Ollie is in distress

[Trey Strain]

Things look dire for Green Arrow. These are the latest numbers.

GREEN ARROW #40 $3.99 DC 20,995

Recently I suggested here that Detective Comics be made into a permanent teamup comic with Batman and Green Arrow, because not only would it give the writers something new and interesting to write about, but it would also boost Green Arrow's sales.

Some people objected, claiming that Green Arrow didn't need the help.

So here's your chance to post a better idea. And please don't suggest some variation of "just put a popular writer on it."

How would you pull Ollie out of the rip current and resuscitate him?

[Denirac]

Turn GA into a Hal, Roy, Ollie and Dinah book and add Ollie and Dinah as full time members of a JL

[DragonPiece]

How about waiting till the new writer comes in? We can't expect big numbers for a fill in arcs

[Trey Strain]

How about waiting till the new writer comes in? We can't expect big numbers for a fill in arcs

Yes, there is a problem here. The comic's sales have fallen steadily and relentlessly no matter what. Maybe the new writer will fix it, although we don't know that. The question I'm asking here is, what would YOU do to fix it? If you don't have any ideas, then you don't.

[DragonPiece]

Yes, there is a problem here. The comic's sales have fallen steadily and relentlessly no matter what. Maybe the new writer will fix it, although we don't know that. The question I'm asking here is, what would YOU do to fix it? If you don't have any ideas, then you don't.

My idea is to wait and see, that's what I imagine DC is doing. Worst comes to worst, they can do what they did to Percy and relaunch with the same creative with a shiny #1.

[Carabas]

Yes, there is a problem here. The comic's sales have fallen steadily and relentlessly no matter what. Maybe the new writer will fix it, although we don't know that. The question I'm asking here is, what would YOU do to fix it? If you don't have any ideas, then you don't.

I would get a new creative team on it. This is my idea as to how to "fix" this.

Although without seeing some more numbers, like for sales in other formats, it's unsure if there is even anything to fix. For all I know Green Arrow might be doing gangbusters in trades right now.

Another important consideration: are sales still in freefall or have they levelled out?

[Trey Strain]

Post deleted.

[Trey Strain]

I would get a new creative team on it. This is my idea as to how to "fix" this.

Although without seeing some more numbers, like for sales in other formats, it's unsure if there is even anything to fix. For all I know Green Arrow might be doing gangbusters in trades right now.

Another important consideration: are sales still in freefall or have they levelled out?

They're not in freefall, but they're dropping steadily without a letup. The usual cancellation level for DCU titles is 17K on icv2, which isn't far off.

[CaptCleghorn]

I would get a new creative team on it. This is my idea as to how to "fix" this.

Although without seeing some more numbers, like for sales in other formats, it's unsure if there is even anything to fix. For all I know Green Arrow might be doing gangbusters in trades right now.

Another important consideration: are sales still in freefall or have they levelled out?

Seriously, if DC is worried about GA sales, they are looking at fixing them. If they consider it a problem, they will look at single sales, trades, and any TV show tie-ins. They may very well consider this a problem. They may not.

Me, personally, if I were given the job of increasing sales, I'd compare the usual drop in sales to every other DC book. If there's a marked difference (using stuff like statistical significance), pinpointing largest dropoffs is a typical first step used in business. Sales are the result of a problem, not the problem. Finding the reason for a drop in sales is what's needed.

A quick uneducated answer would be Mike Grell and/or Neil Adams variant covers.

[BatmanJones]

Turn GA into a Hal, Roy, Ollie and Dinah book and add Ollie and Dinah as full time members of a JL

Love this idea.

I think the new writing team is going to turn it around. They did a nice job with GA Annual 2.

[Vakanai]

Huh, thought for sure someone would poo poo the do an origin mini idea.

[Carabas]

Huh, thought for sure someone would poo poo the do an origin mini idea.

Didn't they already do that?

[Vakanai]

Didn't they already do that?

Recently? I don't keep up with GA, but not to my knowledge and my Bing search turned up nothing, but maybe someone more knowledgeable can point out something. But Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have all had multiple origins this decade, Teen Titans and Green Lantern have both had at least one (Earth One), so one for Ollie right now couldn't hurt.

[MajorHoy]

I think the new writing team is going to turn it around. They did a nice job with GA Annual 2.

But aren't they the same writers of the mediocre Batgirl & The Birds of Prey series under Rebirth (R.I.P.)?

[j9ac9k]

Shaking things up usually seems to give sales a bump -- but it's tricky to do something that hasn't been done and seems different enough to intrigue people, but not so different that it becomes universally maligned. That said, here's an idea:
-- Take Ollie's Robin Hood / SJW role into a more extreme place. Not that he should be the preachy bleeding-heart liberal that he was with O'Neil, but taken into a more methodical, thought out way. Throw in a tinge of tv Arrow where he'll go after the corrupt, but he'll flat-out execute people he really feels deserves it - warlords, child pornographers, etc - but only the worst of the worst - he's not the Punisher. He'll still defend innocents or infiltrate the Hall of Justice if he feels they have something that would help the disenfranchised or he might try to steal Kryptonite from the Batcave because he thinks Superman's best friend shouldn't be the one entrusted to stop him if it comes down to it, etc.. He won't play well with others but he can still be counted on to fight a super-baddie.
Take Ollie and meld these various influences and just crank them up a bit into someone who's dangerous rather than the liberal blow-hard. Give him his own unique sense of social justice, not just the ones that will make him seem annoying and preachy. He might even go after heroes if he feels they've stepped out of line or have become a danger.

I dunno -- something like that... :/