Arroo!

I'm not a Green Arrow fanboy. I'm aware of the character, he's had a fair bit of interaction with Green Lantern, and his main schtick is being really, really good with a bow and arrow. (And he was around before Hawkeye.) His background has him being a millionaire (as so many characters were) who became an environmentalist, but although he's occasionally been associated with the JLA, he's never been a huge main A list hero. So I'm not sure why they decided to make a TV series about him.

There are several changes. Oliver is in his early twenties, and was shipwrecked five years ago due to (plot) reasons, and upon returning to Starling City (which sounds stupid, why not use the original Star City?) he now goes vigilante on the criminals of the city. In a green hood and eye make up which apparently makes his famous face completely unrecognisable. And is currently known as the Hood. Um, what? Although they do seem to be avoiding superhero names (and superpowered beings).

We do get Dinah Lance, but little sign of her being/becoming Black Canary. So far we've had Deathstroke and Firefly, but they are very low powered versions of their comic selves, and aren't really worth the effort of including them. And the Huntress has an origin story here, although she's more associated with Batman I believe. (This does give us two of the three Birds of Prey. Barbara Gordon to show up?) But none of them have been called that, so unless you are aware of those characters, you might not pick them as as references.

It's odd that, but then the whole series is odd about that. Why use the Green Arrow property, but not the actual names and characters? Are they pulling an The Incredible Hulk by writing a completely different series under the basic trappings of the character? It's a decent enough series overall, but I do wonder what the "not we" are getting from this, are they seeing it as something generic?

It's got a full first season, but I'm not entirely positive it will get a second...

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