Publisher DC Comics | ||
Notable characters Green Arrow, China White First appearance Adventure Comics #256 (January, 1959) | ||
Starfish Island is a fictional Island in the DC Comics universe. The island first appeared in Adventure Comics #256 (January, 1959). It is the central location of Green Arrow origin stories.
Contents
History
Starfish Island is the island billionaire playboy Oliver Queen washed up. After the cruise ship he was on sank, he had been stranded on the island, where he learned to survive by any means necessary using a bow and arrows. He developed primitive Trick Arrows as advanced methods of hunting and foraging for food, then assembled a green suit for camouflage.
Pre-Crisis
Eventually a commercial freighter stopped by the island, and he swam out thinking they might rescue him. They were in the middle of a mutiny and he had to liberate the crew from dangerous pirates. Making a small mask to hide his face from sight, he took them all down using the skills he had developed. Now calling himself Green Arrow, he realized that he could use his abilities to serve society for the greater good and fight crime.
Post-Crisis
The Crisis on Infinite Earths ended the Multiverse and streamlined the entire DC Universe into a new continuity. Oliver Queen was still a wealthy playboy, but also the hard-working corporate executive of Queen Industries. After drunkenly falling off of his boat and washing up on Starfish Island, he became a hunter to survive. He was finally able to escape when he caught a group of drug dealers using the location for an illegal marijuana farm and turned them into the authorities.
Green Arrow: Year One
The revisionary story Green Arrow: Year One changes some of this and expands on his island adventures. Prior to the incident he is shown to be a rich playboy and an adventurous thrill-seeking alcoholic with no real sense of direction or responsibility, struggling to find meaning in a hollow existence of luxury. His best friend Hackett betrayed him to embezzle money and shot him off of a boat in the middle of the ocean. Oliver landed on an island located among the Fiji Islands, but also does not give it a name. controlled by China White, ruthless leader of a massive drug cartel, and mastered his bow to shut down her heroin operation before coming home. This experience inspired him to fight crime regularly.