Green Arrow's original costume was a bit of a Robin Hood motif. He had a sidekick dressed in red named Speedy, and the character had many gadgets. He had an Arrowcave and an Arrowplane, was a millionaire, and more or less was "Batman with a bow and arrow." He even could be summoned by an Arrow-signal.
The Green Arrow was one of the few characters from comics' Golden Age who had an uninterrupted run that went through to the Silver Age. Although he did not have his own comic book, he appeared in More Fun and then Adventure Comics for several decades. In fact, Green Arrow was one of only five DC Comics characters to not enter comics limbo between the Golden and Silver Ages. (Those other characters? Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman).
It was toward the end of this run that Green Arrow became one of the earliest members of the Justice League of America, joining the team in the book's fourth issue.
The Neal Adams redesign is the most familiar and enduring version of the character, and this is the version seen on Superfriends and Justice League Unlimited.
In GL/GA, Oliver Queen no longer had his fortune, and he became a streetwise crusader for the working class and the underprivileged. This laid-back Green Arrow butted heads with the much more conservative Green Lantern, and the two took a "road trip" for several issues. This storyline also featured a 2-parter where the Green Arrow learned that his sidekick, Speedy, had become addicted to drugs.
After the acclaimed GL/GA run, Oliver Queen's alter ego began appearing again in back-up stories, most notably in Detective Comics. He also had an on-and-off relationship with Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, a fellow Justice Leaguer. In the early 1980's he was featured in his own comic book mini-series.
In the latter part of the decade writer/artist Mike Grell reinvented the Green Arrow yet again, Dark Knight-style, in a miniseries titled The Longbow Hunters. This "new take" was popular and led to a new, ongoing Green Arrow series written by Grell.
After Mike Grell's take on the character, writer Chuck Dixon took over and the book became a little more mainstream. This era in Oliver Queen's life was short-lived, as he died in a plane explosion in issue #
101. Oliver Queen's recently-discovered son, Connor Hawke, took over the book for a few years following that, and it wasn't until a few years later that famed director Kevin Smith revived the Green Arrow character and series.
Now, Oliver Queen is very much alive and in post-One Year Later DC continuity, he is the mayor of Star City.
Oliver Queen's origins on Smallville are not yet known. We know he's good with a bow and arrow. He went to private school with Lex Luthor in his younger days. His family was rich, and his parents are deceased. Oliver inherited a fortune, and successfully runs the Queen family companies.
Ollie first puts on the costume in the Smallville episode "Arrow." The week before, in "Wither," we saw him in something similar to the Neal Adams design. Since then we've seen him fight crime and forge a romance with Lois Lane. In "Justice," Ollie heads out to save the world with his new band of allies.
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