The New Green Arrow comic creative team, writer Benjamin Percy and artist Patrick Zircher, will take the character into familiar territory as they discuss the recent social movements in the United States.
After 41 issues of the New 52 Green Arrow, this new team wants to shake up the comic by having upcoming storylines echo events in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore as the character tackles tough social issues.
“I can’t go into much detail. I don’t want to give away any of the mysteries that keep readers reading. I will say that the first arc has a veiled, incendiary connection to what is happening in places like Ferguson and Baltimore. Green Arrow has a history as a political firebrand,” said Percy.
According to writer David Barnett from The Guardian, “Green Arrow certainly asked the tough questions back in the early ’70s, during an infamous run of stories written by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams, which actually appeared in the Green Lantern comic, though Green Arrow (secret identity: Oliver Queen) had joint billing.”
During that time, Green Arrow and Green Lantern dealt with segregation in America, rising drug usage, and with mental health all in an attempt to save a struggling book.
Percy goes on to say that “DC wanted me to bring that back to the series. This won’t dominate the book – but it will be an essential undercurrent. These are culturally, politically, environmentally dangerous times, and I’m taking a knife to the nerve of the moment. But even as I wrestle with these issues – some of them ripped from the headlines – I hope the story never comes across as editorial or preachy – just relevant. I think stories should raise questions, not answer them.”
DC Comics has been pushing the envelope lately in order to compete with Marvel. The character Midnighter is the first mainstream homosexual male to have a solo series, and recently there was a transgender character introduced in Batgirl.
If DC wants its books to be more reflective of the times, putting Green Arrow in the midst of a new social movement is a good call.