Dear Green Arrow, You know this is gonna be difficult for me. Truth is, I don’t want to hurt your feelings. After all, you have been at the top of my list of favorite comic heroes for going on fifteen years now. Man Ollie, I remember the good old days. I can call you Ollie, right? Anyway…back to what I was saying. The good old days. You, Mike Grell and I. Grell was so awesome. What Mike did with your character revolutionized the way that comics were written. Under his watchful eye, you became more than just a Batman rip-off. Hell, The Longbow Hunters is one of the best story lines ever written...you remember? Of course you do. Who could forget their shining moment? For my dollar it just doesn’t get better than you fighting ninjas and hooking up with a sexy Japanese hottie with a dragon tattoo. Sweet. But that was a long time ago dude. Grell is gone, and you? Well let’s just say that you haven’t had a great moment in a long time. I had high hopes for you after Chuck Dixon created Connor. That showed some real promise. I was pissed that you were missing for a while, but I got over it. Sadly, that whole thing went south, which seems to be the way most big comic companies do business these days. Get a good writer on a book and then send him away far too soon. Take Dixon’s latest run on Robin for instance…oops. Sorry. This isn’t about the Boy Wonder…it’s about you. My bad. We bounced around for a while and then you quietly….went….away. Then, for just a moment, I thought you had a chance. Kevin Smith took you over and vowed to make you number one. I felt some pride ripple through my soul and thought that all of those insults I took from other comic book fans about why I still read your book were going to come to an end. “Now we’ll show em’ Ollie…” I thought. Yeah, it was a sweet couple of weeks as I fantasized about what new adventures you would go on. “Probably something sweet like (Mike) Grell would do” I thought. “Maybe a corrupt banker or oil baron or drug dealer or something….Ollie is gonna kick their ass.” Then came the announcement about your new artist. I was freaking out. Who would it be? It’s gonna be awesome. I mean, surely a name as big as Smith is going to bring in a great artist, right? Imagine the pain that hit me like a runaway sewage truck when they announced, “Hester!” Huh? Excuse me? You made the biggest comeback of your career with Phil Hester?!?!?! I mean, WTF dude?!? Don’t get me wrong. I like Hester. It’s just that I can think of a million other artists more suitable for you. What were you thinking? In all fairness, I think Hester did the best he could with you. But we need to be very honest here…he wasn’t working with much. Smith gave you four solid issues before it became apparent that he simply didn’t care about you anymore. And don’t give me any lip about it either. Dude, have you actually read any of your issues from that run? A crazy, Satan-worshipping pedophile? That’s the best you can do for your big return? Excuse me for a moment while I go back into a fantasy world where your comics are actually important. Smith ended his run with you almost losing to a boring, mute, Bullseye rip-off. Pardon us if we don’t applaud. And now we have Judd Winnick. Oh Judd, what can I say about him? I guess I could say that recently I was at a Con where an un-named DC editor said to me with a straight face, “Look, if you look past the gaping plot holes, poor characterization, and the way the writing is sometimes weak, He’s actually pretty ok.” And there is the problem. Judd is “pretty ok” most of the time, awful some of the time, and really amazing every once in a while. When he’s amazing, your book is the tops. Sometimes, he really captures your spirit. He knows how to write your voice when he really tries. It’s as if he wants to write a great Green Arrow story, but he keeps letting this other story get in the way. I get the feeling that the story he’s telling would be good too, if only it didn’t have to be your story. He may even resent you for it, but don’t tell him I said that…he’s famous. So after all that complaining, why do I still read you? I know you want to know. You deserve an answer. A guy can’t gripe this badly about something without being able to answer that question. I guess the answer is this. I love you. It’s true. I won’t try to hide it. I love what you stand for. Unlike any other hero of your time, you were the ultimate badass. You had no good reason to hang with heroes, but you did. You have never backed down form a super-villain, no matter how tough they were. I mean, Batman at least had armor and gadgets. You? Just a bunch of arrows and anger. You were what humanity could be now, if we just had the guts. No radioactive spider or mutated gene needed. Just a bow and a handful of arrows. You killed Green Lantern dude. Green Lantern!!! You didn’t need powers to do it either…just your wits. You’ve always fought for what is important. Women, children, the environment, etc. and I love you for it. So I guess it pains me to see what you’ve become. You aren’t supposed to be Black Canary’s sidekick. You aren’t supposed to be sensitive. You are supposed to drink too much, womanize too much, and never compromise on everything else. This year, when (Andy) Diggle and Jock wrote about you becoming a hero, it reminded me of just how good you could be. It was the single best Green Arrow story since The Longbow Hunters. So why in the hell did we have to go from that to your wedding special? Do us all a favor and get your act together. Be the comic that I fell in love with. I know you can do it. In closing, I want to say that I’m sorry for saying all of these hurtful things. You’ve given me a lot of comic-reading enjoyment over the years, and you probably deserve a better fan than me. But I felt like I needed to be honest. I know that you can take it. After all, you’re a hero. Sincerely, Rob Alderman *( Rob Alderman currently resides in Chattanooga Tennessee. He is a husband, father and long-time author on all things pop-culture. His favorite comic book right now is Atomic Robo and his favorite comic book ever is The Dark Knight Returns. He is also very fond of Chicago-style pizza and Guinness.)