Who Is Connor Hawke? - A Reading Guide

Who is Connor Hawke? - A Reading Guide

Connor Hawke is the son of Oliver Queen and Sandra "Moonday" Hawke. He is best known for his role as the Green Arrow, taking on the mantle upon his father's death and continuing as the Green Arrow after his resurrection. Connor was raised by his mother, and struggled in school due to being bullied for being mixed race (his mother is Black and Korean and his father is white). At around age thirteen Connor was able to talk his mother into letting him move to a Buddhist Ashram that his father had once stayed at, and there Connor entered the care of Master Jansen, learned martial arts and archery, and became a Buddhist monk. It was at the Ashram that Connor decided to continue the Green Arrow legacy. While serving as the Green Arrow, Connor teamed up with the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and the Flash Wally West, Robin Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, and the Justice League.

While Connor is most known for his connection to the Arrow family, as this was what was focused on most heavily in Green Arrow Vol. 3- it is important to remember Connor has strong connections outside of the family as highlighted in Green Arrow Vol. 2! These characters include: Sandra "Moonday" Hawke, Nathan Hawke (Connor's "Gran"), Mastern Jansen, Eddie Fyers, Kyle Rayner, Wally West (and his wife Linda), Tim Drake, and Cassandra Cain!

As of June 2022, Connor has been confirmed as asexual, which solidifies his ace coding from both Green Arrow Vol. 2 and 3!

Reading list with RCO links under the cut!

Only three comics will be listed after the N52 because they are the only three that give us anything resembling an in character Connor Hawke- I will not now nor ever include Robin (2021) on this list.

The following is a chronological list of Connor's appearances:

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #0

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #91-105

Robin Vol. 2 #25

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #106-109

Showcase '96 #5

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #76

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #110

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #77

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #111-124

JLA #5, 8-12

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #125-129

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #96

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #130

Flash Vol. 2 #135

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #131-134

Detective Comics #723

Robin Vol. 2 #55

Nightwing Vol. 2 #23

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #135-136

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #104

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #137

Green Arrow Vol. 2 #1,000,000

Robin Vol. 2 #78-79

Green Arrow Vol. 3 #1, 8-11, 13-15, 21

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #162

Green Arrow Vol. 3 #24-25

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #164

Green Arrow Vol. 3 #27-32, 34-50, 52, 56-59, 66-68

Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood #1-6

Green Arrow Vol. 3 #73-75

Green Arrow/Black Canary #1-7, 13-15

DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration

Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular

DC: Pride (2022)

The following issues have an unclear place in Connor's chronology and are presented here in chronological order by publication date:

JLA: Paradise Lost #2-3

Adventure Comics 80-Page Giant #1/2

JLA/Titans #2-3

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #110, 117

JLA #38, 40

Batgirl #30-32

Birds of Prey #43-46

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #3

Identity Crisis #1, 6

Flash Vol. 2 #216

Richard Dragon #8-12

hello!! Do you have any Garth comic recommendations for someone (me) who has never read a Garth comic outside of a handful of TT issues before?

Hi!! I definitely have some recommendations! This definitely isn't a comprehensive reading list by ANY means (although I do want to make one eventually!), but rather a small smattering of Garth centric comics that I think are fun or noteworthy! (These are also not in any particular order, just written out as they come into my brain lol)

Tempest (1996) - Obviously the Garth holy grail! There is no better Garth comic than this. It is peak and honestly one of the best books DC has ever put out. It's short, too (only 4 issues), so it's not too intensive of a read.

Adventure Comics #269 - "The Kid from Atlantis" - Garth's first appearance! Don't get too hung up on the lore here, as it changes later on, but it's a sweet issue and obviously important!

Adventure Comics #270 - "The Menace of Aqualad" - I love this issue for a multitude of reasons-- including the fully unintentional foreshadowing,-- but mainly I love it because it showcases what a sweet person Garth is and always has been.

World's Finest Comics #133 - "Aquaman's New Partner -- Aqua-girl" - Again, the lore needs to be disregarded, but this issue fascinates me as an early iteration of Garth's insecurity about where he stands with Arthur/feeling useful.

I probably shouldn't list everything individually so this post doesn't end up being a mile long, haha! So I'll start putting some groupings together:

Aquaman vol 1 #14, 18, 23, and #33

The Brave and the Bold #54

Teen Titans vol 1 #11 (not particularly Garth centric but just especially fun to me lol), #17, #19, #28, #29, #44-end of series. (Side note that @ttwasteland has a really good podcast covering volume 1 of Teen Titans! Actually, they have a lot of Teen Titans podcasts! Which is really useful for those who struggle to read Silver Age comics + I am immensely pleased with Hub's Aqualad enthusiasm!)

The Brave and the Bold (vol 3) #10

Death of a Prince (Technically, I recommend reading all of it, since it'll help you understand how things got to this point. But especially Adventure Comics #452 and the Aqualad stories in #453-455.)

Tales of the Teen Titans #85 & #86 + Teen Titans Spotlight #10

Teen Titans Spotlight #18

Teen Titans Spotlight #21

Aquaman vol 5 (Yes, all of it lol)

Showcase '96 #1

Teen Titans (Vol 3) #12-16

JLA/Titans

Titans (vol 1) At least the Devin Grayson portion, but I don't dislike the later stuff either!

There are also storylines that I think are fun or important that happen in across various books/stories (Obsidian Age, Aquaman vol 6, other (Teen) Titans stories, Blackest Night, CoIE, dare I even say Sword of Atlantis...), but I'll save those for a more in-depth reading list some other time! These ones are just popping up in my head rn.

If you want N52/Rebirth stuff, there are also a few stories that are pretty good. Sadly, they're pretty few and far between since canon changes and DC tossing their character bibles have left poor Garth in an odd, largely OoC limbo for years. Although I don't /love/ these stories as much as others, they still manage to vaguely pass the vibe check:

Nightwing & the Titans in Team Building (Robin 80th Anniversary 100 Page Super Spectacular) It's not super Garth centric, but it's fun!

Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 - “It’s a Family Affair”

Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 - “Lady in the Lake”

World's Finest: Teen Titans & DC's Spring Breakout "Relay for your Life" Garth's characterization in these... isn't right, but I feel like it has the spirit more than the vast majority of things published in recent years.

Titans (2023-) I... don't totally feel right putting this here, but I feel like slowly... extremely slowly... they are starting to fix Garth's characterization. We're not quite there yet-- and it is sadly written by Tom Taylor,-- but I feel like it's going to lead to something that's actually good for Garth again. (Aka so many hints towards a potential new Tempest mini-series or one-shot have been dropped lately, and I feel like this series will be context important.)

Ok, to try to finish this out: Also consider watching some stuff with Garth in it like Aquaman (1967) TV show / DC Super Hero Girls (2019), or reading some cute, non-canon series such as Tiny Titans! It's just good fun!!

Anyways, thank you so much for the ask!! I hope this helps!!! (And thank you for allowing me a chance to ramble lol!)

money money money 🦀🦀

I'm a bit tired today so please have this smol emotional support Ciaran

the tragic hero; michael kinnucan, the gods show up / wikipedia / traci brimhall, vive vive / allen frame, the village voice (image) / william aggeler, the flowers of evil / beaft / pinterest (image) / heather havrilesky, ask polly

Do you have a reading list recommendation for comics with Roy Harper? Also I love your blog ❤️

Yes! The short version is that you should pick up anything written by Devin Grayson or Judd Winick, who are the best and second best Roy writers out there IMO. The longer version is this:

Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86, a.k.a. “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” and “They Say It’ll Kill Me...But They Won’t Say When” by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams: This is the original Roy addiction storyline from the 70s. It’s definitely dated but once your brain adjusts to Bronze Age art and storytelling it’s absolutely brilliant and gorgeous and heartbreaking. It’s also a groundbreaking moment in comics history for its unvarnished and sympathetic portrayal of drug addicts. And of course it’s probably the most important thing that ever happened to the character and hugely pivotal for his relationships with Ollie, Hal, and Dinah.

The New Teen Titans (1984) #20-21 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez: Roy discovers he’s a father and meets Lian.

Batman Plus Arsenal by Devin Grayson and Rodolfo Damaggio: A one shot but there’s so much good character stuff in here oh my god.

Arsenal #1-4 by Devin Grayson and Rick Mays: There’s a plot about Vandal Savage trying to harvest Roy and Lian’s organs but mostly this is a deep character study and exploration of Roy’s relationships with Ollie, Dinah, and Connor, and UGH it’s so freaking good.

The Titans (1999) #1-25 by Devin Grayson and Mark Buckingham: If you like team books with lots of complicated feelings, you need to read this. I pretty much draw all my headcanon about Roy’s relationships with Donna and Cheshire and his own self-destructive romantic tendencies from this series. It ran for 50 issues, but the first 25 by Grayson are the good ones - there’s more Roy stuff in the back half of the series but it’s a different writer and simply not as good.

Green Arrow (2001) #16-21, a.k.a. “The Archer’s Quest” by Brad Meltzer and Phil Hester: Full disclosure: I don’t actually like this story, but it’s a pretty major Ollie ‘n’ Roy teamup adventure and most people like it more than I do. The art’s good! Roy pets some puppies! *shrug*

Outsiders (2003) #1-33 by Judd Winick and Tom Raney: Do you want Roy as a super badass emotionally intuitive leader and A+ dad who is EXTREMELY homoerotic with Dick but also very much enjoys being topped by dangerous ladies? Well, this is the book for you!

Green Arrow (2001) #32 by Judd Winick and Manuel Garcia: Roy and Connor go out for a night on the town and discover that they do actually have things in common despite being very different people. It’s a crime that we don’t have more Roy and Connor team ups but this one is A+.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) and Red Hood/Arsenal by Scott Lobdell and various artists: ...Sigh. Look. These are bad comics. They are actively terrible. BUT they are the source of the Jason/Roy relationship and like so many bad comics, they steer so hard into macho nonsense that they just wind up being homoerotic. Also you should pick up Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #25 and Annual #2 if you want to cry about how much Jason and Roy love each other and how Roy’s dead now. SIGH AGAIN.