOnBoard: Many, many examples.

A fourth volume of Green Arrow began publication in September 2011 as part of the ComicBook/New52 relaunch. The new book is set in Year One of the new DC Universe and has taken Oliver Queen back to his roots as a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, traveling the world and going wherever a hero is needed. After several creative team changes in its first year did little to garner interest in the series, the book was taken over by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino.

* FingerlessGloves: Green Arrow's costumes have featured these at some points, albeit with some variation as to which fingers.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge:
** Lian's death in ''JLA: Cry For Justice'' is a textbook case of this, done solely to make Roy more "interesting" and send Ollie off on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
*** Mia Dearden was scheduled to die too, but James Robinson was able to convince DC Editorial that would be a mistake.
** In ''The Longbow Hunters'', Black Canary is captured and tortured solely for the purpose of giving Green Arrow a story-arc where he angsts over killing the men who were torturing her. In fairness to Grell, he did depict both Ollie and Dinah going through therapy regarding the incident afterwards - an unusually realistic step in comics at the time. And Dinah was far from a helpless damsel in his later Green Arrow stories, saving Ollie's life several times over the course of the series.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[BadassBeard Respect the beard.]]]]

For the rest of The ComicBook/New52 era, the book would be written by urban fantasy author Benjamin Percy. Percy would remain on the series as it became ComicBook/GreenArrowRebirth. The new series has proved popular, restoring many elements of the classic series - primarily the romance between Green Arrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary, Oliver's status as a social-justice warrior and [[BadassBeard his trademark goatee]]. The new series has also discarded [[PutOnABus most of the supporting cast]] introduced during The ComicBook/New52 run, save for the characters created by Jeff Lemire like Emiko Queen and hacker Henry Fyff. The new series is focused on Oliver and Dinah's efforts to fight The Ninth Circle - an [[TheSyndicate uber-capitalist cabal]] tied to an AncientConspiracy, with designs on taking over America through [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil human trafficking]] and CorporateWarfare.

While never as popular as Batman and Robin in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, Green Arrow and Speedy sold decently, and were members of the [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers Seven Soldiers of Victory]], Creator/DCComics' second superhero team. After UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the pair was moved to ''Adventure Comics'' along with ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}. As pet characters of editor Mort Weisinger, they were published continuously as backups to the ''Superboy'' feature all the way from 1946 to 1960. GA and Speedy then jumped to ''World's Finest'' until 1964.

** The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Green Arrow and Speedy "never existed" in the new Earth history post-ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths. This has caused some problems for the ComicBook/SevenSoldiers continuity when it's referenced.

Major changes would come in 1969, when artist Neal Adams gave Ollie a new costume and his now-trademark forked beard. Inspired by this striking new look, writer Dennis O'Neil followed this up with a storyline in which Oliver Queen lost his fortune. A few nights on the street dealing with the social services net from the bottom radically altered Green Arrow's politics. From (at best) a "limousine liberal", Green Arrow became an outspoken champion of the poor and oppressed, as a cross between RobinHood and Abbie Hoffman. It was also around this time that Green Arrow became romantically linked to ComicBook/BlackCanary - at that time an immigrant from Earth-Two.

The Emerald Archer. The Battling Bowman. The Modern Day Main/RobinHood.

After Grell left the series, it was reintegrated with the rest of the DCU just before ComicBook/ZeroHour. After Oliver Queen was forced to kill his best friend Hal Jordan as a part of that crisis, Oliver retreated once more to the Buddhist ashram where he went once before after accidentally killing someone.

-->Richard Gray: ''Moving Target: The History and Evolution of Green Arrow''

* CanonImmigrant: Diggle made the jump from the ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' TV series to the comics. Felicity Smoak ([[RetCanon who is in the comics but was completely different]]) is going to join him; Tommy Merlyn is also in the comics, but so far has only made one appearance.

For the rest of The ComicBook/New52 era, the book would be written by urban fantasy author Benjamin Percy. Percy would remain on the series as it became ComicBook/GreenArrowRebirth. The new series has proved popular, restoring many elements of the classic series - primarily the romance between Green Arrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary, Oliver's status as a social-justice warrior and [[BadassBeard his trademark goatee]]. The new series has also discarded [[PutOnABus most of the supporting cast]] introduced during The ComicBook/New52 run, save for the characters created by Jeff Lemire like Emiko Queen and hacker Henry Fyff. The new series is focused on Oliver and Dinah's efforts to fight The Ninth Circle - an [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSyndicate uber-capitalist cabal]] tied to an AncientConspiracy, with designs on taking over America through [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil human trafficking]] and CorporateWarfare.

Green Arrow frequently appears in other Creator/DCComics media. He first made an animated appearance in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/Superfriends Superfriends]] during the "Wendy and Marvin" era, though he didn't make the jump to be part of later series despite having an action-figure in the associated ''Super Powers'' line by {{Kenner}}.

** After having his secret identity being revealed to the world before his death proved to be a major plot-point in ''Quiver'', Oliver Queen suddenly had a secret identity again in Brad Meltzer's ''Archer's Quest'' for no apparent reason other than BradMeltzer wanted Green Arrow to have a secret identity again.

* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: As a modern-day Robin Hood and ChaoticGood poster-boy, Green Arrow is frequently depicted as believing this.

->''"Green Arrow is the embodiment of what one person can do. It’s a theme that comes up repeatedly in this book, one that explains why this powerless archer with a chip on his shoulder appeals to so many people. He wasn’t born of the heartbreaking tragedy of a Batman, he didn’t fall from the stars to deliver humanity from evil, nor is his origin wrapped in the fabric of Greek myths and legends. He is a human character that struggles with work, love, loss, darkness, death, and the weight of his own sins. Like the rest of us humans, Green Arrow is flawed, and a perpetually moving target."''

->"''Green Arrow is the embodiment of what one person can do. It’s a theme that comes up repeatedly in this book, one that explains why this powerless archer with a chip on his shoulder appeals to so many people. He wasn’t born of the heartbreaking tragedy of a Batman, he didn’t fall from the stars to deliver humanity from evil, nor is his origin wrapped in the fabric of Greek myths and legends. He is a human character that struggles with work, love, loss, darkness, death, and the weight of his own sins. Like the rest of us humans, Green Arrow is flawed, and a perpetually moving target."''

* WhamEpisode: In the first issue of Jeff Lemire's run once he takes over the New 52 title, [[spoiler: Emmerson is killed off, Queen Industries is taken over and liquidated, Q-Core is destroyed, Jax is killed and Naomi is kidnapped, and Oliver meets Komodo, an archer who's skill excels his own, and Magus, a mysterious and cryptic being with no eyes.]] The series changes a LOT from that point... but not in a bad way.

The Lemire/Sorrentino run primarily dealt with setting up a MythArc focusing on Oliver's battles with Komodo, a man connected to his father, and an ancient collection of warrior clans known collectively as The Outsiders. (It should be noted that, apart from the presence of Katana, these Outsiders had no relation to [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Comicbook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]] superhero team.) The series was generally well-received by fans and critics, though some felt that Lemire's mythology developed had little connection to the classic series mythos despite reintroducing characters like Count Vertigo and Shado. This run also was notable for introducing Emiko Queen (Oliver's half sister - the product of a tryst between his father and Shado) and bringing [[CanonImmigrant John Diggle]] into the DC Universe.

Over the years, Oliver had devolved into a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob and there was no explanation for how he had become the world's greatest archer or where Roy Harper acquired his training. An explanation came during a short run in 1958, which featured artwork by Creator/JackKirby. In the new origin story, Oliver Queen found himself stranded on a desert island after his yacht sank. Oliver taught himself archery and basic hunting skills to survive. Eventually a gang of criminals came to the island and Ollie used his archery skills and primitive trick arrows to defeat them, deciding to keep fighting crime with his newfound skills once he returned to civilization.

''[Dinah leaves and Oliver looks at her wedding ring.]''\\

* MasochistsMeal: A very funny page from a ''ComicBook/GreenArrow Secret Files'' issue shows Ollie's famous chili recipe (which is not only an actual recipe, but apparently a very good one, if not really as hot as depicted). The JLA all have horrified reactions to it (including J'onn comparing it to fire and freaking out)... except Franchise/{{Batman}}, who just thinks it needs more crackers: [[http://idol-head.blogspot.com/2007/09/ollie-queens-stupendous-chili-recipe.html Link]]

'''Dinah Lance:''' It goes back to our days in Seattle. We were perfectly happy— so you started talking about getting married and having a family. You let me feel guilty for not wanting to have children. Then ashamed for not being able to. But the truth is—you never wanted to be a father. You ran out on Connor the day he was born. When that w*** of an assassin Shado told you about your other son, Robert, you didn't seem interested there either. Face it, Ollie. Lying about this was just another wedge to drive me away.\\

'''The''' [[TheStraightAndArrowPath Archer Superhero]].

* VitriolicBestBuds: With GreenLantern Hal Jordan.

Green Arrow was then teamed up with GreenLantern Hal Jordan in a series of socially relevant stories in which the "by-the-book" Hal and "plays by his own rules" Ollie deal with issues like racism, political corruption, pollution and overpopulation. Speedy had not been seen adventuring with his mentor in some time and this was made a plot point when it was revealed that Green Arrow's neglect had caused Roy to turn to heroin. Roy later recovered from his addiction with help from Black Canary, becoming a federal agent for some time. He later adopted the superhero codename of Arsenal, rejoined the Titans (where he led the team for a time) and fathered a daughter, Lian, with the supervillain assassin Cheshire - making him one of the few single-father superheroes in comics history.