Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters

Originally published in 1987 and collected in trade paperback two years later, this Eisner Award nominee was one of the first books after Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns to supply superheroes with an adult point of view. The 42-year-old Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) and his lady love, Dinah (the Black Canary), are settling into their new Seattle home. Feeling that he's lost touch with his roots, Oliver adopts an edgier, urban-hunter approach—literally edgier in the case of his arrows, which now draw blood. He also asks Dinah to marry him and start a family, but she says no, partly because of the danger of their chosen life. Oliver tracks a serial killer, Dinah investigates a cocaine dealer, and together they become embroiled in the mystery of an assassin who slays with black Japanese arrows.