#montos

Settle up with me anytime…

Green Arrow 31 (2025) by Chris Condon & Montos

How about going down a rabbit hole with me and go over the main bows Green Arrow has used throughout the years?

Also showing real bows that are similar to the comics bows, one way or the other.

GOLDEN AGE

Originally, Ollie and Roy just used what looked like self bows. The size was naturally inconsistent, still, it was mostly shown as rather shorter than a longbow, so that they could have an easier time maneuvering.

So for the length I am imagining it being the same as a hankyu. As the shorter length had the same intention.

Both of their bows were yellow with a yellow stripe in the handle. Sometimes it was colored brown(we know how colorization was limited back then).

So if we were to look for a bow out there that looks just like theirs, an option is Osage Orange Self Bows for such a bow.

Also, in this case^ the handle has the bump of a pyramid bow.

Throwback case:

JACK KIRBY

When we got Jack Kirby, starting off Adventure Comics #250, we got this:

That bow is so Kirby it's hilarious, and I almost got lost in his style and thought it was purely artistic license.

But there is an answer:

PYRAMID BOWS

Beginner bowyers often start with it(Indicated by other bowyers), it's a rather safe design.

Still, look in the detail of the handle in Kirby's art, and you will see that there is a bump in the back and in the front. This is a detail that will continue to come up in other designs.

Throwback:

I think it can be argued that Golden Age and Jack Kirby's bows are the same, just with more details. So they would always have been using pyramid bows.

Well, let's look at what Neal Adams did.

NEAL ADAMS

The Brave and the Bold #85, of course

Well, that's definitely a pyramid bow, and following Jack Kirby's redesign.

THE BUMP STRIKES AGAIN(same issue and already a different like this from the cover?). This is big, I tell you.

Now, this is a full on bump and makes it look like the handle is holding two separate limbs.

Well, that's because they are...

First panel ever to show Ollie's folding bow. So with Neal Adams, it was no longer a selfbow.

Check this out:

He can just shake his bow and it strings itself up. I have looked into this, and haven't found any successful examples(there are a couple videos trying to do the Hawkeye bow from the MCU and it just didn't workout). Now, I doubt that it's impossible or something. It just hasn't been successfully put out there as far as I can tell.

Very useful for Green Arrow. Easily to store while on the streets and easy to string.

The two on the top and bottom left are from Trevor Von Eeden.

Bottom-line, no real life versions for this bow. But It's definitely a recurve bow... So ignoring the snapping capability, we are left with mostly just the appearance or maybe also the way it looks when it's unstrung.

What I found were old aluminum bows having a handle rather similar to Adams'.

Old aluminum bows:

1: First bow

2: Second bow

Other examples:

RARE Vintage Aluminum Takedown Recurve Bow 1950---Grimes Archery Co. Pontiac MI

Bear Blue 54" Recurved Bow Model #N60-14319

Vintage PAR-X Recurve Bow Aluminum Limbs Jackson Michigan 62"

VINTAGE GRIMES ALUMINUM ANODIZED RECURVE BOW MADE IN PONTIAC MICHIGAN

I think this is the quintenssential Green Arrow bow. And unfortunately, there's nothing closer to the bow than these old aluminum bows.

It's either a recurve takedown with a long handle with arrow shelf, a short asiatic design bow(or a 2 part takedown of this). So, if someone wanted go for an Adams' Green Arrow bow, it's pick your green poison I guess. One would need to settle for something if one went for some existent bow.

But I was told it looked like a Tatar bow.

The handle makes a bump in both sides, the siyahs are short.

And to finalize Adams' design, here's Jerome K. Moore showing more of the Adams' bow:

THE LONGBOW

After crisis, Grell toke over Green Arrow and gave him a longbow. Much is the style of Howard Hill's. And also an American Flatbow.

The handle is wrapped in a pale orange leather piece.

Also, we have confirmation in Here There Be Dragons that Ollie uses a heavier bow, so probably a warbow draw weight. Besides that, too much speculation on specifics.

DIOGÉNES NEVES' HUN BOW

Pretty sure he saw this picture, and use it as reference:

It's a rather common photo to find if you searched bow and arrow. It's overwhelmingly used in wikipedia pages.

Here his rendition, and the one from the cover artist of the series, Mauro Cascioli.

MONTOS

Montos probably searched something like "tactical bow", "folding bow" or "survivor bow" and saw a bunch of these folding bows.

^This is the closest one I found:

https://www.huntingdoor.com/products/60-inch-compact-folding-survival-bow?srsltid=AfmBOoq3MbUwSE29QVGXR21-sRv7U1faYNsMWqWD7sFz0icT6u5NKHxk but overall they are just Tactical/Survivor bows.

I kind of just skipped the recurves, compounds and artistic licence bows. I also didn't talk about designs there were just rehashing classic ones. But if there any in specific you are curious I am ready to indulge in another rabbit hole.