Eileen's primary literary love is comic books, but she’s always on the lookout for her next literary adventure no matter what form it takes. She has a Bachelor's in media studies, a Master's in digital communication, a smattering of published short stories, and a seriously cute dog. Follow her on Bluesky.
You may know his origin story if you’re familiar with Green Arrow–even the unrecognizable version of him that appeared on The CW’s Arrow. Wealthy Oliver Queen is marooned on an uninhabited island, where he learns to use archery to survive. When he finally makes it home, he uses those skills to fight crime.
What you may not know is that this was Green Arrow’s second origin story. Appearing in 1959’s Adventure Comics #256(and illustrated by the King himself, Jack Kirby, with his wife Roz, it supplanted his original origin, which appeared 16 years earlier in More Fun Comics #89.
Why did they replace the first, the first origin kind of origin? My guess is DC forgot he even had one, but also the first origin kinda blows. Brace yourselves for racism and outdated morals.
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Eileen’s primary literary love is comic books, but she’s always on the lookout for her next literary adventure no matter what form it takes. She has a Bachelor’s in media studies, a Master’s in digital communication, a smattering of published short stories, and a seriously cute dog. Follow her on Bluesky.
The story begins with Green Arrow and Speedy dispatching some gangsters in front of a snarky billboard that reads “crime doesn’t pay.” When they get home, they start reminiscing about GA’s origin, which actually starts with Speedy’s origin.
Roy Harper was a young orphan who, after surviving a plane crash that killed his father (his mom was already dead, I guess?), was raised on the nigh-inescapable Lost Mesa by his dad’s Indigenous servant, Quoag. I’ll avoid showing panels with Quoag because his depiction is exactly as stereotypical and offensive as you’d expect.
Back in the States, we learn that Oliver Queen is an archaeologist specializing in collecting “Indian” artifacts. They don’t even bother to narrow it down to a particular region — he’s just into ALL INDIAN stuff, which led him to learn archery. Strangely, he uses every weapon except a bow and arrow to fend off some crooks who try to rob the museum where his artifacts are stored. He chases them away, but not before they burn down the museum.
I would like to know where that man purchased a flame thrower that looks like a pistol.Understandably distraught about 10 years’ labor going up in smoke, Ollie sets off on another expedition. This time, he’s going to Lost Mesa, which is supposed to be a “gold mine” of artifacts. The thugs from earlier take this figure of speech literally and, wanting the gold, beat Ollie to the Mesa. Roy and Quoag end up tangling with the unfriendly visitors, so they’re not thrilled to encounter Oliver Queen, Yet Another Unexplained White Man, shortly after.
In retrospect, the fact that Oliver and Roy started fighting each other on day one probably should have been a warning sign.
In the following pages, we see Ollie and Roy continue to argue over everything, both before and after the crooks shoot Quoag dead. They bring the battle to a cave, where some tortured dialogue (“Golly, that kid’s speedy!”) gives us their future code names.
Inside the cave, our heroes find a bunch of gold artifacts. One is a giant statue that they use to (accidentally) crush the thieves. Then Ollie says this:
So yeah, Ollie originally got his fortune not through financial investments or business profits but through straight-up looting. That means Green Arrow was one of many heroes–and villains–who got their start through archaeological plunder.
As far as origins go, this one is, well, not fantastic. Not only would Green Arrow’s origin receive a much-needed overhaul in 1959 (and additional tweaks in later years), Speedy’s would, too. DC kept the bit about his being an orphan raised by an Indigenous man, but now he was a chief named Brave Bow who asked Ollie to take care of Roy just before dying of cancer. The new origin certainly didn’t fix the stereotypical portrayal of the Indigenous characters, but it was less ridiculous than the Lost Mesa story.
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