UNOFFICIAL GREEN ARROW WEEK CONTINUES as Sean Izaakse interviews Joshua Williamson!
Today, Green Arrow artist Sean Izaakse interviews ME. Unofficial Green Arrow week continues!
Green Arrow #1 comes out April 25th, but the Final Order Cut-Off is April 2nd (in just a little under two weeks). So we’re trying something different to promote it. Here is the kick-off post from Monday!
And now…you get Sean interviewing ME.
SEAN: What was/were/are your inspirations when coming up with this story for Green Arrow?
JOSHUA: My love of Green Arrow. And his family. I’ve wanted to write Green Arrow my whole life so I’ve had a lot of time to think about this story. But three big pieces built it:
Oliver Queen always gets stranded…and always survives. I wanted to test that out in different locations that we don’t normally see him in. This was actually part of the premise for a pitch that I made to DC way back in 2010 for a Green Arrow mini-series that never happened.
His family. I wanted to get his family back together. It was a long overdue family reunion.
I wanted to give Ollie an archenemy. He has some really great enemies, but I think we’d be hard pressed to say who his Lex, Joker, Reverse-Flash was…so I felt it was time. And I knew exactly who it should be.
The trick was combining those three pieces. I re-read a lot of Green Arrow stories and started to shape the idea. I would say the biggest influence on my take for Ollie and his family was the Green Arrow series that started in 2001 with Kevin Smith and Phil Hester that was continued by Brad Meltzer and Judd Winick.
SEAN: The Arrow Family is pretty big, but I've seen online that even some of the newest characters have passionate fans that connect with them on a very personal level. If this series gets extended to more than six issues, have you got stories in mind for those characters to each shine within their corner of the DCU?
JOSHUA: Yeah, of course. These first six issues are really just about getting all the pieces back on the table. I wanted to get the band back together, tell a fun adventure story that honored what came before, and took Ollie and this family that he has built in a new direction TOGETHER.
Our first six issues are a bit less street level and more…bigger picture DCU. We take the Green Arrow family into some places in the DCU that will surprise people. And then I want the 2nd arc to be back in the streets. Still about them as a family, but now they have to deal a different challenge involving what they are as a family now. How have they changed?
We’ve talked about this a bit. The first cover we posted, we put everyone on it so we could signal to everyone what this book is about. My hope is that we can really flesh out the cast after the first six issues to twelve issues. If it was turned into a full on ongoing, it would be rad.
SEAN: What are some of your favourite Oliver Queen moments/interactions, in any media?
JOSHUA: Since we’re saving our favorite Green Arrow comics for tomorrow’s Unofficial Green Arrow Week post, I wanted to talk about the “any media” part of this question.
As a young nerdy kid who loved superheroes…I loved ANYTHING that had superheroes in it. Movies, TV shows, video games, whatever. It was nowhere near as common as it is today. And it’s part of why the DC animated series of the 90s and early 2000s were so crucial. They fed that love. And they were GOOD. Really good.
When Justice League started I was hyped. And once we got Unlimited it was ON. Just the best thing for a die hard DC fan. And whenever Green Arrow was in an episode I was extra in love. It was a real joy that he was in the first episode.
So I have to bring up the episode “Double Date.” It’s one of my fav episodes and written by the awesome Gail Simone. “Cat and the Canary” is really good, too. It was very OLLIE.
But there was something really great about the Double Date episode. Just a great example of what Unlimited could be. That it didn’t have to star the Trinity. It was a fun adventure story. One of the best episodes of the whole run.
There is also a AWESOME DC Showcase: Green Arrow animated short written by Greg Weisman. In a lot of ways that is MY Green Arrow.
The Young Justice cartoon was great. I loved how Roy rebelled in the first episode. I still can’t believe we had a (Green) Arrow TV show, too. That show ruled.
SEAN: If you could write a DC/Marvel Crossover, who would you have the Ollie crossover with?
JOSHUA: Oh boy. Probably Daredevil. Mostly because of this amazing Wizard cover by the great Joe Quesada. And I think they have a few things common. They would clash, for sure. And then have few drinks and chili together.
I think the obvious answer is Hawkeye? But we’ve seen that. I’d like to see him hang out with Spider-Man. Ghost Rider or Doctor Strange would be interesting. Iron Man would be cool to see them both talk about being rich. The Fantastic Four. It would be fun to see his family meet other families. Like imagine Roy hanging out with Johnny? And Dinah with Sue? You know Connor and Ben would have fun together.
Oh Deadpool would be fun, too. But Daredevil would be the best.
Maybe I’m just saying all the characters I’d like to write if I ever worked at Marvel again.
As an silly side note to this question. When I was a kid, Wizard magazine ran a “context” to create Amalgam characters. I created a character called “Green Nova.” that was a mix of Green Arrow and Nova. The idea was that “Ollie Rider” was stranded on a island but was saved by the Nova force and became a space explorer. I have the art that a drew for it SOMEWHERE. It was pretty much a green Nova costume with some arrow themes to it.
As you can see I’ve been thinking about Green Arrow for a very long time.
SEAN: How would you describe your version of Oliver Queen?
JOSHUA: A family man who didn’t think he’d be a family man. A guy who is forever hard on himself and means well but can’t help putting his foot in his mouth.
I always felt like Ollie was the John McClane of the DC universe. I already said this in the post on Monday, but you can put that dude in any situation and you know he’s going to do two things: fight and survive.
Ollie doesn’t have powers but stands side by side with the world’s greatest superhumans. And doesn’t blink an eye. He always takes his shot. I love him haha.
Okay, so that is it for today! I hope you’re getting hyped about Green Arrow #1! Out in April. Be sure to pre-order!
Tomorrow we talk about our favorite Green Arrow stories! Seen you then!
