Mike Grell's Green Arrow is the Best

Seriously.

The Green Arrow series by Mike Grell is one that left a profound impact on the character. This story is grounded, real and does not shy away from the ramifications that the dark and gritty criminal underworld can have on a person.

Mike Grell’s Green Arrow series tells the best Oliver Queen stories ever told, as Mike Grell consistently makes the decision of putting the character’s humanity before his heroics.

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SPOILERS FOR THE GREEN ARROW SERIES BY MIKE GRELL!

This version of Oliver Queen is no longer a background character in the Justice League or Neal Adam’s liberal voice from the Green Arrow & Green Lantern hard travelling heroes series. Mike Grell’s Oliver Queen is a person who has done very morally questionable actions.

The series sets the tone very quickly in Green Arrow: Longbow Hunters. Ollie’s not someone who’s is going up against silly villains like Count Vertigo or the Clock King. Instead, Ollie is tracking down the ‘Seattle Slasher’, an ex-tunnel rat from the Vietnam War with PTSD who is killing prostitutes.

That right! Ollie’s going up against serial killers, human and drug traffickers, and assassins from the Yakuza. After reading the series, we can see that leading this type of life has had a detrimental effect on Ollie’s psyche. In the Green Arrow comics following after Mike Grell’s run, we get moments where Ollie reflects. He’s left damaged. He’s in pain. He’s hurt over these events. All of this hinders his ability to connect or find peace with anything or anyone.

Mike Grell’s Green Arrow series showcases the best Green Arrow stories ever told mostly because it doesn’t shy away from Ollie’s humanity. You can make the argument that most of the morally questionable actions that Ollie makes is a consequence of the tough situations that he’s put in. I, myself, went through some introspection after reading this series. If my loved ones were threatened, how would I react? If I were to face the monsters that Ollie faced, would I become a monster myself? If I were up against insurmountable odds, what would I do to survive?

While Ollie is tracking down the ‘Seattle Slasher’, Dinah, his long-term girlfriend, is investigating a drug trafficking operation in the area led by a man named Magnor. Unbeknownst to Ollie, Shado is going after the head of this operation. Shado is an assassin who is hell-bent on killing those who have dishonored her Father. Her Father was a Yakuza agent incarcerated during World War II. American soldiers, such as Magnor, forced him to reveal a major cache of Yakuza gold. Her Father gave up the Yakuza gold in desperation and killed himself in atonement shortly after. The 1^st person on Shado’s list is Magnor, the man who used the Yakuza’s stolen gold to build his empire.

Again, what I love about this series is that it doesn’t shy away from Ollie’s humanity. The Green Arrow, much like the rest of us, doesn’t always win. Ollie confronts Shado only to be beaten by her easily. She’s clearly the better archer and assassin. The only reason why Ollie comes out of that confrontation alive is because he’s not on Shado’s kill list.

As the story develops, Ollie learns that Dinah has been missing for a number of days. Panicked, Ollie races towards one of Magnor’s operations. He finds Dinah tortured and mutilated by gang members. Without hesitation, Ollie kills Dinah’s torturer, one of Shado’s targets.  

What makes this series so interesting is that Ollie’s humanity comes before his heroics.

Ask yourself this question: if your loved one is about to get killed by another person, what would you do?

The deeply flawed man afraid of losing someone he cares about protects her in the most extreme way possible. By taking another person’s life.

It’s not just Ollie that’s left damaged and broken in this series. Mike Grell takes the time to make sure that every character feels the ramifications of violence. Later in series, it’s revealed that Dinah can no longer have any children. This is most likely because beatings that she endured.

Mike Grell continues this trend of putting his characters in tough situations. Later in the series, Ollie and Shado infiltrate a Yakuza stronghold. Things get out of hand as Ollie inadvertently dives into a room filled with Yakuza soldiers. It’s here where Ollie is put in a kill or be-killed situation. He’s one man against a group of men capable of intense violence. To survive, he makes a quick decision. He picks up and UZI, and kills everyone in the room in self-defence. After killing the soldiers, he’s disgusted by what he’s done and throws down the UZI.

Again, Ollie’s humanity is put before his heroics.

What would you do if someone is about to kill you?

The deeply flawed Emerald Archer let his adrenaline get to him and made the less-than-ideal choice of killing others to survive.

The series gets more and more brilliant as we see how these decisions impact Ollie as a person. Ollie’s aware that he’s flawed and that he’s done bad things to protect his loved ones and survive. He’s also aware that he’s not invincible. In this story, Ollie’s in his early forties. He’s not in his prime. He can’t win every battle. He’s got to make some questionable decisions to get an upper hand on his enemies.

As a consequence, he’s aware that people are as flawed as he is, if not more.

Later in the series, Ollie learns that the Russian’s and the Chinese both got into experiments that they shouldn’t have. They sent a substance into outer space that got exposed to rays/debris in outer space. It crash lands in a remote forest and Ollie has to find it before the hitman, Eddie Fyers, does. The substance is really important to obtain as it has the potential to change the DNA of a person. It can cure horrible diseases such as cancer and HIV. Eventually, Ollie beats Eddie Fyers and finds the substance. Much to the reader’s surprise, once Ollie finds it, he destroys it. Even though the substance has the potential to save humanity, Ollie reasons that it can do more harm than good. A substance that can change a person’s DNA can be weaponized. It can be used against anyone, like marginalized groups or basically any group of people that the owner doesn’t like.

It’s here where Mike Grell digs deeply into Oliver Queen’s beliefs. While most superheroes are heroes for believing in the best of what humanity has to offer, Ollie’s a hero for the exact opposite reason. He’s a hero because he doesn’t believe in us.

But what do you think?

Do you think that there’s better Green Arrow stories out there?

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