Warning! Spoilers ahead for DC's Green Arrow 80th Anniversary Special
Green Arrow is 80 this year, and DC Comics has released a special anniversary issue that shares the origin of Oliver Queen's infamous boxing glove arrow. While the entire issue is an anthology collection of short stories from various all-star writers and artists, one story in particular sees Green Arrow in the early days of his career, training with Ted Grant's Wildcat to become a more formidable fighter. However, when Wildcat's gym is attacked it creates the perfect opportunity for Green Arrow to create one of his best trick arrows of all time.
The short story in Green Arrow 80th Anniversary Special comes from Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott entitled "Punching Evil". In it, Oliver Queen has agreed to train with Ted Grant at the request of Black Canary, seeing as how she wants Queen to be able to protect himself in close-quarters situations or in moments where he might not have his bow readily available. While he's initially skeptical, he soon changes his tune when he sees Batman himself leaving from a sparring session with Wildcat. However, Green Arrow's training proves to be more difficult than he had originally thought.
While Oliver was about to quit, believing that he had enough trick arrows to get himself out of any situation, Wildcat breaks all of his arrows to prove the point that anything could happen and that "he can't punch evil from twenty feet away". However, both heroes are soon interrupted by the arrival of the Yellow Wasp, who quickly takes out Wildcat. While he attempted to get away, Oliver did some quick improvising which resulted in an instant knock-out thanks to the creation of the iconic boxing glove arrow.
Thanks to the boxing glove arrow, Oliver was able to punch evil from twenty feet away after all, creating a very hilarious compromise to Wildcat's training. While the importance of needing to know how to fight without his preferred ranged weapon wasn't lost on Green Arrow, the boxing glove trick arrow perfectly symbolizes the value of Oliver wanting to play to his strengths in order to be the best hero he can be going forward. Furthermore, the origin of this particular trick arrow is pretty similar to that of the CW's Arrow, which saw Oliver Queen creating the same improvised arrow while fighting Wildcat in his gym.
While the CW Green Arrow didn't add the boxing glove arrow to his permanent repertoire of trick arrows, the comics version certainly did. Furthermore, this new anniversary issue has created an added significance and meaning behind the arrow which is pretty interesting as well. In any case, the boxing glove arrow has long been a fan favorite and is seen as one of the Green Arrow's best trick arrows, so it's pretty cool to see its origin revealed and getting such a great spotlight.