Green Arrow (Post-Flashpoint) is an instance of the Green Arrow character archetype.

The new Green Arrow first appeared in Green Arrow #1 (Nov 2011) as part of the New 52′s starting line-up. Nov 2011 also marked the 70th anniversary of Arrow’s first appearance in More Fun Comics #73 (Nov 1941). The new Green Arrow harked back to that 1940s original as he had yet to accumulate the heart-ache and baggage that so characterised his previous incarnation. This approach had been successful applied to the character’s appearances in Smallville, as portrayed by Justin Hartley, and had led to the commissioning of an Arrow TV series by WB television.

Arrow’s comic book adventures were re-imagined by writer J.T. Krul, one of the few creators to survive the transition to the New 52, who had already been writing Green Arrow for several years. Krul described the difference between the old and new Oliver Queen to IGN:

It’s a much lighter book than my previous Green Arrow work. Ollie’s younger now and brings with him a certain arrogance and bravado. He’s enjoying this other life he leads – and he hasn’t made as many mistakes just yet. In a way, he doesn’t see the full price he’ll ultimately pay for his decision to be a vigilante. Oh…and of course we’ve got the trick arrows or “advanced arrows.” Got loads of them, really bringing to mind that James Bond or Mission Impossible vibe.

A significant addition to the Green Arrow’s canon was the existence of his own division within Queen Industries. He was no longer the CEO of the entire company and was instead head of a division called Q-Core. Krul told Comic Vine that,

Oliver Queen is also taking full advantage of his role within Queen Industries to develop his own division called Q-Core, something of an Apple for the DC Universe. Sure, they’ve created the Q-Phone and Q-Pad, but they delve into areas beyond personal electronics and computers, doing everything they can to built a better tomorrow for the world.

References to Q-phones or other gadgets were dropped through the other New 52 books and Q-Core were referenced as the creators of the shuttle craft used by Dan Jurgens’ Justice League International.

Green Arrow’s new look was based on a  design by Jim Lee:

The art on the regular book was handled by Dan Jurgens (pencils/layout) and George Perez (inks/finishes) with Dave Wilkins on covers. The Jurgens/Perez combo embodies a quintessential form of superhero art. So this younger Oliver Queen looked far more like a traditional superhero than previous incarnation. Krul left the title with issue #3 to move to secret not-to-be-passed-up project for DC Comics. Keith Giffen then took over as interim writer and co-plotted the book with Dan Jurgens for three more issues.

The first six issues of Green Arrow presented the status quo of Oliver Queen in residence at Q-Core and a generally happy, if over confident, Green Arrow.  However, the rotating writing teams had little or no opportunity to explore Arrow’s  new back story. A few hints were dropped in a Justice League (vol. 2) #8 (June 2012) guest appearance, but the details were left to Ann Nocenti, the new permanent writer who took over with issue #7. The art duties were taken over by Harvey Tolibao.

Green Arrow is Oliver Queen, the son of the late industrialist Robert Queen (the founder of Queen Industries, a global conglomerate leading the fields of energy, transportation, and infrastructure). Queen is internationally recognised both as the visionary behind Queen Industries’ Q-Core division — including their market leading q-phone and q-pad products — but also as an international traveller and socialite.

Earlier History

Green Arrow’s origin normally involves him learning archery for survival while trapped on some deserted island. The details of this in the New 52 haven’t been revealed, but there is animosity between Green Arrow and Aquaman over some untold event involving an island (Justice League (vol. 2) #8 (June 2012)).

Oliver Queen’s personal history is not widely known. One of his employee’s once questioned why the naturally easy-going and happy Oliver resorted to working as Green Arrow. He told her that he’s unwilling to sit on the sidelines, “The last time I did, I watched people die. People I could have saved. People I should have saved. ” (Green Arrow (vol. 6) #1 (Nov 2011)). When warning Green Arrow away from the Justice League Colonel Steve Trevor told him that “…there are things you’ve done that a lot of people still don’t know about. Things they’d consider… criminal. ” (Justice League (vol. 2) #8 (June 2012)).

When Robert Queen died he left his company in trust for Oliver and placed its day-to-day operations in the hands of a trusted CEO called Emerson. The younger Queen would have to overcome his relative youth and immaturity as the leader of a smaller, autonomous division within Queen Industries (Q-Core) and prove that he was capable of running a major corporation before he inherited full control. Whether Q-Core succeeds because of its leader’s flamboyant persona or whether it succeeds inspire of him is not entirely clear.

Oliver Queen’s light — to the point of his absent — touch management presence was a source of constant tension between himself and Emerson. Queen noted that the only thing he and Emerson shared was “mutual animosity” and he deliberately kept Q-Core at arms reach from Emerson’s executives. Queen was more than happy to dump most of the details of running Q-Core on the shoulders of his persona assistant Adrien, and his technologists “Jax” Jackson and Naomi. Jax and Naomi also served as Green Arrow’s intelligence analysts and technologists.

The New 52

Arrow’s international travels recently brought him into conflict with a celebrity supervillain group called the Party. They would post videos of their crimes on Youtube and their activities were just as likely to make the entertainment reports as they were the front-page. Arrow first tangled with Party members in a Parisian nightclub, but their capture by him brought Arrow to the attention of Rush, the group’s leader. Their eventual confrontation with Arrow was streamed live to 3 million online viewers. Green Arrow used the opportunity to send a message to other wannabe villains by taking the fame seeking Party down hard (Green Arrow (vol. 6) #1-3 (Nov 2011 – Jan 2012)).

Green Arrow’s tangles with the Party kept Oliver Queen away from Q-Core, much to Emerson’s annoyance. Even a successful keynote address at a technology expo couldn’t improve Emerson’s rapidly depreciating opinion of Oliver. Adrien challenged Emerson over his assessment of Oliver and was told “Deliberate incompetence offends me, Adrien. Oliver offends me. He refuses to apply himself to anything of substance. He is never where he is needed most when he is needed most and, on the rare occasions he is, he is of little to no use. I just hope that he learns that there is more to life than hedonistic excess before it’s too late. I won’t hold my breath.” (Green Arrow (vol. 6) #3 (Jan 2012)).

Green Arrow’s next opponent was a mutated scientist called Midas who wanted to kill of Oliver Queen. He and Blood Rose (his android lover) clashed with Arrow several times as they tried to get close to Queen. Midas eventually escaped after he staged his own death. Arrow never discovered why Midas wanted Oliver Queen dead (Green Arrow (vol. 6) #4-6 (Feb-Apr 2012)).

The world’s greatest superheroes during the time of Green Arrow’s adventures were the Justice League. They represented the zenith of the crime fighting hierarchy, but they were also notoriously close-knit. Green Arrow decided to stage a deliberate charm offensive against them and managed to arrive on site at an Amazo attack, the Court of Owls assault on Gotham, and a separate cultist attack before the Justice League. However, they rejected his help at each turn. Eventually Col. Steve Trevor, the League’s A.R.G.U.S. liaison, appeared in Green Arrow’s private apartment. He knew that Oliver Queen and Green Arrow were one and the same person. Arrow was told that the League would never accept him, but Trevor did make him a counter-offer, “I have another team that you might be interested in giving a social conscience to.” (Justice League (vol. 2) #8 (June 2012)).

Green Arrow is a skilled combatant and world class athlete. His weapon of choice is a collapsible longbow and a quiver of high-tech arrows, although he would occasionally fall back on traditional hunting arrows if necessary. Green Arrow’s quiver contains over thirty different types of speciality arrow (Justice League (vol. 2) #8 (June 2012)). The majority of Arrow’s arsenal are miniaturised versions of conventional peace keeping and military hardware — smoke bombs, shock/tazers, flares, sonic weapons, high-explosives, cryo-bombs, etc. He also carries a general purpose hypodermic arrow which can be loaded with a variety of drugs stored in his belt canisters.

In addition to the usual specialist arrows, Green Arrow also uses a selection of more advanced trick arrows designed for him Jax and Naomi at Q-Core. These include a hacking arrow which wireless connects with nearby electronics allowing Naomi to take control of them remotely and an air bag arrow which inflates to the size if a small truck to pinning people against walls without smothering them.

Oliver Queen runs his activities from a group within Q-Core although only a select pair of his employees actually knew the truth. His intelligence analyst and computer hacker is called Naomi. As Green Arrow he is in almost constant communication with her via cameras in his costume and a 2-way radio link. She supplies him with intel and satellite imagery. His other insider is Jax Jackson, the MIT graduate who is responsible for making Queen’s technological visions a reality – both for Q-Core and for Green Arrow.