Green
Arrow
has never been a character I really followed. I liked him well
enough in the context of Green Lantern's “hard travellin'”
partner in the classic Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams stories of ca. 1970
(which I didn't really read many of or appreciate at all until much
later, but I was only eight years old), in the context of the Justice
League (especially as Hawkman's political opposite – although I was
always far more on Hawkman's conservative side than Green Arrow's
liberal side), even occasionally in his own stories (e.g, The
Longbow Hunters),
but beyond that, not so much. It was mainly as a second-tier
character that he worked best for me. I had no interest in the new,
beardless, younger Green Arrow of the series which came in with the
New 52 in 2011, and frankly found him an uninteresting character
those times he did appear in titles I did get. Green Arrow can be
interesting – I particularly liked him in the Smallville
TV series, and when I first heard that the CW was developing a
[Green]
Arrow
follow-up, I was quite disappointed that it would be an entirely new
reimagining of the character with no connection to Smallville.
I've written elsewhere of my revulsion at the debut of Arrow
in
2012 [LINK],
but in the same place of my giving it a second chance at the end of
the first season such that it became one of my most highly
anticipated shows through the second season. It's surprisingly good,
with a rather broad appeal. I was surprised along the way to find
that my parish priest watches it, as well as our parish liturgical director
and his wife (who are avid archers themselves); my wife doesn't
actually follow it, but she will watch it with me if she happens to
be in the room; the show is a runaway success by CW standards.
