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You can’t keep a good archer down! Welcome back for a look at the original comics bowman, Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow! We last left Oliver blown apart into nothingness, or so we thought! How does the emerald archer come back to life and what does that mean for him and his friends? Let’s find out!

Star City once again has a bow and arrow wielding vigilante. He started out using makeshift arrows from trash and then worked his way up to a familiar arsenal. This man is Oliver Queen, he’s now being funded by Stanley Dover, a wealthy elderly man he had saved one night. Ollie has no memories of his life from just before killed a man for the first time. This Ollie saves and befriends Mia Dearden and is confused when his friends start to show up telling him he died.

It turns out that Hal Jordan, with all his Parallax powers took what small trace of Ollie he could get from the explosion off of Superman’s cape to revive his friend in body and mind, but not soul. Oliver Queen was in heaven enjoying his afterlife when Hal Jordan came knocking pleading for his friend to return to the land of the living. Oliver realized he’d been having a pretty terrible life in his last few years and didn’t wish to return when he was allowed to spend eternity in paradise with his other departed friends. Striking a deal with Ollie, Hal Jordan could bring back a version of Oliver that was what heavenly Ollie thought was him at his best and happiest in life.

This freaked the living Ollie and all his friends out but Stanley Dover had been thrilled since the moment he’d seen Ollie. Stanley was a demon worshiper who’d been trying to achieve great power through binding a demon to himself but he’d ended up binding the creature to his grandson. Now planning on using Ollie’s soulless body to inhabit for himself to prolong his life and binding the demon to himself once more through the ritual, heavenly Oliver had to choose on whether to let innocent people suffer, including his son Conner, or give up his place in paradise to return to his new mortal form. Take a guess which one Ollie took?

Once again alive and whole, Ollie would stop Stanley from killing anymore and the demon would take the old man away and help raise the man’s grandson wiping his memories of the atrocities his grandfather subjected him to witness. Oliver Queen had returned to the world and all his friends knew it to be truly him. Since Stanley had planned on taking over Oliver’s body he’d left his fortune to Ollie who would use it to help fund his Green Arrow career as well as the youth center. Ollie would take Mia on as the new Speedy and begin protecting Star City once more.

After the Infinite Crisis, Ollie had been injured and need to recover. Once he’d done that he would train heavily to become a better fighter in not just the bow. When he would return to Star City a year later, he would get into politics and end up becoming mayor of Star City while still keeping his identity as the Green Arrow a secret. He’d use his power to perform same-sex marriages and trick corrupt officials among other tactics. Deathstroke would arrive intent on breaking Ollie politically since he was now more powerful and effective than ever before.

The funny part about trying to take down Ollie politically was done by another politician instead. It was revealed that Ollie had been funding The Outsiders team, who had a shady public appearance, so his former sidekick Roy could join the Justice League knowing his old team would be taken care of. This reveal brought upon a recall election getting Ollie out of politics. It was during this time he would propose to Dinah Lance who says yes after some contemplation.

Married life is just one adventure after another for Ollie and Dinah. They weren’t even technically married at first due to a replicated fake of Ollie being used to try and kill Dinah, to give you an idea on how their life was always something. The events of Blackest Night would transform Ollie into a Black Lantern Corps member due to his time dead. In the Final Crisis, Ollie is one of the last heroes left available and is one of the last captured before Dinah is able to free him and Superman is able to rid the world of Darkseid’s influence.

Along with Hal Jordan, Ollie begins a team of heroes who are far more proactive in seeking out villains, this would go overboard as it was revealed that this team would torture villains for information on where to find their allies. Prometheus, a villain who was an inverse of Batman in that he’s the child of criminals who were gunned down by the police causing him to train in a crusade against justice, would arise to deal with this new team. Prometheus would be responsible for Roy Harper losing his arm, the death of Roy’s daughter Lian, along with hundreds of other deaths. When Prometheus is captured and is able to get released, Ollie follows him and kills Prometheus. Put on trial, Ollie is found not guilty as it turns out that killing Prometheus is the kind of thing no jury in the world would convict.

After the events of Brightest Day, Ollie is in possession of a White Lantern Corps ring which allows him to grow a forest in the ruins of Star City that he now protects. Ollie becomes a defender of the refugees from Star City as he fights off corrupt officials and any other criminals attempting to hurt the lost citizens. He truly becomes Robin Hood in this time, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

In the New 52, Ollie is much younger in the start of his heroic career. He’s in charge of one of the most influential and powerful tech companies in the world based out of Seattle. He and Roy are closer in age but have had a major falling out. He has a support team in his activities as Green Arrow, he seems to have no connections to Black Canary or Hal Jordan. This Ollie had far more adventure and intrigue on the island that he was deserted on and is still learning new things now that he’s back home about people and places from the island as well as his own father. He would join a state-sponsored super team, the Justice League of America for a time until they collapsed and he’d join the Justice League United.

There you have it folks! Oliver Queen, the green, arrow-shooting machine! He’s had rough times as comics archers seem to unfortunately live. He has a very popular TV show right now where the New 52 influences seems stronger than the older comics, though it also has a lot of the “regular arrows only” and grittiness of the Longbow Hunters run. The boxing glove arrow is sort of iconic with him and even made an appearance in the show once. He’s been in several of DC’s cartoons and has always been a favorite of mine. I’ll pretty much always check in to see what they’re doing with him next.

Suggested Reading
More Fun Comics #73
Green Arrow
Longbow Hunters
Hard-Traveling Heroes
Justice League Unlimited

Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net