"My name is Oliver Queen. For five years, I've opened the CW
Arrow show that featured a split story, dealing with the present, and flashbacks usually to five years ago, detailing my hell on an island (and so much more). Ending my fifth season, I have to be more than that, and get ready for a season with instead of in two stories, as one continuous show featuring Green Arrow...."
So, here's a look back at the comic book history (in tandem with the TV show), focusing on
Green Arrow #5 issues!
Green Arrow #5 1988
The first
Green Arrow #5 game with a cover date of June, 1988 (by
Mike Grell,
Ed Hannigan,
Dick Giordano and
Frank McLaughlin), was part of the Green Arrow series that spun out of the
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters mini-series by
Mike Grell, establishing Green Arrow as an urban hunter of criminals, taking him away from the rest of the DC Universe (except Black Canary....).
This series lasted from February, 1988 to November, 1998, and for a time was suggested for mature readers, due to its graphic, realistic storytelling techniques; introducing Shado; and much later in this series, they established the split story technique, with Oliver teaching Connor Hawke archery at a monastery in issues written by
Chuck Dixon.
Green Arrow Annual #5
Green Arrow wasn't completely isolated from the DC Universe during his urban hunter phase, even before coming back to the DCU in full force in
Green Arrow #81 (December, 1993), having worked with Hal Jordan (but only as Hal, not Green Lantern), the Question, the Warlord, and the Question again (as well as Batman and Black Canary) in his Annuals.
Green Arrow Annual #5 of 1992 by
Sarah Byam,
Trevor Von Eeden and
Frank Springer (with a cover by
Mike Grell), had the lunar villain Eclipso possess Black Canary, with Batman and Green Arrow trying to save her (and Black Canary's story continuing into the
Eclipso: The Darkness Within annual crossover event of that year).
Green Arrow had seven Annuals from 1988 to 1995, with the last focusing on Ollie's origin on the island, in a story by
Chuck Dixon,
Rick Burchett,
Chris Renaud,
Eduardo Barreto and
Gerry Fernandez.
Green Arrow #5 2001
The next
Green Arrow #5 is from August, 2001 by
Kevin Smith,
Phil Hester and
Ande Parks, dealing with a storyline, "Quiver", with Ollie returning to life (as he had died during the first regular series run of Green Arrow, to be replaced for a time by Connor Hawke). This specific issue with a cover by
Matt Wagner dealt Batman investigating the resurrected Ollie, Etrigan the Demon looking for the undead Green Arrow, a little of how Ollie got back to life with Hal Jordan (and his then complicated history beyond Green Lantern as Parallax and the Spectre), with Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance) and Arsenal (Roy Harper) just looking to reunite with Oliver Queen.
This series lasted from April, 2001 to August, 2007, and carried on the idea of Green Arrow fighting Deathstroke the Terminator (Slade Wilson), that had started in a couple of issues of Ollie's over 130 issue run.
Green Arrow/Black Canary #5
Green Arrow shared cover billing with Black Canary starting in 2007, including with
Green Arrow/Black Canary #5 (April, 2008 by
Judd Winick and
Andre Coelho, with two covers, one by
Cliff Chang, the other by
Amanda Conner), as the two finally settled their differences and got married.
This series lasted for 29 issues from December, 2007 to April, 2010 (with a few solo
Green Arrow issues after the pair split and some machinations of
Prometheus). This series also had Green Arrow and Black Canary face Ra's Al Ghul, and introduced the female archer villain, Cupid, who even attacked archer
Merlyn (in issues written by
Andrew Kreisberg, who Arrow fans should recognize from the CW show's credits).
Green Arrow #5 2010
Dealing with events of the
Darkest Night and
Brightest Day company wide crossovers,
Green Arrow #5 (December 2010 by
J. T. Krul,
Diogenes Neves and
Vincente Cifuentes) had Ollie dealing with a Black Lantern resurrected version of his father, Robert Queen, as well as a Star City devastated by a disaster under two covers by
Mauro Cascioli and
Gary Frank.
This series lasted for 15 issues from August, 2010 to October, 2011, at which point, the entire DC Universe was hit by
Flashpoint, changing the characters histories....
Green Arrow #5 New 52
In the DC Universe of the New 52, it was a still rich Oliver Queen fighting as Green Arrow in
Green Arrow #5 (March, 2012, by
Keith Giffen,
Dan Jurgens and
Ray McCarthy, and a cover by
Jason Fabok), with a Green Arrow who was a little more like the Arrow of the CW Show, working with a tech support crew, but not really having a relationship with Black Canary.
This series lasted 54 issues from November, 2011 to July, 2016, with the introduction of the archer Komodo, as well as a reintroduction of Count Vertigo, as well as eventually having Felicity Smoak and John Diggle be his support team. This series also sent Ollie back to the island to rediscover himself (though that needed work even beyond what Ollie found....).
Green Arrow #5 Rebirth
Currently, Green Arrow has a series, spinning out of
the DC Universe: Rebirth, with
Green Arrow #5 (October, 2016 by
Benjamin Percy and
Juan Ferreyra, with covers by
Juan Ferreyra and
Neal Adams), dealing with Ollie and Diggle going to rescue Black Canary from the hell she was trapped in!
The Rebirth of Green Arrow series started with August, 2016, and runs to this day, restoring Green Arrow and Black Canary's love for each other, as well as bringing back some of Ollie's extensive history....proving no man (or comic series) is an island, and that we all depend on others to help us with our mission through life, a lesson Oliver Queen had to learn on his 5 years on the CW
Arrow show (even as that show expanded to include
Flash,
Legends of Tomorrow and
Supergirl and will continue to go on into a sixth season and more).