To be honest, I’m not sure what the first comic I ever owned was and I’m not sure what the first comic I ever read was either. As kids my sister and I would go to the public library and check out all the comics they had over and over. Basically, if my sister thought they were cool, so did I. So I remember when she told me about this weird superhero who wore all green and fought bad guys with a bow and arrow and I made sure to ask for his comics that Christmas. My parents were gracious and got me exactly what I wanted: a trade paperback of Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow: Quiver. This was the first comic I went out of my way to own and the first comic I really read. I hadn’t known a lot about Oliver Queen and suddenly I was thrown into this sort of love letter to DC Comics. Quiver was full of not only Green Arrow’s history but also his friends & family and countless other heroes & villains. Etrigan shows up and breathes fire at him. Batman has to figure out why Green Arrow’s scars have miraculously healed. Even Dream from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman makes an appearance. And in between fighting demons, going to heaven and meeting Stanley & his Monster from DC’s 1960s funny animal books, Oliver Queen has to navigate his relationships his son Connor, and his long-time romance Black Canary. This is hardly a Green Arrow book and more of a book of DC Comics as a whole, through the eyes of Oliver Queen. Green Arrow: Quiver taught me to love comic books. It taught me that a superhero book can be about a lot more than just a superhero. It can be about magic and spirituality and adventure, and above all about family.
