Big thanks go out to Phil Hester, Ande Parks and especially to writer Brad Meltzer for this great commission. I really appreciate the willingness of both Phil & Ande to return to a character they resurrected back in 2001 with Kevin Smith. It was a great series and I loved the book, both story and art. Kevin did a great job with bringing Ollie back from the dead, but left big shoes to fill when he left the book.
That's where New York Time Best Selling Author, Brad Meltzer comes in. Brad is a long time comic book fan as well as Judd's college roommate but had never written comics before, but he had written several novels. His most recent novel at that time, The Millionaires, featured a lead character named Oliver. Supposedly, GA editor Bob Schreck saw this and contacted him, asking Brad if he'd like to write about another character named Oliver. The result was a wonderful 6-issue arc entitled "The Archer's Quest" where Ollie and his old sidekick Speedy, Roy Harper, travel around collecting some of Ollie's personal effects like his diamond-tipped arrow from JLA #4, his flash ring containing his Green Arrow costume and his JLA membership certificate, which had been framed with a surprise for readers, cementing Ollie as a likeable SOB.
So why am I thanking Brad for the commission? Well, in October 2012 Brad contacted me through CAF asking me if I was willing to sell or trade a splash page I had from issue #16 with Ollie and Roy in costumes leaping into action (see additional image), with a billboard in the background that asks "Trust your Friends?", which was Brad's motto from his first novel. Turns out he didn't put it in his script but editor Bob Schreck had it added. Brad had been searching for the page for a long time as I guess I was quicker than he was when the page was first available from the artists. I didn't want to sell it but asked if he could get Phil and Ande to do a commission that I would trade it.
I rarely ever do commissions anymore and when I have I've had great results being patient as both Alex Ross and Dave Gibbons each had my sketchbook for about a year. This piece arrived earlier this month but have only now had the time to post it.
