Green Arrow's Seattle

"Green Arrow's Seattle" from Green Arrow vol.2 #3 (DC, 1988) by Mike Grell, Ed Hannigan and Dick Giordano

In the late 80s, Mike Grell relaunched Green Arrow in a grittier, more realistic, mature readers-labeled series, a status quo first introduced in his Longbow Hunters mini-series. The mini featured some gorgeous art, but the only real splash had a near-naked Black Canary getting tortured, which I found unsuitable for this blog. And in fact, that's what troubled me about Grell's Green Arrow series. Every time I picked up an issue, Black Canary was getting brutally assaulted or shown naked for some reason. It made me squirm. Grell had a very long run - 80 issues! - so perhaps it's time I reevaluated it. Perhaps I'm more willing to accept a Green Arrow who lives in a real city, doesn't use trick arrows, and is never seen standing next to a super-powered person (Black Canary never used her cry and guest-stars like Hal Jordan never appeared in costume). After Grell left, the series was reintegrated into the Immature Readers line, and in less than 2 years, Oliver Queen was dead. He was replaced by his illegitimate son Connor Hawke for the remainder of the series. But in that last issue, part of the Final Night crossover, Hal Jordan as Parallax resurrects Oli, a parting gift for his one-time road buddy...