In an introduction to the 1983 reprinting of this O'Neil/Adams run, O'Neil explains that he wondered if he could represent his own political beliefs in comics and take on social issues of the late sixties and early seventies. O'Neil devised the idea of portraying Hal Jordan, effectively an intergalactic law enforcement officer, as an establishment gradualist liberal figure against Oliver Queen, (Green Arrow), who O'Neil had characterized as a lusty outspoken anarchist who would stand in for the counter-culture movement.[10] The first of these socially motivated Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories was written with Gil Kane slated to be the artist, but Kane dropped out and was replaced by Neal Adams.[11] The stories tackled questions of power, racism, sexism, and exploitation, and remain viewed in the comics community as the first socially-conscious superhero stories.[12]