In 1987, creator Mike Grell catapulted Green Arrow into the ranks of mega-popular heroes with the creation of his mini-series, The Longbow Hunters. The comic brought Oliver Queen to a more realistic, gritty world, taking him and Black Canary out of Star City and bringing him into Seattle, where he would be forced to deal with multiple grisly serial killers in place of any supervillains.
Discovering the truth behind these killers while also grappling with the problems going on with his own life, this mini-series would give fans a new way of looking at Green Arrow — though it never quite turned him into a knock-off Batman like a certain television show.
10 Green Arrow Didn't Have An Ongoing Until After This Mini-Series
Perhaps one of the most surprising things about The Longbow Hunters is that Green Arrow actually didn’t have an ongoing before this series. He’d made appearances as guest characters and as a member of the Justice League, but there was never a Green Arrow solo book for him. The Longbow Hunters was one of the most popular books of its era though, and DC Comics immediately got to making a Green Arrow comic book shortly afterward.
9 He Operates Out Of Dinah's Flower Shop
The Longbow Hunters continues the long-running relationship between Oliver Queen and his one true love, Dinah Drake. The two of them operate out of Dinah’s floral shop, which is actually four stories tall and includes room for special floors for them both, as well as a bedroom they share together. This is a massive change from the modern era, where Dinah spends much of her time as a member of the Birds and doesn’t have time to do a regular job.
8 Green Arrow's Origin Is Completely Retold
In the first issue of The Longbow Hunters, it’s assumed that readers might not know who Green Arrow is. So Grell retells his origin from the beginning, and it almost feels like a response to Oliver’s more serious, lengthy origin in the CW’s Arrow. Rather than him taking down some vast drug smuggling ring, it’s Oliver learning how to hunt on an island all by himself and stopping a handful of marijuana smokers who weren’t even able to fight back.
7 Oliver Asks Dinah To Marry Him
Superheroes tying the knot has always been a cause for celebration for fans, but creators aren’t as big fans of it. In the first issue of The Longbow Hunters, Oliver tries to get Dinah to marry him, only to actually be rebuffed.
He also tries to get her to have children, but Dinah turns him down with an amazing reason: as heroes, their jobs are incredibly dangerous, and she couldn’t bear the idea of leaving children growing up without parents.
6 The Longbow Hunters Has Shado's First Appearance And Origin
Shado is one of the most integral parts of Green Arrow mythos that doesn’t involve Black Canary or Roy Harper, and her first appearance is in The Longbow Hunters. Her origin was being the daughter of a member of the yakuza who was held in an internment camp in World War II and killed because he had access to two million dollars that was meant to help the yakuza gain a foothold in America. Shado was trained to get revenge for that theft and spends much of The Longbow Hunters killing all the men who took her father’s life.
5 The Cops In Seattle Don't Like Him
The beginning of Longbow Hunters sees Oliver and Dinah both move from Star City to Seattle, Washington, where they don’t have quite the same reputation they used to. In Oliver’s case, despite operating as a superhero for years, the cops have a negative impression of him. This is in sharp contrast to much of the Golden and Silver Age storylines, where the cops often looked at superheroes as a help for their tougher cases and the super-crime. Oliver would continue to have a rocky relationship with the cops in Seattle in his main comic, though they would gradually let him in on things.
4 Dinah Goes Undercover To Find Drug Dealers
Dinah is a main character in Longbow Hunters, but unfortunately, things don’t go as well for her. Years away from her being regarded as one of the most talented martial artists in the DC Universe, she attempts to go undercover to discover who’s responsible for dealing the drugs that are responsible for a young woman’s overdose, she gets caught by some of the suppliers to the drug dealers and things don’t go great for her. Dinah deals with the ramifications of this for years to come in the Mike Grell run.
3 Oliver Queen Has To Deal With His Aging
The Longbow Hunters released in 1987, decades after Oliver Queen’s first introduction, and the sliding timescale was in effect. But even that can only last so long, and the mini-series deals with how Oliver Queen is beginning to age.
He talks about being a grandfather thanks to Roy having had a child and even talks about being in his mid-40s. This was probably one of the earliest examples of a hero dealing with getting old in the main continuity’s timeline.
2 Oliver Takes His First Life
A major part of Longbow Hunters is Oliver crossing a line that most heroes of his era wouldn’t have dreamed of, and taking a life. After discovering Dinah, who’d been beaten by the drug smugglers that wanted information on where she came from, Oliver killed one of them before he could inflict any further harm on her. Though he had no problem with this at first, it would be something that stuck with him for decades, even after he was resurrected his comic still dealt with the ramifications.
1 The Last Issue Has Eddie Fyers' First Appearance
Eddie Fyers is a major part of the Green Arrow comic, but he started out as a villain that was introduced at the end of The Longbow Hunters. Hired by the CIA, it was Fyers’ job to protect the corrupt businessmen that Shado was hunting down. In this comic, Fyers isn’t developed very much, instead simply foiled by Green Arrow who allows Shado to do her work. But Fyers would make appearances in Green Arrow comics for decades after, working with Connor Hawke in the second half of the 1988 Green Arrow series.
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