Who was that Emerald Archer?

The San Antonio Express-News has been running a small filler story the past week or so, inviting readers to send in an letter describing their favorite super-hero, and explaining why this is so. Of course, yours truly, being the über-geek that I am, have sat myself down and pounded out my own ham-fisted missive extolling the virtues of Green Arrow. Some of you may know I have an afinity for that character. Below you may find my letter, presented here for your amusement:

Howdy Mr. Guzman,

I’d like to add my two cents to the Great Comic Book Hero debate. For my money, Green Arrow cannot be beat. I’ve loved the concept, loved the look ever since I first encountered him more than a quarter-century ago. You may have heard of him--he teamed up with fellow hero Green Lantern and went jaunting around the universe, righting wrongs and championing the oppressed way back in the ultra-groovy 70s. Or you may know of his through his long-time girlfriend, the fishnet stockings-wearing blonde bombshell, Black Canary. Or you may know him as that modern-day Robin Hood with a goatee that shoots crooks with a boxing glove arrow.

Okay, that boxing glove arrow’s a tough one to live down. I’ll give you that one.

But Green Arrow--otherwise known as Oliver Queen--has always been a hero with both feet planted on the ground. Like Robin Hood, he’s often the only one willing to step up for victims who have nowhere left to turn. He’s fought slum lords and poachers, investigated crimes that no one else took an interest in. He was rich once, but lost it all because he was more interested in tilting at windmills than negotiating corporate strategy. There’s not a lost cause that doesn’t have his name on it. He resigned from the Justice League of America because he was incensed by other heroes’ attitudes that some injustices were beneath their notice. He’s told Batman where to go and how to get there--and lived. He despises “all this cosmic crap” that pervades comics.

Unlike some popular characters, he isn’t an alien from a doomed world given powers by our yellow sun. He wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider as a teen. The U.S. Army didn’t inject him with Super Soldier Serum at the onset of World War II. He wasn’t given a glowing green ring by short blue aliens. He’s a regular guy, like you or I perhaps, with an overblown thrill seeker complex. He’s horribly flawed, but he likes his chili hot and his jazz cool. He’s a real person, or at least as real as comic book characters can ever be, which is why I’ve indulged myself with the Unofficial Green Arrow Fansite since 1998 or so. The updates thus far this year have been few and far between, I’m afraid, but there’s enough content currently online there to satisfy even your most obscure craving for Green Arrow trivia.

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