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Green Arrow may have started out as little more than a Batman copycat, but new series writer Chris Condon has found the perfect way to differentiate the Emerald Archer from the Dark Knight. Both characters are rich playboys who moonlight as costumed crime-fighters with high-tech gadgets, but their individual personalities couldn’t be any more different.
In an interview with AIPT Comics, Condon talks about the approach to the character in his new Green Arrow series. “I think he’s always kind of been a little bit more of a radical,” Condon says of Oliver Queen, explaining, “just in terms of what he does and how he does things.”
Condon goes on to explain how the revamp of the character by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams informed everything that came after it, with Ollie’s personality as a rabble-rouser remaining intact throughout the decades:
That kind of goes back to the first Green Arrow stuff that I really read, with the Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams stuff and it goes all the way into the Mike Grell work, which is fantastic obviously, I’ve talked about that enough. And on into you know, on into later iterations, whether you’re talking about the Jeff Lemire or any of the Josh Williamson stuff that I’m following, that character has remained. That’s what I was interested in, in terms of the character.
Green Arrow Is More “Radical” Than Batman
New Green Arrow Writer Chris Condon Explains the Difference
Green Arrow and Batman have long had a shared legacy, with the Emerald Archer basically acting as a second-rate Batman in his earliest adventures. Much like Batman got around in the Batmobile and Batwing out of his Batcave, Green Arrow also zipped around town in an Arrowcar and Arrowplane before retiring to his Arrowcave. Green Arrow lacked his own distinctive personality until Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams revamped the character in the late sixties, with Adams giving him a beard and new costume and O’Neil completely reworking his personality by making him more socially-conscious.
In his Golden Age adventures, Green Arrow even answered an Arrow-Signal whenever there was a crime in Star City.
This version of the character continued when O’Neil and Adams teamed up for their landmark run on Green Lantern / Green Arrow, which paired the two emerald-themed characters on a road trip that dealt with themes like race, pollution and drug addiction, issues that had rarely been touched upon in mainstream superhero comics. Even though the Green Lantern / Green Arrow series was short-lived, Oliver Queen’s revamped characterization stayed in place in all future stories.
As Condon notes, Oliver Queen’s radical personality has remained throughout the various Green Arrow runs over the decades, from Grell’s gritty take in the eighties all the way to Joshua Williamson’s recent, more fantastic approach with Sean Izaakse and Phil Hester in the first few arcs of the current Green Arrow volume.
Green Arrow Has Never Been the Same as DC’s Other Iconic Superheroes
Green Arrow Writer Discusses What Makes the Character Unique
For Condon, this characterization is what truly differentiates Green Arrow from the rest of DC’s stable of superheroes, making him more than just another version of Batman:
I’ve always been attracted to [Ollie’s] interpretation of the world. It’s not the same as Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman. He’s got a unique perspective on things. And that’s kind of always what I was attracted to.
Green Arrow’s unique, bleeding-heart perspective has always distinguished the character in the wider DCU, with his radical outlook differentiating him from more traditional heroes like Batman, who are ultimately more interested in upholding the status quo. He may have started off as little more than a Batman clone, but Green Arrow’s radical personality has made him distinctive on his own.
Green Arrow #2 is available now from DC Comics.
Source: AIPT Comics
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