Brotherhood of the Fist Part 5: GREEN ARROW #135

The Brotherhood of the Monkey Fist cult is out to kill the current Green Arrow, Connor Hawke, but Batman, Robin, and Nightwing have his back.  Lady Shiva has come to Gotham to challenge Connor to single combat, and she'll kill any Monkeys that get in her way.  Meanwhile, ex-CIA spook Eddie Fyers has traveled to Southeast Asia to the headquarters of the Monkey Fist, where Black Canary and Bronze Tiger are being held captive.  Fyers is there to stop the cult, but the hired gun Deathstroke has their back.

Green Arrow #135: "Brotherhood of the Fist Part 5: The Borrowed Life" was written by Chuck Dixon, drawn by Doug Braithwaite, inked by Robin Riggs, and colored by Lee Loughridge.

In the wreckage of a luxury hotel knocked over by the Gotham earthquake, Connor and Nightwing come face to face with Lady Shiva.  She is in town because, like a shark attracted to the scent of blood in the water, she heard that the Monkeys were taking out martial arts masters and she wanted a piece of the action.  Specifically, she wants Connor Hawke, whose status as a Master has risen since he defeated the Silver Monkey.

Shiva incapacitates Nightwing fairly easily, and then she and Connor square off.

While Nightwing, as well as Batman and Robin battle Monkeys in other parts of the hotel, Shiva tells Connor that she will kill him to secure her place as the greatest fighter in the world.

In the headquarters of the Monkey Fist, Fyers and Deathstroke draw down on each other and open fire.  The chaotic shootout in the temple is overheard by Black Canary and Bronze Tiger, who are trapped in a cell below.  Fyers is wounded, but he sets off some shaped charges and the explosion traps Deathstroke on the other side of the temple.

Back in Gotham, Shiva praises Connor's ability even as she escalates her attacks to kill him.

In the Monkey cages...

The original Silver Monkey is also locked up and pleads for Fyers to release him.  Fyers doesn't.  He escapes with Canary and Bronze Tiger, while the Sensei of the Brotherhood saves Deathstroke, but admonishes him for his failure to stop Fyers.

In Gotham, Shiva is about to kill Connor.

Lady Shiva grants Robin's request, and takes off, leaving Connor and the rest alive.  Robin and Nightwing help Connor recover while pumping up his self-esteem by talking about how few people have ever come that close to defeating Shiva.

Batman's praise is more dire and dreadful than the youths.  He tells Connor that his new credentials as a master fighter is going to paint a target on his back.

Connor accepts the inevitability and circle of events: "Win, lose, or tie -- another enemy will be there to take the last one's place."

This was a fun rock 'em, sock 'em little crossover.  I don't think the story needed to be five chapters--three or four could have sufficed perfectly well.  As much as I love seeing Black Canary and Bronze Tiger teamed up, they didn't accomplish anything and their entire part in the story could have been reduced to a couple panels in one issue.  Since I don't care about Eddie Fyers and I've never been a big Deathstroke fan, that whole subplot was uninteresting to me, as well.

I read Green Arrow #0 as part of the Zero Hour even back in the '90s.  That was the first time I saw Connor Hawke, and I was intrigued enough to read a few more GA issues after that.  At the time, I liked that Hawke was younger and "greener" than Oliver Queen; that made him feel like my generation's Green Arrow, the whole purpose for the Legacy heroes that DC kept churning out decade after decade.  I'm glad Oliver Queen is back, because I've since read more (and I've grown up) and I want him to be the Emerald Archer.

Is there a place for Connor today?  Not in the New 52, not when Ollie and the rest of the heroes have been de-aged to their early/mid twenties.  I guess Connor and Wally West and Donna Troy will have to exist on a parallel Earth somewhere.  Maybe we'll see them again someday.

Brotherhood of the First Part 4: NIGHTWING #23

When Green Arrow Connor Hawke defeated the deadly Silver Monkey in combat, the Sensei of the Monkey Fist cult sent waves of warriors after Connor, Batman, and every other martial arts master in the world.  Connor is now working in Gotham with Batman, Robin, and Nightwing to defend the city from the various Monkey assassins, while Black Canary and Bronze Tiger are tracking the cult back to its headquarters in Asia.

Nightwing #23: "Brotherhood of the Fist Part 4: Paper Revelations" was written by Chuck Dixon, drawn by Scott McDaniel, inked by Karl Story, and colored by Roberta Tewes.  Like Will Rosado's line work in the previous chapter, I think McDaniel's art is a little too cartoonish for the content of this story, but it's not bad.  The inking and coloring keep it from looking too much like an all-ages or junior readers comic.

Gotham's police force is called in to deal with the corpses of two dozen Obsidian Monkeys.  Batman tells Commissioner Gordon that it's not a matter for the police to investigate, that the cops would only put themselves in danger by chasing leads on the assassins.  Connor, Nightwing, and Robin speculate on who could be killing the Monkeys if it's not Eddie Fyers or King Snake, both of whom are out of the city.  At that moment, the Bamboo Monkey challenges Connor to a fight.

In the jungles of Southeast Asia, Black Canary and Bronze Tiger are closing in on the temple of the Monkey Fist.  Unbeknownst to them, though, is that the Monkeys are closing in on them.

Back in Gotham, the Bamboo Monkey fights Connor, Robin, and Nightwing.  He nearly kills Nightwing when...

Robin and Nightwing praise Connor's fighting prowess, then the three of them go to Oracle to get more information.  They figure that the different schools of Monkey assassins--Silver, Bamboo, Bronze, Steel, Obsidian, Emerald, etc.--have to do with matching the properties of the element involved to the fighting style and skill of the warrior.  They continue to press what Eddie Fyers suggested before, that the fewer members of a particular group of Monkeys, the more deadly they are.

Speaking of Fyers, he chartered a helicopter and gets dropped off in the jungle near the Monkey headquarters.  Black Canary and Bronze Tiger are already at the temple, though--as prisoners!

In Gotham, Batman has found the signature of the Paper Monkey who is killing off the other assassins, and he knows who she is.

Eddie Fyers arrives at the Monkey temple and angrily calls them out so he can start killing.

Nightwing discovers the location of the Monkey's Gotham base of operations, an old hotel that went down on its side during the Earthquake.  Batman, Connor, Nightwing and Robin split up and search the hotel.

Connor and Nightwing find the assassins a battle of their own.  The Paper Monkey is killing off the rest, and Nightwing knows that Batman was right about Paper Monkey's identity.

She unmasks and reveals herself to be Lady Shiva Woosan and she tells Connor Hawke it will be the greatest honor of his life to die at her hand.

This issue was okay, but repeated almost everything that happened in Part 3.  The Monkeys haven't felt like a serious threat for a couple chapters now, because Shiva is taking them out for herself before she attacks Connor.  As such, it feels like the heroes are in a holding pattern, just waiting for the time when the enemy strikes.

I was disappointed to see Canary and Bronze Tiger get captured, mostly because it was off page.  I would have loved to see the two of them do some actual fighting, especially if they went up against Deathstroke, but that didn't happen.

The story wraps up tomorrow in Green Arrow #135.

Brotherhood of the Fist Part 3: ROBIN #55

The deadly Monkey Fist cult has dispatched assassins all over the world to kill Green Arrow and basically anyone with a martial arts background.  Connor Hawke and Batman barely survived an encounter when an avalanche buried them in the mountains outside Gotham.  Former government agent Eddie Fyers related what he knew about the cult to Nightwing and Robin, and Bronze Tiger saved Black Canary from a Monkey attack.  The two are now working together.

Robin #55: "Brotherhood of the Fist Part 3: Monkey Fist" was written by Chuck Dixon, with art by Will Rosado, inks by Stan Woch, and colors by Adrienne Roy.  I can't read the signature of the cover artist, and it's not credited inside so it might be Rosado.  It looks nothing like the interior art, though.  The cover is awful.  Any comparisons I can think of feel like insults to Bobble-Head Dolls or whatever else.  I would look at this cover and never, ever, ever buy this comic except that it's part three of the crossover.

Anyway, Batman and Connor Hawke are stranded in the snow-covered wilderness.  At least, Connor thinks they're stranded.  Batman doesn't get stranded; he's always prepared, right?

How does Batman know the Monkey Fist is targeting every martial artist?  He's been incommunicado with all of the other characters that were attacked.

Far from Gotham, the Sensei of the Monkeys is dismayed that Eddie Fyers is killing so many of his warriors because Fyers uses guns.  So the Sensei hires someone with a gun--Deathstroke, the Terminator--to take out Fyers when he comes for the Sensei.

Later, back in Gotham, the titular hero of this comic, Robin, is on patrol with Connor Hawke, who has taken up with Batman's circle of crime fighters until the monkey business (couldn't help it) is sorted out.  Robin and Connor save a hostage from some street thugs, and then they discuss the damage the earthquake caused to the city, unaware that more Monkey cultists are following them.

Batman goes to see Oracle to find out what she's learned about the Monkey Fist.  She offers the data, but won't tell him where she's getting it from.

Right after Batman leaves, Oracle makes contact with her source--Black Canary.

Black Canary doesn't tell Oracle she's working with Bronze Tiger, but doesn't tell Ben who she was talking to either.  Keeping both of her worlds separate, perhaps?  Bronze Tiger recalls his adjacent connection to Oracle from his Suicide Squad days.

This little scene tickles me.  I accept and expect that Dinah is just playing the part of good intel operative and compartmentalizing her worlds.  Oracle and Bronze Tiger don't need to know of each other right now; this is a security measure for her.  On the other hand, there's a little part of me that wonders if--between the pages--something sexual was going on between Dinah and Ben during this little continent-jumping search for answers.  I've always thought that Canary and Tiger would make an interesting and exciting couple.  Maybe not in the long term, but they have enough in common that a romantic dalliance wouldn't be unexpected or unwanted.

Batman, Nightwing, and Connor meet with Eddie Fyers so Batman can tell the man to get the hell out of his city.  Before leaving, Fyers reveals something he knows about the organizational structure of the Monkeys.  There are different schools and disciplines, and different numbers of members based on how skilled and masterful the school is.  This explains why there is one Silver Monkey who is one of the deadliest fighters in the world, but the Emerald or Bronze Monkeys get mowed down effortlessly by the heroes.

Elsewhere in the city, the mysterious Paper Monkey declares her intentions to fight Connor Hawke in single combat to restore the honor of the Brotherhood.  She tells her underlings to keep Batman and his partners distracted, but insists that no one is to harm Robin else she will kill him.

Speaking of Robin--since this is supposed to be his book--he and Connor are out patrolling again, talking about learning to drive and things like that.  Connor asks Tim if Batman is his father.

Obsidian Monkeys are stalking Connor and Robin, but before they can attack, the Paper Monkey backs up her previous declaration.

Before killing the last of the Obsidians, Paper Monkey makes clear that she is not in Gotham at the behest of the Brotherhood's sensei.  She is here on her own with her own agenda.  Who is this woman?  Why does she have a personal beef against  Robin?  And what will happen when she faces Connor?  Maybe those answers will be revealed in Part 4 tomorrow!

Overall, this was another good issue, but not as strong as the previous two.  Will Rosado's art is too cartoonish for the heavy themes and seriousness of this story.  For all that this is an issue of Robin, Tim Drake only appears in like five and a half pages.  When he does appear, though, he offers some nice insight into Batman and how Batman respects Connor Hawke's ability even if he would never say it.

Two more major players were introduced in this issue: Deathstroke and Paper Monkey, whose identity will be revealed later for anyone who couldn't guess who she is.  But Deathstroke's inclusion feels more or less like an afterthought, and assigning him the role of bodyguard and waiting for a nobody like Eddie Fyers to show up looking for the Sensei feels beneath his character.  And I'm not even a Deathstroke fan.

I love the pairing of Black Canary and Bronze Tiger, but they only get two pages and not much to do in this issue.  I wish there was more of these two together in the future.

Come back tomorrow for Part 4 in Nightwing #23.

Birds of Prey: Manhunt #4 (Dec 1996)

Review: Birds of Prey: Manhunt #1.

Review: Birds of Prey: Manhunt #2.

Review: Birds of Prey: Manhunt #3.

What Happened Before…

• Black Canary was captured by master criminal Archer Braun and taken to his base of operations in Kazakstan.
• Canary's partner, Oracle, enlists the help of Huntress and Catwoman, both of whom were looking for Braun for their own reasons.
• Braun's base is a haven for terrorists, criminals, and assassins, including possibly the deadliest woman alive: Lady Shiva!

Birds of Prey: Manhunt #4 - "Ladies' Choice" was written by Chuck Dixon, but the art team changes yet again for this final issue.  This time, series penciller Matt Haley draws over Sal Buscema's layouts and Wade Von Grawbadger, the inker for issue #1, is back.  I don't know why Buscema was brought in but his inclusion isn't that noticeable.  This still looks and feels like Matt Haley's book.

We open with Dinah and Archer Braun being held at gunpoint by a group of mercenaries and thugs.  Apparently, Braun doesn't run the show at Katchik 9-9 as much as last issue suggested; the real power here seems to be a big man named Serge.  Serge is angry with Braun for failing to deliver a large score of American money in exchange for a percentage of Serge's Afghan heroin operation.

I don't know where any of this is coming from.  Serge here has never been mentioned before this scene.  We know that Braun did pull off a large robbery score, because that's what sent Black Canary and Huntress and Catwoman all after him in the first place.  We've never heard any clues about a bigger plan Braun might have.  Chuck Dixon's failure to establish Braun as a fully realized villain in the first three issues is put on display in this final chapter.  This opening scene sounds like it was written for a different series as what precious little we know of the villain seems completely flipped around.  What's more confounding is none of this is going to matter, because Serge, his plans, and everything he and Braun discuss in the first few pages is dropped and never again referred to later in the chapter.

The only part of the issue that is relevant is Lady Shiva.  She vetoes Serge's kill order, claiming she wants Black Canary alive.  To test her.  Braun intervenes, so Lady Shiva strikes, but her attack is easily deflected.  Braun's defense is beyond impressive--it's astonishing.  Oracle, who has been eavesdropping on Dinah's captivity, suspects that Braun may have a metahuman ability they didn't know about and does some digging online.

On the road leading to Katchik 9-9, Huntress and Catwoman's car breaks down.  Years ago, the city was exposed to a man-made virus that devours plastics, making the place uninhabitable to all but the most desperate and infamous of supercriminals (a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" basically).  The virus eats the ladies' engine, forcing them to proceed with their rescue on foot.

Back in the city, Dinah is taken to her holding cell in what passes for the local jail.  She rebuffs his advances, so he hits her, displaying an ability to predict not only her moves but her thoughts and words, as well.

Huntress and Catwoman have arrived and begin making their way across the rooftops.  Oracle gives them as much direction as she can based on the sounds she's overheard from Dinah's transmitter.  She also fills them in on the missing part of Braun's history, that he was subjected to KGB experiments and granted precognitive abilities which make him an expert combatant.

Huntress and Catwoman make it to Dinah's cell, but by then, Dinah has already freed herself and fled the jail.  The ladies aren't left alone, though, as Braun and Lady Shiva arrive at that moment.  As match ups go, our ladies are severely outmatched.

Catwoman has zero chance against Lady Shiva, and they both know it, but Selina Kyle may be the universe's ultimate opportunist.  She takes the fight outside where distance and environment may give her some leverage.

Huntress is left to fight Braun in the holding cell, which is now burning thanks to Catwoman's whip toppling over a kerosine lamp.  This is the fight Huntress--and we readers--have been waiting for, as once, long ago, Braun broke Helena's heart by being a lying douche bag.  It would be cathartic to get her revenge by pummeling him into unconsciousness.  The problem is, Braun's psychic ability makes him the superior fighter.

In the streets outside the jail, Lady Shiva stands ready to kill Catwoman when Black Canary returns.

Back in the blazing Bastille, Huntress is getting her ass handed to her by Braun.  Oracle tells Huntress that she cannot beat him because his precognition allows him to anticipate her attacks before she moves.  To overcome this, Huntress clears her mind and instinctively responds to Oracle's attack commands--in a sense, Oracle fights Braun using Huntress as a physical surrogate, negating his powers.

Okay, this does look like Sal Buscema.

As Huntress defeats Braun, the fire burns away enough of the building that it collapses.  Oracle orders her to save Braun, telling him that no matter what he has done, she cannot simply leave him to die.  But that's what happens.  Could Huntress have saved him?  The art makes it a little ambiguous, but it seems like she doesn't make the best effort to pull him out of the fire.

Huntress is a different type of vigilante thanOracle.  She doesn't have the same philosophy of crime fighting that Batman's family has, and that difference will continue to divide them for years to come.

As the jail burns, Dinah and Catwoman fight Lady Shiva to a standstill.  Even though it looked like there were dozens, if not hundreds, of mercenaries and killers in Katchik 9-9, they are nowhere to be found when things get hot.  Seriously, where is Serge?  Where is everybody?

Huntress reunites with Catwoman and Dinah, who recommends they make use of the destruction to escape without prolonging the fight with Lady Shiva.

The three women mount horses and ride off.  Dinah is finally verbally reunited with Oracle, who asks if this entire adventure was worth the pain and expense.  Dinah doesn't even have to think about it.

As a concluding chapter, this issue does a decent job of drawing the characters back together and bringing the action.  It's not perfect.  The threat of Lady Shiva is never fully realized, in part because she was introduced too late into the story, and in part because her status is quickly undercut by Braun's metahuman defense technique.  The obligatory conflict established in issue #1 is Huntress and Braun, and their fight is a satisfying climax.  Huntress relying on Oracle to command her end of the fight like a marionette in the hands of a puppeteer is exciting and smart.  It reminds me of the Star Wars novel The Last Command, where a blinded Mara Jade is mentally guided by Leia Organa-Solo during a lightsaber duel.

Overall, Birds of Prey: Manhunt was a superficial adventure story.  The plot was laughably thin from the onset--Dinah and Huntress are both gunning for a man who romantically toyed with them and sort of casually happened to be a criminal.  Archer Braun seems to get more dangerous with each chapter, but the mounting threats never feel organic, never feel like layers of his character are being pulled away.  Instead, it feels like Dixon is just throwing stuff at him, making it up on the fly as the situation calls for it.

What works in the series is the women, who all look good, talk tough, and act authentic, insofar as they stay true to their character established in previous stories.  But I don't believe anything was really achieved by this story.  I don't know that this event has built upon the Black Canary, Oracle, Huntress and Catwoman we've known before.  Despite getting top billing, Dinah and Oracle are limited for good chunks of time.  Dinah's a hostage for an issue and a half, and Oracle talks to nobody for about as long.  Huntress and Catwoman take most of the spotlight and the series feels crowded.  I think either one of them could have been cut from the story and it would have felt tighter, more personal, and more significant.

If this title is about Black Canary and Oracle, I'm not sure they're in any different place emotionally or personally than they were at the end of the Birds of Prey one-shot that brought them together.  But… as I said, though the story may not be deep or meaningful, it's a fun ride and any fan of Dinah or the Birds of Prey should give it a read!

Birds of Prey: Manhunt #3 (Nov 1996)

Review of Birds of Prey: Manhunt #1.

Review of Birds of Prey: Manhunt #2.

What Happened Before…

• Black Canary and Huntress are separately but simultaneously looking for a criminal named Archer Braun.  They tracked him to his hotel in Gotham City.
• Braun fled, but the timely intervention of Catwoman helped the ladies track their quarry to an airfield.
• Black Canary was captured by Braun and taken away on his plane.
• Huntress and Catwoman go to the estate of a criminal fence named Cadiz to find out where Braun was going, but they're each cornered by Cadiz' bodyguards…

Birds of Prey: Manhunt #3 - "The Man That Got Away" was written by Chuck Dixon, drawn by Matt Haley, and inked by Cam Smith, the series' third inker in as many issues.  At the start of the issue, Black Canary is being taken to an undisclosed location by her captor, Archer Braun.  Oracle is able to listen in on their conversation, but it's only a one-way transmission; Dinah can't hear Oracle because she took off her earring transceivers, and Oracle has no way of knowing if Dinah is even aware she's still broadcasting.

In Cadiz' mansion, Catwoman is fighting the old man's nurse bodyguard, while Huntress eludes the armed security forces by sicking their own attack dogs on them.  Catwoman fights off the nurse and gets the location of Braun's secret rendezvous from Cadiz.  Then she bails out Huntress, in the process revealing that she's still a thief and can only be trusted so far.

With assistance from Batman and Robin, Oracle is tracking Braun's plane when it conspicuously drops off radar for half a minute.  Braun has used a decoy plane to take his place mid-flight and carry on with the original flight plan while he sneaks off for parts unknown.  Batman asks if Oracle can handle this on her own.  She says yes, and Batman…backs off, trusting her to complete the job and save her field operative without him.  Both Oracle and Robin are impressed by this show of faith.

In Huntress' Lamborghini, Catwoman reveals what she learned from Cadiz--that Braun is running to a hideout somewhere in the former Soviet Union.  Huntress points out that the region isn't exactly small, but before she drops too many hints about her academic day job, the women are alerted to an annoying set of beeps coming from somewhere in the car.  Catwoman digs out Black Canary's earrings, given to her in the moments before her capture, and hears Oracle's voice trying to make contact.

Half a world away, Braun's plane lands in Kazakstan, where he is greeted by this guy:

No, Braun and Dinah are greeted by a team of mercenaries on horseback.  Braun tells her the horses are necessary for their final destination, a hidden city called Katchik 9-9.

Braun explains to Dinah that the city was the site of numerous genetic weapons tests the Soviets used during the Cold War.  One of the weapons was a virus that devours plastics and synthetic fibers; it got loose in the city, stripping the physical infrastructure.  Katchik 9-9 was abruptly abandoned, making it an ideal base for terrorists, mobsters on the lamb, and supercriminals.

Oracle calls Catwoman and Huntress to tell them where Black Canary is being held, leading to some "catty" remarks by both Catwoman and Oracle.  Catwoman is resolute about chasing Braun to the ends of the Earth, not for Dinah, but to get her money.  Huntress wants to rescue Dinah and take Braun down for generally being a womanizing scumbag.  Catwoman makes their travel arrangements while Huntress calls the school where she works to get a few days off.

Back in Katchik, Braun shows Dinah the local entertainment--a pit fight between a large bruiser of a man and mysterious hooded woman.  The fight ends quickly as the woman delivers a dreaded strike called the Leopard Blow.  Dinah recognizes the style and knows only one warrior who uses it.

This series didn't have enough formidable women headlining yet, so Dixon added Lady Shiva!

The third issue of Manhunt is a slight step up from the earlier installments, I think.  The focus of the heroes is now "rescue Dinah" instead of "make that man pay for cheating on us".  It makes Braun a more worthwhile adversary and gives the plot some actual legs to stand on.  Black Canary's role is severely diminished for this chapter, but Oracle takes a much more active role, which is a nice consolation.

The new setting of Katchik 9-9 is terrific and full of possibility.  (Will it be fulfilled?  Find out next week… but probably not.)  And the introduction of Lady Shiva in the final page filled me with all kinds of joy, knowing how her character will develop over the years, and how her relationship with Black Canary specifically will change both their lives much later in the ongoing series.

My favorite part of the issue, though, is when Dinah is feeding intel to Oracle about the layout and local flavor of Katchik, having no clue if it's being picked up or not.

"I miss you," she whispers, so softly Barbara almost doesn't catch it.

They're just coworkers at this point in their history: field operator and tech support.  Dinah doesn't even know who she's talking to, but it's one of--if not the--most important relationship she has right now.  And this is only the beginning…