oliver queen reading recommendations

let's go

a note before you begin

hello, and thank you for taking a chance on our "impossible mix of youthful rebellion and grumpy old man", oliver "ollie" jonas "the green arrow" queen! i strongly recommend that you follow this reading list in order.why? well, if you have spent any time at all in dc fandom, you're probably aware that ollie does not have the best of reputations among fans who know him tangentially rather than from ga proper. i believe that's because isolated incidents that relate to more popular ga characters are being read first, and then taken as representative of ollie in general, rather than ollie in specific contexts. say for example you're primarily a connor hawke fan, so you start reading green arrow from green arrow (1988) #93 onward. your first impression of oliver queen would be that of an absentee father who would reject his own son; not only would you be missing the context that ollie's behaviour at this point in canon was the direct result of losing both his partner and his best friend (an explanation, not an excuse), you also wouldn't know how important his desire to be a father had actually been to his character prior to this, or how he and connor rebuilt their relationship afterward. the same applies for if, as a dinah lance fan, you were to begin with birds of prey (1999), or as a roy harper fan, with the drug awareness psa, snowbirds don't fly.there's also the unavoidable fact that some writers aren't particular about continuity. a later writer misremembering or disregarding an older ga story could and has coloured how ollie gets represented in all the stories that follow it: as an example, green arrow (2001) #72 describing what happened between ollie and roy as ollie "putting roy out to the streets" instead of how it actually happened in the original story (where roy is very much a young man who was living in his own apartment by that point) has resulted in the later version being the one remembered as definitively canon - to the point where green arrow rebirth has actually rewritten the incident that way. if rebirth or green arrow #72 are your entry points to this arc, rather than snowbirds itself, you would come away with the impression that ollie is the sort of man who would throw his underaged dependant out of their home.are these things characteristic of ollie regardless? well, ymmv, and that's also beside the point. if we do choose to accept his actions in those situations as inherently part of his character, we still wouldn't be able to deny that they happened in response to something, a result of the narrative conflict involved in those particular stories, and therefore not representative of ollie's default. to paint these exceptions as rules wouldn't provide an accurate view of the character as he usually is.my aim with this list is to introduce new readers to ollie the way introductions are supposed to be made: starting with his best foot forward. for that purpose, beginning at the wrong end is more often than not counterproductive. which is why i am asking you once again, out of all of my love for this amazing character: please follow this list in order. it will mean you could miss a couple of plot points bridging one rec to the next, but i promise i've been careful not to leave out anything crucial - they're all gaps you should be able to fill in yourself by inferring from context.thank you, and i hope you have a great time reading these!

start here!

green arrow: year one (2007)

minis and short, self-contained arcs: get a taste for ollie with these bite-sized reads before you commit!

green arrow: stranded (2022)

secret origins (1986) #38
+
green arrow: the wonder year (1993)

green lantern & green arrow: peacemakers_{legends of the dc universe (1998) #7-9}

the arrow and the bat_{batman: legends of the dark knight (1989) #127-131}

night olympics_{detective comics #549-550}

green arrow 80th anniversary 100-page super spectacular (2021)

the essentials

green lantern/green arrow_{green lantern/green arrow (1983): collects green lantern (1960) #76-87^★, #89, and the flash (1959) #217-219^★★}_{^★ for the resolution to the story in #5 (GL #85-86), please see action comics #436; green lantern (1960) #100; world's finest comics #251; and green arrow (1988) #75}_{^★★ green lantern/green arrow continues in green lantern (1960) #90-100, #102-124}

grell run_{green arrow: the longbow hunters (1987)}
₊
_{green arrow (1988) #1-80}

zero hour and beyond_{green lantern (1990) #48-50; green arrow (1988) #90; zero hour: crisis in time #1-0; green arrow (1988) #0; green lantern (1990) #63-64; green arrow (1988) #95-96, #100; green lantern (1990) #100-103; green arrow (1988) #136; green lantern (1990) #104-106; and green arrow (1988) #137}_{(full zero hour reading order here.)}

quiver + the archer's quest_{green arrow (2001) #1-15, #16-21}

perfect pitch_{birds of prey (1999) #87-88}

identity crisis and beyond_{identity crisis (2004) #1-7; green arrow (2001) #46; teen titans (2003) #20 (epilogue two), #21-23; green lantern: rebirth (2004); jla (1997) #115-119; 52 (2006) #1, #8, #13, #37}_{(full identity crisis reading order here.)}

final crisis and beyond_{final crisis (2008); dc universe: last will and testament (2008); final crisis: requiem (2008); justice league of america (2006) #31; justice league: cry for justice (2009); justice league: the rise of arsenal (2010); justice league: the rise and fall (2010); green arrow/black canary (2007) #31-32}_{(full final crisis reading order here and here.)}

green arrow (2010)

a deeper dive for the invested…

green arrow: secret files & origins (2002)

power loss_{power company (2002) #6, #8-9}

select bronze age stories_{world's finest comics #279-281; detective comics #521-525; #527-540; justice league of america (1960) #225-227; detective comics #541-548, #551-554, #556-557, #560-567}

green arrow (1983)

batman/green arrow: the poison tomorrow (1992)

ollie and anarky_{green arrow (1988) #89; green arrow (2001) #51}

jla/jsa_{jla/jsa: virtue and vice (2002); jsa (1999) #54}

a perfect life_{green lantern (2005) #7-8}

select golden and silver age stories_{please see here.}

…and now you can be trusted with these (stories where ollie's characterisation is different from prior canon)

jla: year one continuity_{jla: year one (1998); jla 80-page giant (1998); jla: incarnations (2001); jla: classified (2004)}_{(if you dont feel like reading these in full, ollie appears in: jla: year one #5, #8, #11-12; jla 80-page giant #1/2, #2/2; jla: incarnations #1-3; and jla: classified #47-48, #51, #53-54)}

flash & green lantern: the brave and the bold (1999) #4

the spectre (2001) #24

black circle: urban knights_{green arrow (2001) #23; green lantern (1990) #162; green arrow (2001) #24; green lantern (1990) #163; green arrow (2001) #25; green lantern (2001) #164}

…and the rest of green arrow (2001)_{green arrow (2001) #26-75}

green arrow/black canary_{justice league: wedding special (2007); green arrow/black canary wedding special (2007); green arrow/black canary (2007) #1-14}

ollie rebooted

under construction!

flashpoint_{flashpoint: green arrow industries (2011); flashpoint (2011)}_{(full flashpoint reading order here.)}

select new 52 arcs_tba

green arrow: rebirth_{green arrow: rebirth (2016); green arrow (2016)}

deathstroke: year one_{deathstroke inc. (2021) #12}

elseworld ollies

under construction!

dc vs. vampires (2021) (ongoing)

injustice_tba

an even deeper dive for the nerdy!

back issue magazine #18

richard gray - moving target: the history and evolution of green arrow

green arrow: a celebration of 75 years (2016)

green arrow: 80 years of the emerald archer (2021)

you have reached the end!

"…but wait, why didn't you include…" because this is a rec list, which is to say, a list of comics i would personally recommend reading - meaning i haven't included anything i don't enjoy myself. if you still want some more ollie (and who could blame you), you can find lists of all of his appearances on comicvine, dcuguide, league of comic geeks, and the dc fandom wiki.♫ welcome to the hotel olliefornia… ♫