The comic book inspiration behind the hit superhero TV show Arrow is taking a bold new direction, one that takes the character back to his radical - and controversial - 1970s incarnation.
What’s more, the new creative team is promising the upcoming storylines will have echoes of “Ferguson and Baltimore” as the character tackles tough social issues.
Green Arrow, the Robin Hood-like masked archer, made his debut almost 75 years ago in 1941, and has been a mainstay of the DC Universe of characters ever since. Not as much of a household name as his fellow Justice League of America compatriots Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, perhaps, until his TV debut on The CW in 2012 - and now a fourth season has been green lit.
With issue 41 of the monthly series, just released, the character has taken off on a new path under a fresh creative team: writer Benjamin Percy and artist Patrick Zircher.
Percy, a novelist who came to prominence with his werewolf political allegory Red Moon in 2013, is bringing the same highly socially aware feel to his tenure on Green Arrow - and it isn’t the first time the character has been at the forefront of real world issues.
“Green Arrow has a history as a political firebrand,” said Percy.
“DC wanted me to bring that back to the series. This won’t dominate the book – but it will be an essential undercurrent. These are culturally, politically, environmentally dangerous times, and I’m taking a knife to the nerve of the moment. But even as I wrestle with these issues – some of them ripped from the headlines – I hope the story never comes across as editorial or preachy – just relevant. I think stories should raise questions, not answer them.”
Green Arrow certainly asked the tough questions back in the early 70s, during an infamous run of stories written by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams, which actually appeared in the Green Lantern comic, though Green Arrow (secret identity: Oliver Queen) had joint billing.
The rather uptight Lantern (think space cop) and the freewheelin’ Arrow (a proto-social justice warrior, if ever there was one) travelled across the America of 1970, confronting social issues such as racism, corruption, cult murders (a la the Manson Family) and drugs, one particularly enduring issue when Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy (his version of Batman’s Robin - indeed, the kids went on to form their own super-team, the Teen Titans) fell victim to heroin addiction.
It’s certainly a run of stories that had a big impact on Benjamin Percy. He says, “If you think about when that run came out – during such a tumultuous, transitional time in American history – then you can think of it as a kind of mirror that captured a warped version of what it meant to live in that cultural moment. It wasn’t mere escapism; it was provocative. And dark. The unprecedented storyline about Speedy’s heroin addiction opened a doorway for comics writers, away from camp.
“Look at how Frankenstein came out of the Industrial Revolution. Look at how Godzilla came out of post-atomic anxieties. Look at how Invasion of the Body Snatchers was born out of the Red Scare and McCarthyism. These narratives resonate because they channeled the anxieties and concerns of an era. That’s what I’m hoping to do as well.”
Percy’s first issue of Green Arrow (out now) already has Oliver Queen back at “street level” in his base of Seattle. His investigations into a series of horrific mutilation-murders takes him to a mainly black district where he’s told: “It’s no news here in Pennytown. We don’t count.”
Percy hinted on Twitter that the series would allude to recent civil unrest in US cities. However, he’s playing his cards close to his chest for now: “I can’t go into much detail. I don’t want to give away any of the mysteries that keep readers reading. I will say that the first arc has a veiled, incendiary connection to what is happening in places like Ferguson and Baltimore.”
The TV show Arrow might well send readers to the comic, but they’ll find a very different beast. Percy says: “The show is fun – it’s fine – but we’re doing something very different. The cast and content of the show have zero bearing on what we do with the comic series.”
