I've never read a Green Arrow comic, but I'm becoming a big fan of the TV series and was wondering exactly how much it follows the books. Like I said, I've never read a Green Arrow comic, but even with my less-than-general knowledge of the character I've already noticed a few liberties taken. Is Oliver Queen in the show the same Oliver Queen in the comics?

@nickzambuto: The TV version of Oliver Queen is very different from the comic version, but it seems to be getting closer as the show goes on.

And if you want to read any Green Arrow comics, I can give you some recommendations.

How so?

Shoot.

In my opinion he's way more Batman/Bruce Wayne than he is Green Arrow/Oliver Queen. Personally, though, I'm fine with that.

Pretty much a different character.

@nickzambuto: He's a lot younger than the original version (but not the New 52 one). He wasn't originally very humorous in Arrow, but the season 3 trailer showed some him making some jokes. In the comic, his left-leaning politics have long been an important part of his character, but those have not been touched upon in the show.

As for recommendations, the best starting point is Green Arrow: Year One. Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's run (issues 17-34 of the New 52) is my favorite GA story. The miniseries The Longbow Hunters is a classic, along with Mike Grell's ongoing that followed it. Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams is probably the most famous Green Arrow story, but I'll warn you that it's pretty dated.

Character-wise he's basically Batman in the show, not at all like Oliver.

His backstory isn't exactly the same, but it's got the same major points in common.

And as for the show itself, it doesn't particularly follow any comic book storyline.

Jmarshmallow

Thanks a lot, I'll have to look into that.

Not even close.

they changed the origin quite a bit(new 52 is closer) but the part where he works for argus wasn't in comics

when he started he was more into killing than in the comics(usually) and still isn't really politically motivated

his family and connections to people has changed a good bit (Thea can be called Mia Dearden since ep 3)

I think it's gradually becoming more so as time passes

Too much "nolanise" and afraid to be comic book-y . I mean for example Black Canary suppose to have canary cry. Another example is they try to make Solomon Grundy "realistic" which is stupid because he is not suppose to be "realistic". For your info Comic Book-y doesn't mean it is light tone, Comic Book-y also can be dark tone for example look at Batman Animated Series. Yup BTAS is not try to be "realistic" like Nolan Bat movies