Green Arrow:
Bold Archer

by Allen W. Wright

Explore the Legend

His name is Oliver Queen. After over 80 years in comic books, this archer superhero continues to appear in new adventures.

He dresses like Robin Hood. In other ways he resembles Batman. But he's not quite either. To last this long in popular culture, Green Arrow had to become someone else -- something else. 

Come explore the history of Green Arrow in comics and on TV.

This site is written by Allen W. Wright, creator of the popular Robin Hood website www.boldoutlaw.com. 

This site is in no way affiliated with DC Comics, owners of the character of Green Arrow. The information is provided for educational purposes.

Illustration is by Mike Grell and commissioned especially for this website

Green Arrow illustrated by Mike Grell

Comic Books

  • GREEN ARROW: THE EARLY YEARS - Articles on the Green Arrow's earliest comic book adventures from the early 1940s to the early 1960s

PART 1: GREEN ARROW IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS - An exploration of the early days of superhero comics and Green Arrow's early adventures as a Batman-like hero

PART 2: GREEN ARROW IN THE SILVER AGE OF COMICS - Picking up the history of Green Arrow with the arrival of artist Jack Kirby in 1958. This also examines the various adaptations of Green Arrow's island origin story

  • GREEN ARROW: OBSCURITY AND TRANSFORMATION - When the Green Arrow solo adventures ended in the early 1960s, the character continued to appear in the Justice League of America and as a guest star in The Brave and the Bold. Green Arrow's lack of star power meant the writers and artists were free to experiment and radically transform the character

PART 1: G.A. IN THE 1960s JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA - As Green Arrow's solo adventures ended in the early 1960s, this looks at how he continued in newly published adventures as a member of the Justice League of America. 

PART 2: 1969: THE YEAR OF CHANGE - 1969 is the year that changed everything. Artist Neal Adams gave Green Arrow a new costume and writer Denny O'Neil stripped Oliver Queen of his forture. Also explores the history of Black Canary who enters Green Arrow's life at this point.

  • GREEN LANTERN AND GREEN ARROW: HARD-TRAVELING HEROES (Coming in 2022) -A Look at the possibly the most influential time in Green Arrow's comic book history. He teams up with Green Lantern to explore the social issues of the early 1970s.
  • WHEN GREEN ARROW MET ROBIN HOOD - A multi-part feature exploring those comics where Green Arrow more-or-less encountered Robin Hood

PART 1: TIME TRAVEL ADVENTURES IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS - Covers when Green Arrow and Speedy met Robin Hood in a 1942 comic book and the 1949 adventure where Green Arrow and Robin Hood swapped places

PART 2: MORE ADVENTURES IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS - Robin Hood-themed Green Arrow stories from the 1940s and early 1950s, such as crooks pretending to be Robin Hood

PART 3: ADVENTURES IN THE SILVER AGE OF COMIC BOOKS - Two Robin Hood-related Green Arrow stories from the late 1950s, including a 1959 story where Green Arrow once again time-travels to medieval Sherwood Forest

PART 4: SUPERBOY MEETS YOUNG GREEN ARROW - A 1959 tale where the teenaged version of Superman uses his future knowledge to guide a young Oliver Queen towards becoming Green Arrow, including appealing to Oliver's love of Robin Hood. This could be seen as a forerunner to the Smallville TV series.

PART 5: ADVENTURES IN THE BRONZE AGE OF COMICS: Looks at the 1972 Justice League / Justice Society crossover where the Green Arrow of Earth-Two is stranded in medieval Sherwood Forest and also the 1977 Green Lantern/Green Arrow science fiction story strongly inpsired by the Robin Hood legend.

PART 6: THE MIKE GRELL YEARS - An exploration of the Robin Hood themes in writer/artist Mike Grell's Green Arrow comics beginning with 1987's Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. This also spotlights the 1989 story where Oliver Queen investigates crime in Nottinghamshire and the 1991 Annual co-written by Mark Ryan where Black Canary has a psychic connection with a Robin Hood adventure


Interviews

  • INTERVIEW WITH NEAL ADAMS - Legendary comic book artist - responsible for redesigning Green Arrow as a modern Robin Hood, working on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Batman, comic book censorship and more. A six-part interview.
  • INTERVIEW WITH MARK RYAN - An actor most famous for playing Nasir, the original Muslim Merry Man on Robin of Sherwood, and Mr. Gates on Black Sails. He is also the co-designer of the Greenwood Tarot and Wildwood Tarot. But he appears in this section because he's also written comics including Green Arrow Annual #4 (1991) which features a Robin Hood adventure [Hosted in the Interviews in Sherwood section of my Robin Hood site.]
Green Arrow and Black Canary by Neal Adams

Thank Yous and Acknowledgments

There's a lot of people to thank or acknowledge, and I apologize to those I might miss.

Thanks to all those writers, artists, actors and more who have brought the character of Green Arrow to life over the past 80+ years. 

Special thanks to the creators of Green Arrow -- Mort Weisinger and George Papp.

Thanks to Neal Adams, Mike Grell and Mark Ryan for allowing me to interview you. Special thanks to Mike Grell for the art at the top of this page. Special thanks to the late Denny O'Neil, who I never had a chance to speak to, but who did so much for the character. 

Thanks to Scott McCullar of the long-lost Green Arrow Compendium and Unofficial Green Arrow Fansite for creating a great site and for all the friendly chats back in the day. Thanks to Sarah Beach for a great paper on Green Arrow at the first Robin Hood academic conference in 1997 and for our chats about comics at that conference. Thanks to Ruth and Darrin Sutherland of the Warlord Worlds Podcast and Jeff Messer of so many things for their friendship. 

Thanks to Richard Gray, author of Moving Target: The History and Evolution of Green Arrow, while I started scribbling for this site before your book's publication, your book has been a great resource.

Green Arrow and related comics are copyright © DC Comics and used without permission under fair use for the purpose of criticism and review.

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© Text, Copyright 2022 Allen W. Wright - All Rights Reserved
Green Arrow and related comics are copyright © DC Comics  and used without permission under fair use for the purpose of criticism and review.
Arrow and Smallville TV shows are copyright @ Warner Brothers and used without permission under fair use for the purpose of criticism and review
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This page is a part of Robin Hood -- Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood