10 Year Anniversary Of Arrow

Gone far to soon.

10 years ago today one of the greatest superhero shows premiered. I can remember the moment I learned about Arrow, coming off of the high of Smallville. The premise and idea of a new superhero show greatly excited me. If Smallville was the catalyst then Arrow was the fire. It's no secret that Smallville paved the way for the superhero universe that followed it. When Arrow was announced, I remember thinking that Justin Hartley was going to be playing the character as if a continuation from Smallville.

But then once I realized or rather learned that this was something entirely new, I was concerned and confused. I remember where I was when the show first premiered. I was sitting in my house, that evening home from high school, sitting with my brother and my father. The excitement was hard to contain to see what this new show is about since I had already seen a live action interpretation of Green Arrow in Smallville. To my joyous surprise, much like how Smallville had started at the root of this character, Arrow had done the same. I was being introduced to the origin story of a great DC character. Arrow did not disappoint in its tenure.

It reintroduced in a fresh perspective some of the most iconic characters in the DC universe. It managed to capture indelible characters from the DC universe and presented them in a way that not only felt authentic but at the same time original to this new universe. I've heard the arguments over the years that Ra's Al Ghul and Deathstroke are truly Batman villains and don't belong to Green Arrow, and certainly not the way that the Arrow show presented them. However, I can tell you that I loved the way they introduced and reinvented Deathstroke and Ra's Al Ghul, and this is coming from someone that thinks the Dark Knight series, including Batman Begins, is the greatest Batman movies that we've ever had. Namely because of the brilliant origin story that Christopher Nolan gave us with Ra's Al Ghul.

That being said, I have only praise for Arrow, and cherished season 1, season 2, and season 3 as some of the greatest comic book TV ever made. It's difficult to be given the keys to a kingdom and being told that you can't go into this room or that room or better yet, you can't go to this part of the palace. With any of these DC properties, this was the case. You couldn't use this character or say this thing etc. Arrow was no exception. In absence of some indelible DC characters, writers and filmmakers had to be creative in ways to present characters that they were allowed to use. What is so impressive is how these artists took a character like Green Arrow and brought him to the forefront from in my mind a B-lister and an A-lister.

Arrow grew so much and changed so much of what was going on in DC television, namely on the CW and I don't know if most remember when it started the original writers and producers stating that they couldn't use the name Green Arrow, which is why they called it Arrow. It's amazing because Warner Brothers put similar limitations on their previous shows like Smallville. Who had to dance around using certain characters and certain names. Arrow grew to such success that it introduced the Arrowverse.

The name Arrowverse has become so synonymous with what's been going on in the last 10 plus years since the show was created. The honorary title was given because Arrow introduced the Flash. Arrow helped to spawn the connected DC TV universe that led us to the Flash, DC Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Supergirl, Superman and Lois, Black Lighting and Stargirl. ALL thanks to Arrow. Not only were all these shows possible, but the birth of the idea of a connected DC universe. Thanks to Arrow The CW was able to produce four major crossovers that involved all the connected CW/DC shows and introduced new characters and comic events from the DC universe. I'd like to stress that at this time we were barely seeing anything from the DC comics being presented in live action. It was.

Thanks to that, the Arrowverse that we finally got a chance to see some of this in live action. Perhaps the most ambitious and accomplished of them was Crisis. The Infinite Crisis a herald DC Comic event was adapted in the Arrowverse. It's inclusion of not just the CW/DC universe known as the Arrowverse, but the idea, similar to the comics that all of DC media is just a different universe in the complex multiverse, was brilliant. With Infinite Crisis the Arrowverse showed us that the Tim Burton Batman films, the other DC TV shows (Titans, Stargirl, and Doom Patrol), Smallville, all exist in the complex multiverse of DC. Personally, not the home run that I hoped it would have been, but one thing I will say is much like Smallville which taught me the patience and open-mindedness of allowing creators to adapt origin stories and comic stories in a way that was possible for television. I went into Arrow open-minded and was rewarded.

Admittedly I did not know much Green Arrow outside of seeing him in DC cartoon adaptations and the Smallville adaptation. I knew his origin from reading the reinvented storyline in the New 52. I knew of his relationship with the Black Canary and I knew of his similarity to Bruce Wayne as a billionaire and owner of a namesake corporation. New 52 to me was a home run for DC and I haven't liked anything as much since. To see the creators adapting the origin story of Oliver similar to the reinvention of the New 52 was very familiar and exciting to me.

The point that I'm trying to make is that I went into Arrow open-minded and over the years received something that I never imagined. Not only a great comic book show, arguably one of the greatest, but this entire universe is thanks to Arrow. Getting to see the Flash which has been an amazing run, shows like Supergirl and now Superman, and these amazing fun, and exciting crossovers, all thanks to the groundwork of Arrow. It deserves to be recognized and I certainly miss it. The CW Arrowverse was never the same. It's no secret that most CW shows, including the DC shows have operated on a modest budget compared to what streaming shows. What's amazing is compared to the budget's superhero streaming shows now now have is how Arrow was able to produce a show with incredible action, and visual effects. I'd like to also compliment the outfits on Arrow. Anything that they designed that had to do with all of the suits for any of the villains or superheroes, all looked incredible. I compliment even the editing and music of the show, that theme song will always slap hard! I tip my hair and hold a glass in honor of Arrow.

Thank you for all you gave us and all you've done. This fan will forever be grateful.