Over the last decade DC comics has been obsessed with nostalgia and bringing back older fans with sequels to iconic stories. At time of this article’s writing, Jeph Loeb is writing a sequel to “The Long Halloween” with Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween, as well as reuniting with Jim Lee for Batman: H2SH. The current Justice League comic by Mark Waid is titled Justice League Unlimited, it’s name taken directly from the beloved 2004 animated series. There’s even Shayera Thal’s Hawkwoman appearing in Jeremy Adam’s Green Lantern Corps in a role echoing that from the same Justice League animated series. It all shows that DC is obsessed with nostalgia, specifically the stories and concepts from the early 2000s.
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However, despite all of this nostalgia love, DC is missing something. One of the characters that had it the best throughout the 2000s was Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow. The era saw the hero with get a new series started by Kevin Smith and later continued by Judd Winick that helped define the Emerald Archer even today. Often overlooked as a Batman clone with a green coat of paint, Green Arrow is so much more than that. Acting as a modern day equivalent to Robin Hood in taking power and wealth from the rich and giving back to the poor, Oliver stands a bit differently from his fellow billionaire vigilante. With actions including taking in a homeless child off the streets, to helping take down his own company from shady operations, there is a lot to love with Green Arrow. So, why is it that he hasn’t gotten his laurels like Batman has with his series? With nostalgia fueling a lot of creative decisions over at DC currently, it’s time they give Green Arrow his due and the best way to do it is to revisit some his greatest stories — and bring back some of his most iconic rogues.
Why Now Is The Perfect Time For Constantine Drakon To Return
Villains are everything when it comes to a hero’s stories and with characters such as Brick and Onomatopoeia both returning in Joshua Williamson’s run on Green Arrow, it’s all the more confusing why Constantine Drakon hasn’t returned. Drakon was used in multiple storyline such as “Straight Shooter,” “New Business,” and “Seeing Red” where he quickly made a name for himself as the next great Green Arrow villain. With incredible marksmanship and martial arts training, Drakon was a force to be reckoned with. Having multiple fights with not just Oliver Queen but his son Connor Hawke as well proved him to be a worthy opponent. Which makes it all the more puzzling why he hasn’t returned yet, with most of his appearances being in the Lazarus tournament in the pages of Robin, also by Williamson.
Constantine Drakon returning as a villain for hire on a need to need basis in Green Arrow and would be perfect to capitalize on the nostalgia for the title. He formerly teamed up and worked for Deathstroke in the “One Year Later” event for Green Arrow, so Drakon working for some of the other rogues of the Emerald Archer would be perfect. He’s that ideal middle ground villain who doesn’t have any super set motives against Green Arrow and instead just happens to come across him a lot. He also could act as a Green Arrow equivalent to Marvel’s Bullseye in Daredevil. There are a lot of options open for Constantine Drakon in the future of Green Arrow but one thing’s for certain is that he needs to return.
Drakon’s Return Could Mark a New Age of Classic Green Arrow Adventures
By bringing back Constantine Drakon with the other villains in the early 2000s era of Green Arrow, there’s a lot of interesting future possibilities for the character and his supporting cast. Similar to Nightwing, Green Arrow has lost a handful of villains to Batman. Kevin Smith would famously go on to use Onomatopoeia as a villain for other characters, but he has since been brought back to the Emerald Archer by Williamson. With Brick back into the fold as well, it only makes sense that Drakon could return. He would, in turn, be a catalyst to bring back even more Green Arrow rogues. Cupid could make a comeback to stir up more drama with Black Canary. I wouldn’t know where to begin with it but, Komodo could always return with the rest of the Lian Yu clans dipping into Jeff Lemire’s lore. Each villain return opens doors to revisit classic Green Arrow themes with fresh tales, tales that would capitalize on DC’s love of nostaglia while injecting new energy into the iconic hero. There’s a lot of possibility when it comes to making Green Arrow’s solo adventures even more exciting once again; it just all starts with a vintage villain.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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(Photo by Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)
