The Queen is Dead (Long Live the Queen!)
Green Arrow (2001) is a comic book series published by DC Comics on Green Arrow and Speedy. It was formally announced in the letters page of Green Arrow (1988) that Kevin Smith would be taking over the title following Chuck Dixon's departure from the title. The series was launched with Smith as the writer alongside Phil Hester as penciler and Ande Parks as inker, who both stayed on the title as the main illustrators for the majority of the run's publication.
Kevin Smith's run consisted of the Quiver and The Sounds Of Violence arc from issues #1-15.
Brad Meltzer's run consisted of the Archer's Quest arc from issues #16-21 and retconned in the fact the Oliver Queen had been present for Connor's birth, contradicting Where Angels Fear To Tread.
Judd Winick, who would write the title for most of it's run, joined the title starting from issue #26.
The first issue was published April, 2001. The series ran for 75 issues, with the last issue being published August, 2007. The series was followed by Green Arrow/Black Canary, also written by Winick.
Storylines in this run that have their own pages:
Green Arrow (2001) provides examples of:
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In General
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: The new Speedy is the teenager Mia Dearden who is HIV positive, female and a former prostitute.
- Canon Discontinuity:
- After having his secret identity being revealed to the world before his death proved to be a major plot-point in Quiver, Oliver Queen suddenly had a secret identity again in Brad Meltzer's Archer's Quest for no apparent reason other than Meltzer wanting Green Arrow to have a secret identity again.
- The revelation that Oliver Queen was aware of Connor Hawke's birth before Parallax/Hal Jordan told him that Connor Hawke was his son (as revealed at the end of Archer's Quest) requires you to believe that Oliver Queen is so gifted a liar that he could bluff an omnipotent being with the power of all but one of The Guardians Of The Universe.
- Heading Into The Light by Judd Winick was meant to be a lead-in into Infinite Crisis. It proved to be so out-of-synch with what Geoff Johns had planned that it was retroactively declared to have taken place AFTER Infinite Crisis, in order to explain why Oliver Queen was active in Infinite Crisis but was incapacitated for months by the end of Heading Into The Light.
- Continuity Snarl: The series created numerous minor, but confusing, problems since Oliver Queen came back from the dead.
- The problems began when novelist Brad Meltzer wrote a Green Arrow story called The Archer's Quest centering upon Oliver Queen going on a road trip with former sidekick Roy Harper to retrieve items that could be used to discover his secret identity. The problem with that is that Oliver Queen hadn't had a secret identity in years! In fact, in the Quiver storyline written by Kevin Smith (which came out less than a year before Meltzer's story) the main piece of evidence Batman used to convince a resurrected and amnesiac Oliver Queen that he HAD been dead was newspaper articles which used his real name while discussing his death.
- Another problem was the revelation that the whole Archer's Quest was a ruse and that Ollie had really been trying to recover a photograph which proved that he had been present on the day his illegitimate son Connor Hawke was born and that Ollie, ipso facto, was a dead beat dad. The problem is that this scenario is completely implausible given the circumstances under which Ollie originally found out that Connor (who he had been traveling with for a while before his death) was his son - he had been told by the truth by his best buddy Hal Jordan, who was (at the time) nigh-omnipotent with the power of all The Guardians Of The Universe Minus One. For Meltzer's scenario to make sense, we have to believe that Hal Jordan is capable of being able to see the DNA of a person by looking at them but is unable to tell when his best friend is lying about having no idea he had an illegitimate son.
- Winick wrote a flashback scene where Connor's mom approached Ollie and was sarcastically wished good luck in trying to prove the baby was his in court. This scene apparently took place BEFORE the shipwrecking incident which inspired Ollie to become Green Arrow, as he tracks her down once he gets back to civilization and is there to have his photo taken with Connor before he has a fight with Sandra and walks out of her life again. What makes this truly awful is this scene was meant to bookend the Green Arrow: Year One mini-series by Andy Diggle. Suffice it to say that Green Arrow fans who have read that book find it hard to believe that the man Oliver is at the end of the story would ever abandon a child in need, much less his own son.
- Judd Winick did a major disservice to the character when he decided to join Green Arrow and long-time girlfriend Black Canary together again off-camera, only to break them up. He did this by having Green Arrow suddenly decide to have a one-night-stand with the niece of a friend, despite the fact that Ollie was ready to propose to Black Canary not a few months earlier in the final chapter of The Archer's Quest by Brad Meltzer. Indeed, the dialogue in the scene where Ollie nearly proposes suggested that he and Dinah had gone out a few times since his resurrection but that she wasn't ready to date exclusively, let alone get married.
- Judd Winick caused problems with his Heading Into The Light storyline, which was meant to be a lead-in to Infinite Crisis. In the end, there were so many issues with the storyline that DC Comics had to retroactively declare that Heading Into The Light took place AFTER Infinite Crisis, even though the story ends with a wounded Oliver Queen having visions of himself in other realities.
- Secret Identity:
- Originally, he had one until about mid-way through the Mike Grell run, when he was outed by the United States government after being framed for espionage. After sacrificing himself to save the city of Metropolis, he was given a full-page obituary on the front page of The Daily Planet, which identified Oliver Queen as Green Arrow. This was used as proof of Oliver's death in Quiver, when Batman was trying to prove to the clone Ollie that he was/had been dead.
- After Judd Winick took over the series post-Quiver, Oliver Queen suddenly had a secret identity again. No explanation was given for why Oliver Queen suddenly showed up in Star City again at the same time the original Green Arrow returned and nobody - except for Mia Dearden - made the connection.
- Oliver's secret identity was outed AGAIN, following Cry For Justice, just before he was put on trial for the murder of Prometheus.
Kevin Smith's run (Issues 1-15)
- Annoying Arrows:
- In issue #15, the villain Onomatopoeia takes several arrows to the body in an attempt to kill one of Green Arrow's sidekicks. After a long (long) stand off, he manages to escape, even though he is a pincushion. Nobody is sure if the guy is superhuman or just well trained.
- In issue #18 Green Arrow once shot Solomon Grundy with enough arrows to fill a pincushion, but inflicted no substantive damage. Given that Grundy is a) Immune to Bullets and b) already dead, this is entirely justified.
- Badass Cape: Mia's costume as Speedy has a yellow cape that has a hood on it.
- Badass Longcoat: Onomatopoeia features a trenchcoat along with his mask.
- Cool Mask: Onomatopoeia wears one with a bull's-eye on it.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Mia Dearden was sold into prostitution at a very young age.
- Hero Killer: Onomatopoeia goes on a murder spree of costumed vigilantes that fought crime and collect their masks as souvenirs of his victories. He nearly kills Connor Hawke via a bullet to the brain, injured Black Canary, and tried to kill Green Arrow.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Mia was a prostitute prior to being Speedy.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: Mia insists that Oliver train her as his new sidekick. Given the problems he had training Roy, he resisted until a city-wide emergency required all the help he could get.
- Kid Sidekick: Mia Dearden replaced Roy as Speedy.
- Ms. Fanservice: Mia has a very Form-Fitting Wardrobe and was previously a hooker.
- Papa Wolf: When his son Connor was shot in the head, Ollie forced an arrow between Onomatopoeia's (the shooter) teeth, angrily asking why he tried to kill his kid and just a hair away from making shish-kebab out of his brain. He then decides he doesn't care why Onomatopoeia tried to kill Connor, and tells him that he will die if his son doesn't pull through, holding his bow in that position while the surgeons work. For 30 minutes. With a 200 lb. pull longbow. After giving blood.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: The only way Onomatopoeia communicates, most of the time. Played for scariness, too, as despite how silly this sounds it's generally handled dead seriously.
- Scenery Censor: In issue #13, Dinah stops a fight between Oliver and Carter Hall. However, as she was in bed at the time when they started fighting, and was sleeping nude due to just having sex with Ollie, she had to do it completely naked. When the rest of the JSA come down to see what's going on, they find a naked Dinah, so Michael Holt uses his T-Spheres to help cover her up.
- Serial Killer: Onomatopoeia is one of Non-Powered Costumed Heroes.
- Silent Antagonist: Onomatopoeia only speaks in sound effects, the sole exception of which was to tell us his name.
- Sleeps in the Nude: Dinah and Ollie sleep nude after having sex in issue #12.
Brad Meltzer's run (Issues 16-21)
Ben Raab's run (Issues 23-25)
Judd Winick's run (Issues 26-75)
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Constantine Drakon, though he can back it up most of the time.
- Arrow Catch: Constantine Drakon does this on a regular basis.
- Badass Boast: Constantine Drakon gives one."I have killed more people than cancer. I like my work. I am very good at it. It is not just a job, it is a vocation. While some men excelled in athletics or the sciences as children, I was most adept at doing harm to other living beings."
- Badass Normal: Constantine Drakon is not a metahuman, but can catch five arrows one handed.
- Beard of Evil: Constantine Drakon has a Roger Delgado style goatee.
- The Chessmaster: Brick is undeniably one of Green Arrow's smartest opponents.
- Cool Shades: Constantine Drakon is rarely seen without a pair.
- Cyborg: High-Rise has extendable cybernetic legs.
- The Don: Brick is a major crime lord in Star City, and at one point was the leader of its entire criminal underground.
- Evil Wears Black: Constantine Drakon's color of choice.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Brick started out as a low-level enforcer and street gang leader. Following a demonic attack on the city, he used the ensuing power vacuum to expand his gang's influence, and ended up not only uniting most of the gangs in Star City under his leadership, but also killing the mayor.
- Genius Bruiser: Brick is a metahuman with stone-like skin, making him both super-strong and Nigh-Invulnerable. He also happens to be a criminal mastermind.
- Large and in Charge: Brick is huge, and a major crime lord to boot.
- Lightning Bruiser: Constantine Drakon can dodge arrows like nobody's business, and many of his victims don't see him coming.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Brick's stone skin makes him capable of shrugging off missiles.
- One-Shot Character: High-Rise appeared in only a single issue and hasn't returned.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: High-Rise's real name was never revealed.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Constantine Drakon is notable for his short stature, which often leads to jokes about his expense.
- Scary Black Man: Well, at least Brick used to be black. His transformation into a metahuman caused his skin to turn reddish.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: When Constantine Drakon is wearing a shirt, it's usually part of a nice suit.
- Sizeshifter: High-Rise has Cybernetic extendible legs that let him reach the height of a building.
- The Sociopath: Constantine Drakon claimed that he had nothing strange or traumatic in his upbringing to turn him to murder, he was simply curious to see what he could do.
- Super-Strength: Brick is strong enough to outmatch Green Arrow in a fist fight.
- Take a Third Option: When Brick's influence started to grow, he was invited to a meeting of the various mafiosi and gang leaders who led Star City's criminal underground, and offered the choice of either continuing his activities on the condition of giving them a cut, or being killed. His answer was to have the entire house leveled by a missile, killing them all but leaving him unharmed because of his powers, and making him the lone gang leader in the entire city.
- Tattooed Crook: Constantine Drakon has an elaborate dragon tattoo on his back (Drakon being Russian for dragon).
- Tricked-Out Gloves: High-Rise wears gauntlets that fire energy blasts.
- Unexplained Recovery: Was at some point killed by Cupid, before being inexplicably brought back later.
- Vehicular Assault: In issue #33, the Scavenger acquires the Arrow Car; GA's old Thememobile. Eventually he attempts to run GA down with the Arrow Car, forcing GA to destroy it with an explosive arrow.
- Very Special Episode: Issue #43, the issue where Mia is revealed to be HIV positive.
- Villainous Friendship: Constantine Drakon and Deathstroke after the two of them got sent to the same prison.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Constantine Drakon's standard fighting attire is usually just a pair of black pants with double-strapped sandals.
- White Hair, Black Heart: His hair is white, and he definitely isn't a good guy.
