For many years, Oliver Queen donned the green
garbs as Green Arrow, earning the nickname the
Emerald Archer. As
Kojo mentioned above, he spent many years as a
superhero using
trick arrows and other assorted gadgets. In this time he befriended
Hal Jordan, the
Green Lantern of that time and the two were featured in many stories together.
However, during the revolution taking place in comic books during the late 1980s (thanks to likes Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and other more grim, darker tales) the character of Green Arrow was drastically changed.
In 1987, Mike Grell revamped the character with his mini-series The Longbow Hunters and an ongoing series that ran from 1988-1998.
A recovering alcoholic, Oliver Queen and Dinah Black Canary decided to move out to Seattle, Washington where Dinah is opening a florist's shop. No longer wealthy, Oliver works with his lover. Unable to give up his life of adventure, Ollie decided to bring it back to basics and acted as a guardian for Seattle, using only his archery skills, a standard longbow and steel razor tipped arrows. (Needless to say, the tales were darker as he no longer used knock-out punching glove arrows to subdue criminals, relying instead on these sharper tips.)
A change in costume was in order as well; sleeves now covered his arms and he wore a hood to cover his face. He appeared more as a woodsman or hunter - as opposed to his previous Disney Robin Hood look.
During the three-isse The Longbow Hunters series, several events took place that would change Ollie's life forever.
It was hinted that he had impregnated a Japanese assassin named Shado, and indeed this child would eventually become Connor Hawke and act as Green Arrow for a bit.
in Green Arrow #100, Oliver Queen apparently died while stopping a terrorist threat to a plane over Metropolis. No body was found, though Superman witnessed the explosion of the plane and assured all that Green Arrow could not have survived.
Connor Hawke, in his quest to learn about his father, wore the costume for some time before the series ended.
February 28th, 2001
After long discussion, the premier issue of a new Green Arrow series appeared on stands. Much hype had surrounded this new series, as filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma) had been given the assignment of returning Oliver Queen many, many months before. Expecting high volumes, DC Comics printed more copies than usual; however this was insufficient as the issue sold out before hitting stands. A reprint order was put in place immediately, with second printings to be made available shortly thereafter.
A well written book, Kevin Smith shows his word mastery in his handling of those characters that knew Ollie Queen - Batman, Superman, Black Canary, Arsenal (formerly Speedy) and Connor Hawke. More exciting tales are expecting, as Smith handles the series for the next year or so.