7 Times Comics Made Terrible Heroes Great
1. Green Arrow Becomes A Hard Traveling Hero
When Green Arrow first came to life in 1941, created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, it was fairly obvious that he was inspired by another hero of the time: Batman.
The original incarnation of Oliver Queen may have swapped the black and grey of the Dark Knight for the green and red tights of Robin Hood, but the similarities were blatant. Ollie had an 'Arrow Cave', a sickeningly optimistic sidekick by the name of Speedy, and even rode around in the Arrow-Car. Other similarities, including the presence of an Arrow Signal and Queen's daytime persona as a billionaire playboy, didn't help make matters any easier.
For the most part, Arrow stayed that way for the next two decades. It wasn't until 1969, when the aforementioned Dennis O'Neil paired with artist Neal Adams on a new Green Arrow book, when the character finally earned his stripes as a character with his own personality.
O'Neil stripped Queen of his fortune and turned him into a sixties radical with left-wing views and a strong moral compass. It was almost instantly definitive, with the Hard Travelling Heroes arc of Green Lantern/Green Arrow ending its publishing run as the seventies' most important comic, and with all other depictions of the character taking inspiration from this interpretation.