Somehow, being over-40, having a social consciousness and being an urban vigilante sort of fit together. Even with the O'Neil-Adams stuff, the pieces never quite fit together for the "super-hero" version. For one thing, the trick arrows are hopelessly dated as a device.

That said, O'Neil and Kevin Smith did a great job with Oliver Queen's relationships with Dinah and Hal during their respective runs. GA is also always welcome on the Justice League for his unique perspective.

Personally I think the whole gritty idea fits Green Arrow much better, but I didn't enjoy any of the Mike Grell stories I read so I'll go with the Superhero version.

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=59702&zoom=4

Pros of Grell: Grell actually has knowledge of archery, which hardly any of the people who write/draw the character have. That's a big plus.
Shado, a cool femme fatale antagonist/ally.
That awesome Secret Origins story of Ollie at the costume party & The Green Arrow: The Wonder Year miniseries.
Girlfriend who fights crime in leather.
The Howard Hill connection.
Over 40.
Easier to believe in.
A good costume redesign.
Bitchin' goatee.

Cons of Grell: "Realistic" super hero stories often don't use the super hero genre to its best advantage.
The infidelity.
The ditching of the (admitedly flimsy) secret ID.
GA started killing bad guys willynilly, not just in extreme circumstances. And somehow never got arrested.

Pros of Superhero GA: Beams up to an orbiting satellite & hangs with other super heroes.
Best friends with Green Lantern.
Girlfriend who fights crime in a blonde wig & fishnets.
Girlfriend has a sonic canary cry.
Calls Black Canary "Pretty Bird."
Fights the occasional cool supervillain like Count Vertigo.
Secret ID.
Was drawn by Jack Kirby & Neal Adams.
Trick arrows
Classic costume.
Bitchin' goatee.

Cons of superhero GA: Killed off & resurrected in overly-convoluted story.
Generally lame supervillains.
Was around for roughly 25 years before gaining any semblance of a personality.
Was a knockoff Batman for most of those 25 years.
Some of those arrows were pretty damn goofy.

Hmmm... After much contemplation, I must give it to... Superhero Green Arrow! Why? Satellite with superheroes & girlfriend with fishnets. That trumps most everything.

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=55016&zoom=4

-r-

She started off as an All-American Publications character while Batman, for example, was a National Allied Publications character before All-American was bought out by National to form DC Comics. Characters from the two companies crossed over on a fairly regular basis (in the JSA, for instance) even before the 1944 merger, so it's a subtle distinction.

I like how the three examples in the Cover Theme are from three distinct companies: Charlton, Fawcett and Quality Comics. Heck, if Phantom Lady or the Dan Garrett Blue Beetle were in there, Fox Feature Syndicate could have snuck in as well.

The realistic nitty gritty Green Arrow is awesome. Every writer(as far as I've read) who has created for this character starting with Denny all the way to Diggle, I think, have done some of their best work. Unfortunately that's all I've read so far.

Let's say JLA#248:
http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/justice-league-of-america/248-1.jpg

As for the better acrobat question: Catwoman. Tim's whole deal is that he's *not* a perfect physical candidate to be Robin like Dick was, but that he's more likely to take on the detective aspect of Batman. It's why the supporting cast was so effective post-NML; Dick embodied the crimefighting / adventuring aspect of the Batman character, Batgirl / Cassie was the martial arts part of the character, and Tim was carrying on the detective tradition. You could see a little bit of Batman in each of them, but it highlighted why Batman was so significant because he could do it all.

I dig superhero Green Arrow because the feasibility of a man shooting arrows as a crime fighter always seemed to lend itself to a grander theatricality of flashy superheroics rather than grim and gritty. Though I could see a cool Arsenal series like that since his marksman and wacky "anything is a weapon" style could be more realistic....for comics.

And I want to use the same cover for the Cover Game since there was originally a different version with the Manhunter's eye being pecked out by the raven. Good times.

--K

Also, less trick arrows. You want regular sharp arrows, and you maybe want explosive arrows and gas arrows, and that's about it. Boxing-glove arrows and handcuff arrows and glue-bomb arrows are all kind of stupid and don't offer much beyond nostalgia value.

JLA Annual #1:

http://tinyurl.com/3d43v9