by Matt Brady
Toss out the name Green Arrow to a room of DC fans, and you’ll getalmost the same amount of fighting if you said ‘Hal Jordan.’ However, thebulk of Green Arrow fans are unified in their purpose – they want to see thecharacter return, be it as Conner Hawke or Conner’s father, the originalGreen Arrow, Oliver Queen, whose body has never been found – a sure signhe’s still alive somewhere in the DCU.

Since Kevin Smith told Entertainment Weekly that he would be writingGreen Arrow for DC late last year, Green Arrow fans have waited inanticipation.

And waited.

And waited.

The only news regarding Smith’s Green Arrow future was the statementSmith made earlier this year, saying that his artistic collaborators onDaredevil, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti would be joining him for his run.Shortly after Smith’s statement, Quesada and Palmiotti re-upped with MarvelKnights, a move that will keep them busy for another year, minimum. It’s afact that hasn’t sat well with Green Arrow fans. If you were at WizardWorld,you most likely saw the ‘Free Green Arrow’ fliers being circulated duringthe DC panels, demanding the return of Oliver Queen by 2000.

The fans aren’t alone in their desire. “I’m glad they care so much,”Green Arrow editor Darren Vincenzo says. “I’ve loved Green Arrow as wellsince before I was in comics, and its nice to see that there are fans whoare still so attached to the character that they’ll circulate a petition orflyers to get things rolling. That’s cool.”

Vincenzo recently sat down with AnotherUniverse.com’s Mania for a fewminutes to help clarifying a few points and misconceptions that have sprungup recently around Green Arrow.

Misconception 1: Green Arrow is not lying in limbo while Smith goes onwith business until some day when he has time to write a series. “Theofficial situation is that we’re in discussions with a writer for thecharacter of Green Arrow, and that writer is Kevin Smith,” Vincenzo says.”Kevin and I have sat down on more than one occasion, and figured out wherewe can go with the character and the book. We’re not ‘holding’ it until hedecides he wants to do something. We’ve sat down and discussed plans as wewould with any writer.”

The second misconception Vincenzo sought to clear up goes hand in handwith the idea that DC is ‘holding’ a character for Smith – the sloth-likepace at which progress has been made on a Smith-written Green Arrow seriesor limited series. “We’re working to step up the procedure and get thingsrolling along faster than they have been,” Vincenzo says. “We’re doing thebest we can and as of right now, we are stepping up the speed as best wecan. We’re further along this month than last, and further along than twomonths ago. We’re very interested in having Kevin involved, so we’d reallylike to see this work out with Kevin.”

Vincenzo also explained that due to DC’s eagerness to get Green Arrowrolling again in the near future, Smith’s artistic dream team may not be onthe book with him. “It is likely that the time frame will not allow theinvolvement of some of the names that have been linked to the character,”Vincenzo says. “While I wasn’t at Chicago, Kevin spoke with people at DC inmy stead, so we are moving things ahead as bets we can.”

Whenever the Smith-helmed Green Arrow does see the light of day, don’texpect three months between issues a la Daredevil. “Ideally, you want to gointo a situation or project without the chance of those things developing,”Vincenzo says. “At DC, we go into any project armed as best we can so thosesituations don’t arise. If that means requesting the writer to writeeverything ahead of time, and not scheduling it until its written, thenthat’s what that means. If it means fill-ins to keep the book monthly,that’s what it means as well.”

“The best thing I can say is look at our track record – on the whole, wedon’t have a lot of books that ship late, or creators walking all over us.We make contracts with people and do everything we can to make sure the workgets done on time. That would be the plan that we approach Green Arrowwith.” While Vincenzo didn’t mention it – it’s a no-brainer that in today’smarket, Smith’s name equals guaranteed sales, thanks in part to hiscommercial success with Daredevil. With belts being tightened across theboard, DC most likely isn’t anxious to launch a Green Arrow series with awriter in the interim that would bring in less than Smith-level salesnumbers.

Pure speculation time – if a writer other than Smith was to tackle GreenArrow, it would probably be in the context of a prelude, leading to Smith’srun with the character. A Green Arrow prelude would more than likely see itsorigin in DC’s best selling title, JLA, where it would assumedly attract asubstantial number of readers to follow it through to the new series or aprologue series before Smith’s run.

“Myself, Kevin and DC all want to see Green Arrow return,” Vincenzosays. “As I’ve said, things are moving along faster than before, so itsgetting to be a safer bet that Green Arrow will be back before long.”