How much can you change a character before it’s no longer said character?

[Jim Kelly]

Side note, was early Green Arrow really that different? Or just more generic?

I feel like the Green Arrow that emerged in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 85, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 75 and GREEN LANTERN 76 was miles away from the Green Arrow before that. However, Green Arrow had lost his back-up feature in 1963 and was mostly just a supporting character in JUSTICE LEAGUE until those changes in 1969. So one could argue that they rescued him from obscurity.

And at least they never retconned away his previous adventures. The fact that he had been a spoiled rich guy who fashioned himself after Batman, but without all the angst, served as contrast for the new Oliver Queen that emerged. Losing all his money seemed to have an even worse effect on him than the loss of a loved one for other heroes. That he went so far the other direction in his beliefs seems like the zeal of the newly converted.

It was one of the most drastic changes in a character in comic books without a reboot.

[Sacred Knight]

^^^hear hear.

My opinion(s).
As long as creators remember Clark is SuperMAN, not just SUPERman, they’ll be okay.

You definitely need the balance, but I'd argue that in recent history, more issues have come about from forgetting the Super part.

In any case, I think where Superman is right now is a good example of going too far in regards to this question. Passing off the torch to someone else, no longer having his secret ID. They have moved too far beyond concept of character as we speak.

[DrNewGod]

I feel like the Green Arrow that emerged in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 85, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 75 and GREEN LANTERN 76 was miles away from the Green Arrow before that. However, Green Arrow had lost his back-up feature in 1963 and was mostly just a supporting character in JUSTICE LEAGUE until those changes in 1969. So one could argue that they rescued him from obscurity.

And at least they never retconned away his previous adventures. The fact that he had been a spoiled rich guy who fashioned himself after Batman, but without all the angst, served as contrast for the new Oliver Queen that emerged. Losing all his money seemed to have an even worse effect on him than the loss of a loved one for other heroes. That he went so far the other direction in his beliefs seems like the zeal of the newly converted.

It was one of the most drastic changes in a character in comic books without a reboot.

Oh, I never meant that it was bad, but he was seriously different after getting the goatee.

I always thought that GA was a character that Crisis could have left in the Golden Age, as written, because the post-goatee Arrow was different enough, they could have said it was a different person from the SSV Arrow.