The first quarter of a century of Green Arrow’s history was not kind to the character. Originally conceived in 1941, the Green Arrow was little more than a Batman clone. Like Batman, Green Arrow’s secret identity was a rich playboy with many expensive toys and a teenage ward. While Batman and Robin had a Batmobile, Bat Cave, Bat Signal, Batplane, and Bat-Mite, Green Arrow and his sidekick Speedy had an Arrow-Car, Arrow Cave, Arrow Signal, Arrowplane, and even an Arrow-mite of their own. Basically, anything that Batman could do…Green Arrow could copy.
By 1960, that began to change. Writer Denny O’Neil took away Oliver Queen’s fortune and Neal Adam’s gave him a scruffy goatee look that never would have looked appropriate on Bruce Wayne. The loss of his fortune saw Green Arrow take an increasingly cynical view on the “fatcats” of society. Now that his social status had changed, Green Arrow became an advocate of the less fortunate. With Green Arrow down on his luck, the stage was set for the storyline that would have the most drastic effect in changing the direction of Green Arrow’s personality.
Beginning in the early 1970s, Green Arrow appeared regularly in the Green Lantern comic book in a story called “Hard Traveling Heroes.” As they encountered evil slumlords, oppressed Native Americans, overpopulated planets, drugs, and “evil” feminists, the opposing politics of conservative Hal Jordan and liberal Oliver Queen were the focal point of the book for 13 issues.
The most famous of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow team-ups from the Hard Traveling Heroes days is the “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” storyline, in which it was revealed that, as a result of his mentor going on a road trip with Green Lantern and never being home, Green Arrow’s ward Speedy began doing drugs. Green Arrow reacted badly to this news, smacking Speedy across the face and kicking him out. The kid was picked up by Green Lantern and taken to the home of the heroine Black Canary, also known as Dinah Lance. Though still in the early days of a relationship with Ollie, Dinah welcomed Speedy into her home with open arms. Many future storylines involving an adult Roy Harper would focus on the mother-son, big sister-little brother vibe between the two of them.
Follow the exploits of rockers DEMON TWEAK and the racing clan HARD DRIVING HEROES, as they battle the evil trickster Loki at http://www.classic-comic-book.com . Also read articles on your favorite classic comic book heroes written by our resident historian VIRGIL THE STORYTELLER.
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