The sixth season of Arrow is almost upon us, and after this long surely you’d be right in wondering what stories are left to tell with Oliver Queen and the now significant ensemble around him.
With Arrow having taken many of its stories and characters from some of the best comics featuring Green Arrow, what else could the producers of the series adapt? Here’s five comics that Arrow could still make use of in its twilight years…
Green Arrow: Quiver
Green Arrow: Quiver, written by popular filmmaker and geek Kevin Smith, was set after the death of Oliver Queen, and focused on his resurrection. Whilst a straight adaptation probably wouldn’t work, especially as he was brought back to life by Hal Jordan as Parallax in the book, it would be thematically interesting.
We’ve already seen a number of characters die and come back to life in Arrow, though none of these have been Oliver himself. With a larger supporting team behind him it could be interesting to have Oliver die early in the season, have his team carry on without him for a number of episodes, before bringing Oliver back in the mid-season finale.
The second half of the season could focus on the emotional impact of him having died, and how the people in his life adapted to his death.
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters was the point at which the Green Arrow of old, the fun loving trick arrow user, became a more grounded and grittier character, growing more in line with the type of character that would inspire the television series.
In the book, Oliver moves away from Star City to Seattle. Whilst tracking down a serial killer he comes across a young archer named Shado, who is out to avenge the death of her father. Many of the characters in the book have already appeared in Arrow, with Shado and her father being an important part of Oliver’s past on the island. However, renaming the characters and making them completely new people would allow the story to still be adapted.
With the series having ran out of Oliver’s history to indulge as flashbacks, perhaps splitting Oliver from the team and jumping between the two locations and stories would fill this thematic void.
Justice League Elite
A mini-series from 2004, Justice League Elite followed a small group of new characters who became a team that would handle missions deemed more covert, or questionable, than the Justice League could take on. This team was led by Green Arrow and The Flash, who both donned all black versions of their costumes.
Whilst there is no Justice League in the DC Television Universe (yet!), having Oliver and Barry Allen come together and form a new team between them, filled with characters who have never been on either show before, could be very interesting.
Snowbirds Don’t Fly
Originally published as part of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series, Snowbirds Don’t Fly is a story with one of the most iconic covers of all time: Green Arrow finding his sidekick taking heroin.
Whilst in the original this was Roy Harper, changing this to Oliver’s sister Thea would work well for the series, especially as the show has touched upon her history with drugs before. If the show made Thea’s drug use explicit, having her become a heroin addict would make for a very compelling storyline.
The series could focus on the effect that it would have on Thea, her relationship with Oliver, the political career of the both of them, and how Oliver would treat those within Star City who deal drugs. It would make for a much darker storyline than the series has done in a long while, but it could prove very interesting.
Green Lantern/Green Arrow
The one story fans have been wanting for years, and one that we’ve been waiting for since the blink and you’ll miss him appearance of Hal Jordan in season three; Green Lantern/Green Arrow saw Oliver Queen team up with Hal Jordan to travel across America, tackling issues such as social inequality, racism, poverty, drug use, and cults.
With many of the social issues that the world faces in real life today, and in America especially, teaming up a left-wing and right-wing super-hero to look into such issues could offer the team behind Arrow the chance to tackle more relevant stories.
Even if the producers of Arrow wanted to abandon the concept of the two heroes travelling the country together, fans would be more than happy just to see Green Arrow and Green Lantern together on the screen.
Arrow returns on Sky in the UK this week. What story would you choose for Arrow to adapt?