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[The Australian Panther]

This started as a response to DWIT's posts re 'The Arrow' comic, But in thinking about it, I thought I would use it to start a thread.

A) how does the Arrow see to shoot his arrows? By the next issue he has a cowl but his face isn't covered, in issue 3 he's got a standard mask; I guess he's just very lucky in this issue. B) The Arrow could be called "Green Arrow" because his arrows are green.
Link to the book: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=72663
 

My reply to that:-
[Actually, there was a period in Green Arrow's continuity when he too wore a cowl, and yes, DWIT, I have asked myself that same question. 'Hoodies' became popular among youth gangs, when? 20 years ago? when it became clear that they could prevent identification by CCTV cameras. But, yes, in a fighting situation or when using a weapon, they would restrict your vision.]
But the bigger question is - What hold does the power of archery as a weapon have on the imagination that we still have archers running around next to super-powered aliens, speedsters, Mutants and guys armed with (very) big guns or powerful rings? And how many times, and in how many ways has Robin Hood appeared in comic form? Particularly in the UK.  The templates for British Heroes seem to be, Robin Hood, Dick Turpin and Sherlock Holmes.
Cheers!     

[Andrew999]

oooooh! Now you've started something - who are the quintessiantial British heroes - the archetypes. To your list, I would add Bond, James Bond; Bertie Wooster and King Arthur. What others might there be?

On the distaff side, I would go for Boadicea, Becky Sharp, Lizzie Bennett, Emma Peel / Modesty Blaise and Minnie the Minx

But what of Australia - other than Ned 'Canned Head' Kelly and Dally Messenger, who springs to mind?

[paw broon]

When discussing archers, we should not forget the 1923 Edgar Wallace book, The Green Archer, which was also adapted as a successful movie serial. The story was also revived in an issue of Thriller Picture Library. 
Robin Hood, Turpin et al. are not the only templates as Claude Duval and many other sword wielding heroes abounded.  Teatime tv shows in the UK , apart from cowboy shows and The Magic Boomerang , featured the likes of Sir Lancelot; Ivanhoe; Marco del Monte; The Buccaneers; Count of Monte Cristo; Francis Drake.  Of course there was another famous archer of legend present in the form of William Tell.  A lot of them were adapted for comics. Few of these heroes were MMM. And as The Arrow was a MMM, or superhero, I'd like to mention a traditional character who was developed into a superhero, Spring Heel Jack. He became Spring Heeled Jackson, with a female version, Spring Heeled Jill. 

[Electricmastro]

When discussing archers, we should not forget the 1923 Edgar Wallace book, The Green Archer, which was also adapted as a successful movie serial. The story was also revived in an issue of Thriller Picture Library. 
Robin Hood, Turpin et al. are not the only templates as Claude Duval and many other sword wielding heroes abounded.  Teatime tv shows in the UK , apart from cowboy shows and The Magic Boomerang , featured the likes of Sir Lancelot; Ivanhoe; Marco del Monte; The Buccaneers; Count of Monte Cristo; Francis Drake.  Of course there was another famous archer of legend present in the form of William Tell.  A lot of them were adapted for comics. Few of these heroes were MMM. And as The Arrow was a MMM, or superhero, I'd like to mention a traditional character who was developed into a superhero, Spring Heel Jack. He became Spring Heeled Jackson, with a female version, Spring Heeled Jill.

The Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn Robin Hood movies were also pretty popular I recall.

[crashryan]

It's interesting that while masked archer heroes were plentiful, none of them made the "A-list." Archers were always second- or third-banana characters who couldn't support a full book. The only archer superhero to come close to breaking into the big time has been Hawkeye, but you must admit he's still not a household name like Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc.

By the way, my personal opinion about The Arrow is that he was supposed to be wearing a cowl/hood deep enough that his face was always in shadow, but Paul Gustavson didn't pull it off.

[Electricmastro]

It's interesting that while masked archer heroes were plentiful, none of them made the "A-list." Archers were always second- or third-banana characters who couldn't support a full book. The only archer superhero to come close to breaking into the big time has been Hawkeye, but you must admit he's still not a household name like Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc.

By the way, my personal opinion about The Arrow is that he was supposed to be wearing a cowl/hood deep enough that his face was always in shadow, but Paul Gustavson didn't pull it off.

Well, there has also been the Green Arrow series starring Stephen Amell.

[The Ghost Man]

Paul Gustavson doubled his efforts depicting an archer as a hero in Alias the Spider which I think is some of his best work at the top of his game. The problem isn't the archer as hero as Robin Hood can attest to, the key is making that character exciting, and intriguing with a compelling storyline. In modern times, Abigail Whistler in Blade III makes an archer fascinating in a dramatic way. Of course it doesn't hurt that the character played by Jessica Biel is blazingly hot.

[The Australian Panther]

The 'Alias the Spider' character, Tom Halloway, a Quality character, turns up in modern DC continuity as a Schizophrenic type character - sort of a villain because of Anger Management problems, if I remember correctly. On the TV show, Malcolm Meryn, also an Archer in the comics is a major villain. I still say that it is easier for me to suspend belief for say, an Alien from 'Mars'' who shape-shifts as a human detective, that a man running round a 21st century city defeating crime with a bow and arrow. And most of the time Hawkeye or Green Arrow is not even using a modern high-tech Bow. I do have a soft spot for both of their characters tho.           

[SuperScrounge]

I think one reason for why there were a lot of archer characters is that bows and arrows used to be a big gift for boys back in the day.

I suppose a bigger question is why didn't we have any heroes fighting crime with BB guns shooting out the eyes of evil-doers?