Few questions about Green Arrow

[Elijya]

Now, I recall myself doing something very similar before where the topic was about Aquaman. As before, I am now getting eager enough to want to read Green Arrow's series and what not. So first I got a few questions.

The Adams and O'Neil series run ('69-'83)
I'm pretty sure this was an amazing run considering the team but I have a few questions:
- Because of COIE, are those stories still in continuity? I ask this because I know with Aquaman, certain things were kept like the death of his son by Black Manta's evil plans back in the 70's, for example.

- If it is in continuity still, will I be confused if I did not read this series? I like to know a lot of background information on characters and supporting characters and such that show up in more recent and current series of a character.

The policy on PreCrisis stories is basicly "Assume everything is out of continuity... unless we say it's in continuity"

the O'Neil/Adams run is in continuity. It didn't last til '83, though, dunno where you got that number.

There's absolutely no need to go back and read it unless you want to try something nostalgic and retro. Here, lemme sum it up for you: Green Arrow is liberal, Green Lantern is conservative, they drive around America and deal with social issues like pollution, politics, racism, Native American rights, drugs, etc. In fact, there was a very powerful drug story where GA's sidekick, Speedy, gets addicted to heroin. It was one of the most social relevent titles for it's time, but the stories are pretty tame by today's standards. It's an important period in both of the characters history, but you really don't need to know anymore than what I just explained.

The only background you need to know heading into Quiver (again, the IDEAL place to jump onto Green Arrow) is that Green Arrow died when a bomb exploded on a plane, his illegitimate son, Conner (raised as a monk and one of the best hand to hand fighters in the DCU), took over his mantle. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, meanwhile went crazy and killed a bunch of other GLs, but eventually became The Spectre, the really really powerful spirit of vengence and God's (yes, GOD's, though they don't ever show the big guy or anything)) right hand man, pretty much.

That's it, all you gotta know. And I didn't even know most of that when I first read it, I picked it up as I went along and I loved it

 

[Elijya]

The Mike Greel to Kelley Puckett series ('87-'95)
A few questions on this as well:
- I am guessing that this is possibly the most essential series to worry about if I'm going to worry about continuity and character/supporting character history and background, right?

- Did they completely restart the Green Arrow series and everything? I ask this since it starts after COIE. As in...is anything before it "continuity-wise" irrelevant?
-
Trade paper backs
Perhaps to save money or make it easier for myself, I will attempt to get most of the stories through paperback; it all depends; so I have a few questions:
- Are there any? I only ask this because ever since I've become an Aquaman comic-reading fan I've noticed the lack of TPBs for him.
- If so, are there many from the '69 or '87 series? Or just '00 and recent stuff?

I would really appreciate the help with my questions. I know I'm being a bit picky, but...I want to know certain things before I go and spend a whole lot of money gradually.

Nope, the Mike Grell run, and the entire GA run from the 80-90s is actually pretty skippable. Not bad, just not really outstanding and there's nothing overly relevant that happens that I haven't already mentioned or that ever gets referenced

-You really don't need to worry about COIE, it never really affected GA

trades: there's two trades that cover the most important of the O'Neil/Adams comics. Not all, just the most important. But again, no need to read this unless you want something nostalgic and retro
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Lantern...ef=sr_1_4/103-1130304-7562224?ie=UTF8&s=books

The Mike Grell era has one trade, The Longbow Hunters, which is not a bad story, but not at all essential to anything else. Get this later if you want to know more about the character, but don't worry about it for right now
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Arrow-L..._bbs_sr_1/103-1130304-7562224?ie=UTF8&s=books

Moving forward to the 2000 series. It's easy, just start with Volume 1, Quiver, by Kevin Smith, and move onto volume 2, Sounds of Violence, also by Smith, and round it out with The Archer's Quest, by Brad Meltzer
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Arrow-Q..._bbs_sr_1/103-1130304-7562224?ie=UTF8&s=books

After the first three volumes, Judd Winnick comes on board, and he's been writing it ever since. Unfortunately, Winnick started strong, but, IMO the title just took a very slow ride downhill and I just had to drop the title because I was really hating it. The biggest drop in quality you'll see when artists Phil Hester and Ande Parks leave.

As was mentioned before, Identity Crisis features Green Arrow in a fairly large role, and was written by BRad MEltzer. You're good to read that any time after The Archer's Quest. It's a damn good story as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Identity-Cris..._bbs_sr_1/103-1130304-7562224?ie=UTF8&s=books

THERE IS ALSO! Showcase Presents: Green Arrow. Showcase Presents is a line of trades the are like phone books: thick, black and white, and cheap. They reprint comics from from the 40s-60s, and are good if you want a whole bunch of comics for cheap and don't mind black and white. But they're extremely dated comics and don't compare to the stories you'll read these days. Again, don't bother with this unless you really really like comics from the 50s, or if you really really end up liking GA and want some more material with him.
http://www.amazon.com/Showcase-Pres..._bbs_sr_1/103-1130304-7562224?ie=UTF8&s=books

But, again, start with Quiver, you'll be fine, it's a good story and a good intro to the character and some other corners of the DC Universe
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Arrow-Q..._bbs_sr_1/103-1130304-7562224?ie=UTF8&s=books

 

[WompuM]

word. Green Arrow and Green Lantern's stories are tied pretty close together a lot of the time.

 

[Red]

Doesn't fall into that category completely. Besides, this is more noticeable and will only be about the Green Arrow questions I had. If I posted in that thread, people would give a few responses and then someone else would ask another thing or they would move on.

I want a good amount of feedback and such since I'm considering to pay for a lot of stuff and then start collecting his series.

Point taken. But had you asked in the thread you would have likely got more indepth answers.

 

[BrianWilly]

The policy on PreCrisis stories is basicly "Assume everything is out of continuity... unless we say it's in continuity"

It's...pretty much the exact opposite, isn't it? Unless anything directly and specifically contradicts it, assume that it's in continuity.

 

[trustyside-kick]

Elijya...wow, thanks a whole bunch man. I had a feeling that the O'Neil and Adams was like that; as in nothing epic that happens to GA except for Roy's drug problem (which I knew already).

I did however think that I would need to know more about the next run, but I guess not. I already knew the stuff like Connor, and his death, and what happens to Hal, and how he came back. I just thought that maybe there was more. I guess I say this because I made the mistake when I got into Aquaman. I thought that going from the '03 series and on was enough and to me it wasn't; wasn't satisfied with most of the series actually; so I went and bought the '94 series as well and am really enjoying it and all the details I missed.

I was hoping, money-wise, that I would just have to collect from the '00 series and up to current...and that's what I'll do. Thanks a bunch, all of you. I actually went over to the 3 comic shops I go to in Houston to windowshop (the day before)...now I can cut the list I wrote down a whole lot.

 

[trustyside-kick]

Point taken. But had you asked in the thread you would have likely got more indepth answers.

I'll take that into consideration next time I do this type of thing. It did take a while for some responses to most of my questions; but eventually I got em answered the way I wanted em to.

 

[blud_knight]

how many green arrows have there been through the years?

 

[Kebab gud]

if your talking about people named Green Arrow the 2.. Oliver Queen and Connor Hawke
both still go by the name, but its oliver queen that is THE green arrow .. connor just tok the name as his own after oliver (his father) died

 

[blud_knight]

^ thanks. thats what i thought, but i was not sure.
and there were two speedys right? One is now arsenal, and the other is still speedy?

 

[Elijya]

correct. The only Green Arrows have been Oliver Queen and Conner Hawk, and the only Speedys were Roy Harper (now Arsenal) and Mia Dearden

Roy Harper may be changing his name to Red Arrow, which is what he was called in Kingdom Come, a story about a possible DC future.

any other characters bearing these names are from alternate realties or different time lines

 

[Kebab gud]

long story short..
2 Green Arrow
2 Speedy
2 Arrowette

 

[Elijya]

and the Arrowettes have nothing to do with GA. He never met either of them that I'm aware of

 

[Kebab gud]

the original Miss attowett was GA's sidekick for a short time and was for a long time the never ending pain in his ass..

long story short.. ollie might be the younger arrowette's father :P
and im not just making a "joke" there are some real proof that he might be :P

 

[sinewave]

the only bit of continuity that has changed in reference to the green arrow family is that after infinite crisis they retconned black canary out of being a founding member of the jla. other than that, everything else is the same as it was.

i agree with the rest of these guys; longbow hunters, quiver, sounds of violence and archer's quest are the best g.a. stories.

the green arrow/green lantern: hard traveling heroes storyline is heavily referenced in archer's quest, but it's not a must read to be able to understand archer's quest. only read it if you're interested or a completist.

 

[Kebab gud]

I now have a new mission in life!
My mission! to fint the final proof that Ollie is Cassie King's father!

 

[sinewave]

who's cassie king?

 

[Kebab gud]

Arrowette... full name is Suzanne "Cissie" King-Jones
so ok so i misspelled it .. sorry :P

 

[WompuM]

2nd arroweete, and its not like you can do dna tests. she's fictional.

 

[sinewave]

the original Miss attowett was GA's sidekick for a short time and was for a long time the never ending pain in his ass..

long story short.. ollie might be the younger arrowette's father :P
and im not just making a "joke" there are some real proof that he might be :P

you're right. here's what i found on wikipedia:

The theory has been put forth by a number of people that Arrowette's real father may in fact be Green Arrow himself, considering that her mother's husband conveniently died when she was so young. He may have been invented, or more likely, Bonnie King discovered she was pregnant and quickly dropped out of crime fighting, and hurried to find a husband so that the child would be considered his.

Legends of the DC Universe #7 - 9 (Aug 98) featured a storyline involving Green Arrow and Green Lantern's first meeting, where they helped stop a civil war in a remote African country. Early in the story, an unnamed, attractive blonde woman (presumably a girlfriend) attempts to inform Oliver Queen that she is pregnant with his child, but, due to Ollie talking about his joint career as Green Arrow and Oliver Queen, she fails to get the message across. Many have speculated that this unnamed girlfriend could have been Bonnie King.

The theory is somewhat consistent with Oliver Queen's past behavior - she would be his second illegitimate child (not including the son of Shado, who became pregnant after raping a delirious Green Arrow) the other being Connor Hawke. Fans also point to Cissie's natural excellence with a bow, her propensity for challenging authority, and her difficulty in fitting in with others. The incident that prompted her to drop from superheroing vaguely parallels a time in Green Arrow's own life, where he became enraged enough to kill. Even Cissie's costume during this incident is similar to Oliver's during that time. There's also a moment in the three-issue "Wendy the Werewolf Stalker" Young Justice story, in which the star of the show asks Bonnie jokingly, "Who's her dad, the Green Arrow?" Bonnie answers "Yes," but Cissie's embarrassed reaction makes it unclear whether we're meant to take her seriously. (The sequence may have been an attempt by writer Peter David to address the popular fan theory)

Although Cissie has not completely fallen into Comic Book Limbo like so many others, her appearances as of late have largely been cameos. With Mia Dearden having taken the role of teenaged archer/sidekick on the pages of Teen Titans and Green Arrow, there doesn't seem to be a pressing reason for Cissie to make an appearance anytime soon. While the issue of who her father is may be resolved at some future time, for now, her paternity remains unknown.

 

[blud_knight]

correct. The only Green Arrows have been Oliver Queen and Conner Hawk, and the only Speedys were Roy Harper (now Arsenal) and Mia Dearden

Roy Harper may be changing his name to Red Arrow, which is what he was called in Kingdom Come, a story about a possible DC future.

any other characters bearing these names are from alternate realties or different time lines

thanks.
i read kingdom come. Loved it. I remember looking at the character lists in the back and seeing red arrow. Thanks for the info.

 

[trustyside-kick]

Roy Harper may be changing his name to Red Arrow, which is what he was called in Kingdom Come, a story about a possible DC future.

It just sounds odd that Roy would do this. I saw and heard of this as well in the JLA series. So I guess he's going back to arrows instead? No more other equipment? Just sounds odd to me is all since GA is still around and so is Conner.

 

[Kebab gud]

after a took a little trip by 4chan (love that site) i saw that they had a Arrowette/Ollie thread there and one of them make a good point..
Hal "claiming to be an insurance agent" gives Cissie's mom a huge sum of money after her husband's death... and that might be seen as a sign that Hal knows something and wanted Cissie to have a good life so he upped the insurance payment....


and the plot thickens...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It just sounds odd that Roy would do this. I saw and heard of this as well in the JLA series. So I guess he's going back to arrows instead? No more other equipment? Just sounds odd to me is all since GA is still around and so is Conner.

He's been back to arrows for a while. That kind of sucks, really. I preferred him with guns, both high- and low-tech.

And it's pretty much gospel at this point that he's changing his name to Red Arrow and aping GA's costume. They're releasing DC Direct toys of him as Red Arrow with the upcoming JLA line. I doubt they'd do that if he's going to remain in his current costume and identity.