In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

Reader Alvaro G. wanted to know when the famous Green Arrow/Hawkman rivalry began.

Interestingly enough, for something that has become such a famous thing for both characters, it did not actually come about until the 1970s. Len Wein took over writing Justice League of America with #100 and he believed that the heroes in the Justice League got along too well. In fact, he felt that their personalities were sort of non-existent, period, as if they were practically interchangeable. He set out to change that, and he felt that the best two heroes to have bicker with each other were Green Arrow, the prototypical leftist radical and Hawkman, the interstellar police officer, practically the epitome of the establishment.

They first verbally jousted a BIT in #100...

But it was Justice League of America #104 (art by Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano), though, that their rivalry truly began...

Oddly enough, Hawkman left the League in #109, so they were already nostalgic about a relationship that had only started five issues earlier...

Watch Green Arrow's goodbye to his friend...

Adorable.

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, the alien Hawkman did not show up until present day, so DC fixed the continuity problem of not having a Hawkman in the Justice League by saying that the Hawkman from the Justice Society joined the League as a sort of liaison between the past and present, and thus now they were not just liberal vs. conservative, it was young liberal vs. old conservative...

One of the many relationships lost in the New 52 was the Green Arrow/Hawkman one, as they were now just two dudes...

They were both on a Justice League together, at least...

So there you go, Alvaro! Thanks for the suggestion! If anyone else has an idea for a future edition of When We First Met, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!