WINICK ON GREEN ARROW: ONE YEAR LATER

[MattBrady]

He’s spent years railing against the man, standing up to the man, and fighting the man, and now, One Year Later, Green Arrow is the man?

With all of March’s “One Year Later” jumps in the DC Universe titles, Green Arrow makes the most political one. As the solicitation for issue #60 reveals, One Year Later, Oliver Queen, one of the most socially and politically active superheroes in the DCU is the newly elected mayor of Star City (with his exploits being drawn by the new series art team of Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens).

We spoke with series writer Judd Winick for a little more on Mayor Queen.

“I knew about the One Year Later jump two years ago when we [Dan DiDio, Greg Rucka, and Geoff Johns] came up with it, so I’ve had more than a running start on my books to get ready for it,” Winick said when asked how he began planning for the flip. “Knowing that you have a twelve month gap, you can, if you chose, really reset the clock. You can skip, if you want, an entire manifestation of the character, which is basically the way I’ve gone about it.

“The advice we gave to the other writers followed along those lines, really – we told them that this was the best time to just turn everything on its ear. As long as the ‘how we got here’ makes sense, and you, as the writer, can see a line from the last storyline before the jump and the first story after the jump, go for it. You can always tell the tale eventually of how things got to be where they are, so just do it. This shouldn’t be just business as usual for the titles – something huge and dramatic should have happened. The theme should be different, the character can be different, and things should be completely shaken up. Of course, it’s also going to be seen as an attractive spot for new readers to come on as well, so the whole thing was really a unique experience in comics. That’s how I was looking at it, at least.”

Winick admitted that he knew adding the word “Mayor” in front of Oliver Queen’s name was about as a dramatic change as he could make, given Queen’s feelings about the establishment, politics, and social justice. But for the writer, making Queen the city’s mayor isn’t something sudden – it had been brewing for a while.

“This is an idea that occurred to me a while ago, before we started having discussions about Infinite Crisis and the flip,” Winick said. “The hang up for me was always getting there, getting to the point where Ollie would be mayor of Star City. What always kept holding me back was that it would have been such a slow process. You can’t just jump in and be mayor within the scope of a month or two – he’d have to decide he was doing it, campaign for the position, see it through to Election Day, and all of that. That’s where the One Year Later jump really worked well for me.”

As such, seeds are being and will be laid, Winick said, that will explain, and essentially, allow for the One Year Later alteration of the status quo.

“There’s a setup as to how this could have happened, and that will be dealt with in the ending of the arc before the flip. Things happen in the city where, one year later, it’s very possible/probable for Ollie to be the mayor. The only hint I’ll give to it, is that, oddly enough, some current events mirrored what I had in mind for Ollie and Star City. I planned this a while ago, and now, when it comes out, there are going to be some people who think I was just copying what’s happened, but that’s not it – I’ve had this in the back of my mind for months and months. Real life imitated art, but real life beat me to the deadline.”

In regards to being mayor and, in a sense, becoming part of the establishment, running contrary to Queen’s long expressed views, Winick said that serving his city as mayor is fully within Queen’s character, something Queen himself has crystallized with the question “What can one man do?”

“Oliver Queen wants to save his city,” Winick said. “It’s that simple. He wants his city to be safe and its people happy and free to live as they choose. How do you do that when you’re just one man? How do you seize control? You can take control through illegal means, which he’s basically been trying to do as a vigilante in a way, and it hasn’t worked; and then, there’s the other route – become the mayor. And why not? He’s famous in his city, he’s a multi-millionaire, he’s charming, he has political savvy – why not? Of course, being the mayor will be coupled with the fact hat he’s working on both sides. He’s still going to be Green Arrow, saving his city from the outside, while being the mayor, and trying to save the city from the inside.”

Becoming a public figure of course raises some issues in regards to the whole secret identity thing, and Winick admitted that the “our mayor sure looks a lot like that Green Arrow guy” is an issue he’s going to delicately sidestep.

“The way we’re playing Ollie’s secret identity is somewhere along the same lines of people not realizing that Clark Kent is Superman just because he slicks his hair back and wears glasses,” Winick said. “I can buy that, and suspend my disbelief long enough, because when Superman is standing in front of you, you’re not just looking at his face, you’re looking at the whole deal. It works for me – might not for other people, but I can live with it. It’s the same thing with Ollie. Yeah, he’s got one of the most unusual, old-school goatees imaginable, along with distinctive hair, and he puts on a domino mask and what? He’s a whole different person? We just kind of choose to ignore that. The general public does not know that Oliver Queen is Green Arrow; I really won’t be addressing it in the book, and the mayor won’t be asked to make publicity appearances with Green Arrow. We let some things go in comics, and this will be one of them.”

That said, Winick stressed that Mayor Queen may still be questioned about his plans for the city’s major vigilante.

“People may not put it together that Ollie is Green Arrow, but that’s not to say that we’re going to go so far as to ignore that as mayor, Oliver Queen has a vigilante running around his city. Part of Ollie’s cover is that he does not necessarily come out against, or for Green Arrow, and pretty much take the tact that as a city, you can’t do much about vigilantes, unless they get out of line. He’s going to shy away from the issue whenever it does come up.

“But – in all of this, I want to point out that Green Arrow is not going to suddenly become a political book. The flipside of all of this is that, in Star City, Green Arrow has been missing for a year in Star City. The first issue after the flip is Green Arrow’s return. Mayor Oliver Queen has actually been in office for a little while when issue #60 comes out, but Green Arrow has not been around.”

And finally – yes, if you’ve been noticing, it’s been “vigilante” – singular.

“As of issue #60, Green Arrow is the only hero in town with a bow and arrows. All will be revealed.”

[algertman]

Though Winnick is VERY hit-or-miss with me this sounds like a cool idea

[Uchiha_Prodigy]

Originally posted by MattBrady
“As of issue #60, Green Arrow is the only hero in town with a bow and arrows. All will be revealed.” [/b]

What's that supposed to mean?

[MoneyMelon]

I'm not really a big Winnick fan, but I love Scott McDaniel's art. That guy draws great action scenes! I haven't read Green Arrow in a long time, but I think I'm going to try to get back into this after Infinite Crisis just for the art. But the Ollie as Mayor thing sounds kind of dumb.

[MilesLong]

So, OYL = all the heroes are gone for a year? Maybe this explains why Robin is wanted for murder and Jason Todd is Nightwing. Other people assumed their identities while they were gone.

[NeoSamurai]

I could've sworn Ollie's "Secret Identity" really wasn't much of a secret.

[Nightfly]

I hope he doesn't get busted like Marion Berry.

[Kolimar]

This is an interesting idea, in general.

Originally posted by MattBrady
“I knew about the One Year Later jump two years ago when we [Dan DiDio, Greg Rucka, and Geoff Johns] came up with it, so I’ve had more than a running start on my books to get ready for it,” Winick said when asked how he began planning for the flip. “Knowing that you have a twelve month gap, you can, if you chose, really reset the clock. You can skip, if you want, an entire manifestation of the character, which is basically the way I’ve gone about it.

“The advice we gave to the other writers followed along those lines, really – we told them that this was the best time to just turn everything on its ear. As long as the ‘how we got here’ makes sense, and you, as the writer, can see a line from the last storyline before the jump and the first story after the jump, go for it. You can always tell the tale eventually of how things got to be where they are, so just do it. This shouldn’t be just business as usual for the titles – something huge and dramatic should have happened. The theme should be different, the character can be different, and things should be completely shaken up. Of course, it’s also going to be seen as an attractive spot for new readers to come on as well, so the whole thing was really a unique experience in comics. That’s how I was looking at it, at least.”

Totally agree. Good use of OYL.

Originally posted by MattBrady
“The way we’re playing Ollie’s secret identity is somewhere along the same lines of people not realizing that Clark Kent is Superman just because he slicks his hair back and wears glasses,” Winick said. “I can buy that, and suspend my disbelief long enough, because when Superman is standing in front of you, you’re not just looking at his face, you’re looking at the whole deal. It works for me – might not for other people, but I can live with it.

That's the way I've always felt about it.

Originally posted by MattBrady
And finally – yes, if you’ve been noticing, it’s been “vigilante” – singular.

“As of issue #60, Green Arrow is the only hero in town with a bow and arrows. All will be revealed.”

My nose is tingling with the mystery.

[MattBrady]

Originally posted by MilesLong
So, OYL = all the heroes are gone for a year?

not necessarily - as 52 will show what was happening in the DCU during the missing year, and then writers can show what was going on individually in theri series later. In this case, while GA wasn't in Star City, Oliver Queen was, apparently running a mayorial campaign.

MattB

[Johnny Smith]

Originally posted by algertman
Though Winnick is VERY hit-or-miss with me this sounds like a cool idea

Agree.

As long as he doesn't spend a whole story arc chairing city council meetings ...

[User Name]

Originally posted by MilesLong
So, OYL = all the heroes are gone for a year? Maybe this explains why Robin is wanted for murder and Jason Todd is Nightwing. Other people assumed their identities while they were gone.

Unless I read it wrong, I don't think he was implying ALL the heroes, just Green Arrow.

That said - most changes to comic book characters don't even last a year OUR time, let alone their's. That must make this the most radical year in DC/Marvel history.

[SkipShot]

Originally posted by MilesLong
So, OYL = all the heroes are gone for a year? Maybe this explains why Robin is wanted for murder and Jason Todd is Nightwing. Other people assumed their identities while they were gone.

How could he have run for mayor and got elected if he was gone for a year? I believe all Winick is saying is that Green Arrow has been laying low and not been seen in public for a year while Queen was campaigning, etc. Then he finally appears publically again after the election.

[DBHughes]

The only thing that concerns me is the potential of this new direction copying Ex Machina. I can't help but notice that Winnick seems to have had this Mayorial brainstorm around the same time Ex Machina #1 was released.

[SkipShot]

Originally posted by DBHughes
The only thing that concerns me is the potential of this new direction copying Ex Machina. I can't help but notice that Winnick seems to have had this Mayorial brainstorm around the same time Ex Machina #1 was released.

Yeah, when I first heard about this, I thought the same thing. (Actually I wished this question would have been brought up in the interview.) But I'm sure he'll be careful to make his storylines stand apart from Vaughan's...too many people would call him on it if he didn't.

[Ace]

Judd on both Outsiders and GA still was probably the biggest disappointment of all the March solicits. He just doesn't have Ollie's voice down right. The fill in with Anarky was so much better.

That said, this idea is really, really good. When I saw the quiz in Wizard and all the options, the mayor question was almost the most obvious, because it IS such a good, natural idea.

I just don't think he's magically going to find Ollie's voice between then and now. He does a lot better with Roy, btw, but even that's not as good as it could be, and it hardly matters since he said "Team Arrow" wouldn't be involved, just Ollie.

I wonder what Dixon's new GA project will be then. I'd kill to see him on a Suicide Squad type book with Atom Smasher and Manhunter and Connor.

[Micko]

Anybody said Ex-Machina?

I do not like Winnik's books, but... it's not a bad idea.

[olly-mac]

All this "One Year Later" stuff is a great idea; as long as the creative teams on each book don't then spend the next year explaining where the missing year went, as I am worried will be the case. The Olly (sic) Queen idea is great. A left wing Luthor. It will certainly get me to pick up this title again.

[Ben543250]

This is a total rip-off of House of M.

[Johnny Smith]

Originally posted by SkipShot
How could he have run for mayor and got elected if he was gone for a year? I believe all Winick is saying is that Green Arrow has been laying low and not been seen in public for a year while Queen was campaigning, etc. Then he finally appears publically again after the election.

Don't rule out the possibility that somebody else may be wearing the Green Arrow outfit ...

[djm72]

Originally posted by NeoSamurai
I could've sworn Ollie's "Secret Identity" really wasn't much of a secret.

It isn't. Ollie gave up his secret identity during his time in Seattle. He even stopped wearing a mask.

Judd is choosing to ignore this fact. I mean, the only people who care about something like that are the fans and they don't matter.

[Crusader]

Winick is absolutely awful, but McDaniel is one of my favorites, and Scott is a perfect fit for a character like Green Arrow. I'm really on the fence for this one.

[Big Red]

Originally posted by algertman
Though Winnick is VERY hit-or-miss with me this sounds like a cool idea

He's hit-or-miss with me as well.
But I love McDaniel.

I'm really on the fence here.

[Kevin T. Brown]

With the OYL jump and the addition of McDaniel, I'm buying this title again..

[MoneyMelon]

Wow, cool! I didn't know there were so many Scott McDaniel fans here. I love that guy. His action scenes are amazing!

[xdemon]

Originally posted by DBHughes
The only thing that concerns me is the potential of this new direction copying Ex Machina. I can't help but notice that Winnick seems to have had this Mayorial brainstorm around the same time Ex Machina #1 was released.

I think I'll stick to reading Ex Machina and pass on this.