Arrow: 7 Great Comic Book Stories They Still Havent Used Yet

After four years of Arrow -- each season basically telling two big stories and a handful of small [...]

By Russ Burlingame - September 9, 2016 10:38 am EDT

After four years of Arrow -- each season basically telling two big stories and a handful of small ones -- Marc Guggenheim, Wendy Mericle, and company have barely scratched the surface of the great Green Arrow stories out there.

Removing the years of done-in-one or Justice League of America stories that would likely not make for great television, you have at a minimum a handful of excellent writers and runs from whose work the show could draw inspiration. Which could also eliminate the need to rely on the steady stream of flashbacks.

Season 5 could be a turning point for the series as it has started to see a downward trend in audience. The first season was a peak as the shows averaged 3.68 million viewers each week; Season 2 saw a decrease to 3.28 million viewers on average before increasing in the third installment to 3.52 million viewers.

The recently completed fourth season saw a drop in ratings, averaging 2.90 million viewers, however it was signed to return for this Season 5 in March of 2016.

If the show is to move into the future, it could draw upon the plethora of comic-based options for storylines.

Here are some of our favorites:

THE ARCHER'S QUEST

archers quiet — (Photo: DC Entertainment)

While the concept of this -- that Oliver has just returned from the dead and must collect up his Green Arrow gear to resume his fight -- may not really work on TV, but, at this point why not try?

He hasn't been dead in a while and this wasn't an issue for him when he was, but there's certainly plenty in this Brad Meltzer-written story that could make the transition to TV.

Let's say for the sake of argument that there's a bunch of stuff Oliver needs to track down in order to protect his safety and that of Team Arrow. Along the way, he's forced to deal with some of the bad stuff he's done in the past, and to relive the loss of key figures in his life like Tommy, Laurel, and in a way, his son William.

That's not the PLOT of Archer's Quest, but it's the heart of the story, and there's a very good Arrow story to be told using some of that stuff.

The one thing we really don't want them retconning in would be the reveal that he "always knew" about William. It fundamentally changed his relationship with Connor when they did that in the comics, and not in a good way.

HATE CRIMES

Green Arrow Hunters Moon — (Photo: DC Entertainment)

When Judd Winick came on board and Mia (Speedy) was revealed to be HIV positive, there were a fair number of fans who rolled their eyes and groused about it.

Winick, who made his name on the non-fiction graphic novel Pedro and Me about his friendship with a gay man who died of AIDS, had brought gay rights to Green Lantern as well and it really seemed like a pet project for him.

But it wasn't the first time.

Back in the '80s, long before it was fashionable to address such issues in mainstream comics, Mike Grell's beloved Green Arrow run dealt with a spree of anti-gay hate crimes.

This is less of a specific story than a plot beat, but it's worth exploring, especially since the political side of Oliver that has heretofore been more or less absent on the TV show would make more sense than ever now that he's mayor.

THE TRIAL OF OLIVER QUEEN

oliver-queen-trial — (Photo: DC Entertainment)

The title is really all you need to know with this one.

With Oliver now serving as the mayor, he's going to be under a lot more scrutiny and the brief moments where he might have faced justice in the past will likely be revisited this season.

So, too, the addition of brutal, new vigilantes, a key part of the storyline reprinted as The Trial of Oliver Queen.

So while it's far from a guarantee that elements of this famed Mike Grell/Dan Jurgens story will show up on Arrow, I wouldn't bet against it.

THREE OF A KIND

You wouldn't be able to use Green Lantern, obviously, but how great would it be to see the usually-dour Arrow take a detour into a fairly light, not-universe-changing crossover story with The Flash?

It will likely never happen; both Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell are basically working around-the-clock on their own shows and neither probably wants to spend their downtime heading across the lot to make a guest appearance on the other guy's series for funsies.

Which is a drag.

Many fans would pay cold, hard cash to see a variation on this Flash/Green Lantern/Green Arrow story with Oliver, Barry, and... well does it matter who?

Maybe J'Onn or Ray Palmer or somebody else who could be spared for a week on one of the other CW DC shows?

WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD

When a well-meaning Oliver gets sucked into a radical group with a political agenda to which he was sympathetic, things get ugly fast, eventually building to Oliver's shocking death.

Again, the thing with Oliver's death is that it's been done and I feel like while you can occasionally repeat that plot point in comics, you can't really do that in TV without losing some of your credibility.

Still, you could play the rest -- a radical group he encounters as mayor, gets caught up in because he believes in their schtick and then ultimately finds out they're evil and has to infiltrate them to save the city -- as a pretty awesome 1- or 2-part story on the show. And I'd love to see them try it.

It would also allow them to mess with comics fans who think they know the ending coming!

BROTHERHOOD OF THE FIST

One way to make Oliver stand out in the now-crowded world of DC vigilantes and heroes on The CW?

What about doing a loose adaptation of the Brotherhood of the Fist storyline, in which Connor Hawke proved himself to be one of DC's elite martial artists by taking down Silver Monkey, a villain that required him to team up with Batman, Robin, and Nightwing?

Obviously those Dark Knight-style characters aren't available on here, but we could certainly get Ollie teaming up with Sara Lance, Wild Dog and Vigilante or something like that.

And with the endgame of reminding us all why Oliver is so special beyond just being the "first," this could be a crossover that manages to be awesome while utilizing nothing but Arrow's phenomenal fight choreography, without falling back on super-powers.

OUTBREAK

Far and away the most recent thing on the list, Ben Percy's last pre-Rebirth story makes the list primarily because this would be awesome in the context of Arrow.

Here's the official description, via Amazon...and bear in mind, this could be a GREAT last hurrah for Manu Bennett's Deathstroke before the character goes to the movies and is permanently off-limits, or they could use some other villain with a lot of history and get rid of them for good at the end (*cough*Merlyn*cough*):

A horrific viral outbreak threatens Seattle and beyond, and Oliver Queen finds himself infected, isolated, and incurable. With a shred of hope, Green Arrow embarks on a quest for the one person in the world that may be able to save him.

But he's not the only one looking for a cure: Deathstroke has joined the race for a cure, and there's nothing deadlier than the world's greatest assassin.

With his blade and the virus's pull, our favorite archer may have just met his end.