Thursday, March 29, 2012

VERSUS...Green Arrow v. Hawkeye


I've never met a person who claimed to be an archer but they must be seriously intense people. Take a look at the characters in comics: Green Arrow, Hawkeye, Trick Shot, Merlyn, and even Archer of 'Archer and Armstrong'had a pretty 'touchy' personality at times. It must be the thought of seeing that long shaft hanging out of the wrong target if they
missed that makes them have such an intense personality.


But I digress...

This is about the two most infamous archers in the industry who also seem to have similar preferences when it comes to women.

Green Arrow, Oliver Queen, not Connor Hawke.
The story of how Oliver Queen became the infamous archer known as Green Arrow is similar to the story of Tom Hank's 'Castaway'. A big difference is that in Oliver's story, the volley ball that became 'Wilson' was Oliver's self-made bow he used to survive on that deserted island before being rescued.

Queen lost his wealth but maintained the bow. He honed his skills to mastery level being able to shot an arrow into the barrel of a gun before the shooter could fire it. Green Arrow's initial run in the superhero game was based not just on his master archery skills, but the trick arrows he used as well. Having lost his wealth and being something of a new age Robin Hood, Green Arrow became a voice of the 'common people'. I like Green Arrow's attitude and the premise of his personality, which I think writers have yet to utilize properly.

Although being pushed to the personal limits of his life and nearly rebuilt himself yet again (one of Queen's overlooked character having withdrawn from the vigilante spotlight, Arrow strength is that he rebuilds himself more times than Madonna).

During the "Longbow Hunters' saga, Queen dropped the trick arrows and went back to the basics of the simple bow and arrow. This earned him the respect he hadn't had since his initial pairing with Green Lantern to address political and social issues back in the 70s.

Until recently, the strength of Green Arrow lay in his archery skills. After yet another rebirth, Green Arrow was trained by a martial arts master assassin who helped Green Arrow develop his body into a living weapon. As a side note, just because Green Arrow 'made' his body into a living weapon, has blonde hair and wears a green costume, do not confuse him with Iron Fist.






Hawkeye, Clint Barton: vigilante, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Avenger.

Hawkeye started his career out in the circus and was billed as 'the world's greatest marksman'. A special note here is that Hawkeye started his training
when he was young and under the tutelage of Trick Shot, a master archer, and the Swordsman, a master of unarmed combat and bladed weapons. His time in several circuses have also made him a very accomplished acrobat.

Hawkeye didn't have the most ideal life. Having lost his parents early in his life, being deceived by his mentors and brother and left for dead, Barton is not a very trusting person but is very strong-willed and confident (often called stubborn and arrogance).

Nevertheless, what seems like an obvious match-up is not. Green Arrow should be respected for his abilities, especially for having developed and mastered them so late in his life. He is one of the greatest archers in comics
when considered in JUST that area alone. Even with his additional martial arts training, my money goes on Hawkeye.

While I mentioned earlier that Green Arrow had trained his body to be living weapon, all weapons are not equal. Any one can be taught to become a living weapon, but not all weapons are the same. You have to look at the years of training and guidance it took to make each weapon. Barton is more focused and had been doing his antics longer than Queen. More to the point, Hawkeye has more that just archery to his skill base and it should again be noted that he is not called the 'world's greatest archer' but the 'world's greatest marksman'. Hawkeye's skills as a marksman put him in Bullseye and Punisher's category, not Green Arrow's.

So again, my money's on Hawkeye. I give him marksmanship in multiple weapons, youth and focus over Green Arrow.
I just hope they do him justice in the movie.

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