I am a big fan of Green Arrow (especially the Mike Grell Longbow Hunters series) and I was very happy to see the character join WB’s reimagining of the Superman origins in Smallville.

And while I thought it would have been awesome for them to have a spinoff of Smallville (which I daydreamed would be called Watchtower) that was that world’s closest thing to a Justice League. But the finale of that show kind of pulled a Harry Potter and tied up its future quite snugly.

So I was pretty pumped to hear that the CW network was going to be launching Arrow – a re-imagining of Oliver Queen’s adventures as the Robin Hood inspired vigilante archer Green Arrow. But despite following that same “being different” formula that Smallville presented, Arrow was not going to have anything at all to do with Smallville.

Now we get our first look at a teaser image released by the network with Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen in his Arrow garb (which happens to be green). The story follows the 27 year old millionaire playboy who re-evaluates his frivolous lifestyle after being stranded on a dessert island for five years.

The show promises to be much darker and grittier than Smallville even though the pilot episode will be directed by David Nutter (who directed the premier of Smallville and Supernatural). The show will be written by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, who recently took on another emerald hero for DC when they wrote the Green Lantern film.

This formula worked for ten seasons on Smallville, and I look forward to seeing what they offer. I do hope this follows more of a Mike Grell Longbow Hunters flavor instead of the “arrow with a boxing glove on it” camp version.