Superhero comics have been political from the get-go, but some heroes are more open about their political leanings than others. Since the 1970s, the DC hero most closely associated with politics — liberal politics in particular — is Oliver Queen, the original Green Arrow.
Once little more than a pro-capitalist Batman knockoff, it was Green Arrow’s outspoken, uncompromising (sometimes too uncompromising) political opinions that finally let the character find his niche. (The goatee also helped.) Most notably, during Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’s iconic run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Ollie brashly stood up to the wealthy and immoral in the name of protecting the poor, the environment, and almost anyone and anything else that society deemed worthless.
I am happy to report that Chris Condon and Montos, the creative team behind the current Green Arrow series, are continuing this hallowed tradition.
The “Fresh Water Kills” storyline began at the end of Green Arrow #17 in October 2024, with the murder of a businessman with a shady past. Specifically, he was accused of building a housing project called Freshwater on top of a toxic waste dump. The residents inevitably started getting sick and dying, while the businessman and others associated with the project got away scot-free — until years later when the Freshwater Killer showed up to exact gruesome vengeance. Or is it justice?
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This storyline suits the current political climate in ways the creators both intended and could not have foreseen. For example, Issue Nineteen gave us this unbelievably timely exchange between GA and Benítez, one of the police officers assigned to the case, about the murder of a senator:
GA: “You protect the world from interstellar monsters and goons in pajamas…but the real crooks are duly elected. How do you fight that?”
Benítez: “Not by killing…”
GA: “No? Pin folks down long enough, they start to wonder if they even have a choice.”
Benítez: “So, what, you’re saying he deserved it?”
GA: “I’m just saying what goes around sometimes comes around, that’s all. It’s the universe’s way of saying you can’t get away with causing misery for profit.”
This issue came out in December, the same month that the UnitedHealthcare CEO, during whose tenure the company was sued for using AI to deny care to elderly patients, was shot in the street.
As he delves deeper into the killings, Green Arrow’s antipathy for powerful men who use their influence to shore up wealth at everyone else’s expense is both unsurprising — in an interview, Condon repeatedly cites the O’Neil/Adams run as direct inspiration for “Fresh Water Kills” — and refreshing. He isn’t much more patient with the police, calling them out for their callous handling of the case. At the same time, he must also grapple with his own role (as yet unclear) in driving the killer to such desperate actions.
I’ve done my best to avoid spoilers here, as the storyline is still ongoing. All I will say is this is exactly the kind of story that Green Arrow — a “radical,” in Condon’s words, who is dedicated to sticking up for ordinary people — should be embroiled in, given what real life looks like at the moment. Oliver Queen is at his best when everything else is at its worst. I look forward to seeing how he makes his corner of the fictional universe a little bit better.
