DC Relaunch: Green Arrow

Whenever I first came back into comics, and was reading mostly Marvel and X-Men—basically all the books I wasn’t allowed to read as a kid that I really wanted to—The first DC comic I picked up outside of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns was Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow story Quiver. So I do kind of have an attachment to the character and what he has going on. Additionally, it’s hard to not follow a character when it’s your friend’s absolute favorite character. So here’s to you, Dave.

I’ll admit, as anyone should, that Green Arrow did not have the best start, historically. He was more or less set up as an archery themed Batman. Don’t worry, that’s the most we’re gonna talk about that. Oliver Queen, or Green Arrow, has a lot of fluctuation in life. He’s had a lot of hard luck, but he gets by, and then he gets through it. He’ll get lucky, have everything back in hand, and then it all crumbles again. Back and forth, but he always lands on his feet. He’s a human trainwreck, and you can’t help but root for him to get back up.

You never know if he’ll pull that trick arrow or it’ll be a real one singing through your shoulder. Will he be in control of his company and making attempts to help the downtrodden? Or will he be right next to them the next week, just trying to get by. Obsessed with Robin Hood, skillful as all get out, a ladies man, quick to get in your face to tell you how you’re wrong. Arrogant as hell. This is Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. Protector of Star City.

Green Arrow will be written by JT Krul with art from legend Dan Jurgens. First off, Krul is currently the writer for Green Arrow, taking over when the book rebooted as part of Brightest Day. He did a great job putting Ollie through the paces, and looks to run him through a few more here. He’s also written Teen Titans, and worked on Soulfire and Fathom for the late Michael Turner’s company Aspen.

Dan Jurgens has proved himself as an extremely versatile writer and artist over the years, creating the hero Booster Gold, working on multiple titles for both Marvel and DC, and helming the well known Superman story The Death of Superman, and having long runs on both Captain America and Thor. He has recently been working on Booster Gold again, first collaborating with writers Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, and later writing himself. He also worked on Time Masters: Vanishing Point, which acted as a companion to The Return of Bruce Wayne by Grant Morrison, and a lead-in to Flashpoint as well.

Here’s a few Green Arrow titles that are considered definitive, as a well as a few that I just really liked:

Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection vols. 1 & 2 by Dennis O’Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, & Neal Adams
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters by Mike Grell
Green Arrow: Quiver by Kevin Smith, Phil Hester & Andre Parks
Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle & Jock
Green Arrow: Into the Woods by JT Krul & Diogenes Nives

Tomorrow I’m gonna throw two at you. First thing in the morning, look for a lookover Justice League International, and then later in the day (probably around 4 or 5), We’ll be looking into one of the new titles I’m extremely excited about, and that’s Mister Terrific.