Episode #092: Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters
If you really want to understand what superhero comics were trying to do in the late-1980s, look no further than writer-artist Mike Grell’s post-Crisis reinvention of Green Arrow in The Longbow Hunters. The social crusader with the gimmicky trick arrows from fictional Star City is gone, replaced by a grouchy “urban hunter” who isn’t afraid to take a life on the mean streets of Seattle. The new Oliver Queen reflected comics readers’ growing appetite for grim ‘n’ gritty themes, as well as the dissatisfaction and pessimism of Baby Boomers facing their forties. We’ll talk about the landmark Longbow Hunters miniseries and the regular series that followed and investigate what happens when creators inject “realism” into the superheroes of their youth.
Discussed in this episode: Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1-3, Green Arrow ongoing #1-8 (both recently collected in DC Finest: Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters)
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