Summer Green #0 - The Brave And The Bold!

Without doubt one of the most significant series of comics in the history of the medium are those featuring the team of Green Arrow and Green Lantern as written by the late great team of writer Denny O'Neil and revolutionary artist Neal Adams. These stories famously brought a new sense of realism and relevance to a form which was then as always looking for new ways to connect with an ever-diminishing audience.

I want to take some time and take a closer look at these important and finely crafted stories over the course of the next several weeks. But as with many a story, the beginning is not always where you expect, and that's the case here.

Green Arrow, created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp debuted in the Golden Age pages of More Fun Comics. And for many years following the team of Green Arrow and Speedy battled crime with bows and quips with a nod to the classic heroics of the legendary Robin Hood. They were a somewhat lackluster duo who nonetheless managed to stay in print throughout the years, something only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman accomplished. They even were part of the Seven Soldiers of Victory along with other DC small-timers.

For a short time, the great Jack Kirby took over the series and gave powerful sci-fi juice to the feature which ambled around from More Fun Comics to Adventure Comics to World's Finest Comics.

There were efforts to keep Green Arrow in the public eye with membership in the Justice League of America and later shots at team-ups in The Brave and the Bold.

But nothing seemed to make the Emerald Archer step out from among his peers and never did he ever headline his own comic.

That is until budding superstar Neal Adams got his mitts on the character in The Brave and the Bold #85. In a story scripted by the always reliable but often peculiar Bob Haney, Oliver Queen dons a new costume and grows his famous beard for the first time.

 

Immediately he goes from a drab Robin Hood wannabe to a slick modern hero who is as potent as his arrows if not more so. I immediately loved this version of Green Arrow and I wear a beard today because as a boy his magnificent golden goatee spoke to my vanity. 

(Unused art by Adams was used just this past year as a cover for Alter Ego.)

The story is a typically offbeat Haney affair with both Batman and Green Arrow revealing their secret identities to the same psychiatrist. Both heroes are torn between their costumed responsibilities and the seemingly greater good they can do as their rich high-profile roles as Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen. Wayne has been made a stand-in Senator who has a crucial vote for a necessary crime bill and Queen has a development which is crucial to the welfare of countless down and out citizens. Both are blocked by a villainous tycoon. Ultimately both manage to fulfill both roles successfully and realize that they can best help the world as both citizens and heroes. The psychiatrist conveniently uses hypnosis to wipe his memory.

Later in Justice League of America #75, Denny O'Neil plays with the personality of Green Arrow, making him much more irascible and committed to the needs of the common man and woman.

This is in no small part to the fact that Oliver Queen has lost his own fortune. The rich all too often live in the clouds, untouched by the rigors of daily existence and they often as well from facing up to uncomfortable realities until it strikes their own. Oliver Queen is humbled and from that experience rises a warrior for the downtrodden. After decades of wandering, the Green Arrow had found his way forward as a man and a hero. 

More lean green adventuring next week as Hal Jordan hits a rough spot too. 

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

Rip Off

Classic Crisis #28 - Legions Of Super-Heroes!

The recent crossovers between the Justice League and the Justice Society had focused on reviving long lost heroes such as the Seven Soldiers of Victory, Quality's Freedom Fighters, and Fawcett's champions.

 

In 1977 the two teams meet up with another then-current DC team, the Legion of Superheroes. This crossovers is almost like a meeting of the Schwartz-DC heroes and the Weisinger-DC heroes.

While Julie Schwartz had been fabricating his modernized DC universe with updated heroes of classic DC types, Weisinger concentrated on the Superman universe and arguably the most innovative thing to come out of that arena in the Silver Age was the Legion of Superheroes. And since continuity was an important part of Bronze Age DC, it was of course only normal that these sides of the DCU would meet.   

The Legion of Superheroes had really become the darlings of the DC universe again after some years in the wilderness as back-ups. Dave Crockrum's redesigns for the Legion some years before had rescued them and given them some charms for Bronze Age fans. Cockrum pulled off the same magic with the X-Men later in the decade. Mike Grell had really turned the Legion into fan favorites and its this polished team that shows up at last in the crossover.

 "Crisis in the 30th Century!" was written by the team of Paul Levitz and Marty Pasko, and drawn as usual by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. Anthony Tollin is credited with the colors and Milt Snapinn is identified as the letterer. The cover is a rare one by Dick Dillin himself. The story picks up in 1977 in the satellite headquarters of the Justice League where the Justice Society has been resting after a battle with the Psycho Pirate in their own title. The heroes from both teams are snatched by a giant mystical hand and dragged to the century 2977. The League members are Superman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Green Lantern, and Batman. The Society members are Dr.Fate, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, and Power Girl. They have been kidnapped by Mordru, a 30th century magician and longtime foe of the Legion of Superheroes. Superman, a member of that team as a boy recognizes their captor. Mordru tells the heroes that he's held some Legion members hostage as others seek out the Bell, the Jar, and the Wheel, three mystical artifacts which imprison three ancient demons named Abnegazar, Rath, and Ghast. As it turns out the League had once battled these demons and imprisoned them, keeping the three artifacts in the satellite, but it seems the JLofA satellite has been blown up since 1977 and the artifacts are missing. Mordru wants the teams to find the items and return them. He has already sent Legion members to do so, but they've not returned. Mordru keeps Green Arrow and Canary as hostages and sends the heroes on their missions. Chapter 2 "Crisis on a Cosmic Quest!" shows Legion members Wildfire and Sun Boy prisoners of a people shaped like wheels. Superman, Hawkman, and Dr.Fate show up and they figure out the people of this world worship the wheel and have taken its shape. Dr.Fate fills the sky with bright explosions which the people are fascinated with, they then alter their worship and their shapes allowing the combined heroes to leave with the magical wheel. Chapter 3 "For What the Bells Tolls..." shows Batman and the two Green Lanterns showing up over a planet attacked by space dragons. Legion members Brainiac 5 and Princess Projectra are already trying to negotiate for the Bell, but since it keeps the dragons at bay the people of the planet are loathe to give it up. Batman figures out the planet needs a scarecrow and the Lanterns carve a massive predator of the space dragons into one of the planets uninhabited land masses which serves silently to repel the dragons. The team then leaves with the Bell. Chapter 4 "The Final Errand" has only Power Girl and Flash finding the Jar, but its been mistaken for an egg by the aliens of the planet on which it fell. Power Girl switches out a true egg for the false one and they able to leave with their prize with minimal fuss. The heroes return to Mordru and try to attack him, but fail. He then uses his skills to free the three demons, and return the heroes (save Green Arrow and Black Canary) back to their own times. But Abnegazar, Rath, and Ghast promptly turn on Mordru and as the story ends Green Arrow and Black Canary are trapped in the unconscious Mordru's hourglass pendant and the Demons plot their next move against Earth.

 

"Crisis In Triplicate!" is again by the Pasko, Levitz, Dillin, and McLaughlin team. The cover is by Rick Buckler and Jack Abel. The story begins with the demons Abnegazer, Rath, and Ghast free and plotting against Earth. The Legion of Superheroes (Lightning Lad, Ultra Boy, and Wildfire attack them but are rebuffed. Then Sun Boy, Saturn Girl, Ultra Boy, and Brainiac 5 are ordered to take Mordru's spiritual form and combine it with his body in his prison. Green Arrow and Black Canary unfortunately go along for the ride. The three demons though have different plans for Earth. Abnegazar has grown weary of strife and seeks world peace and harmony under his rule, Rath seeks to plunder the planet of all its physical wealth, and Ghast wants nothing less than to completely reshape the planet meaning its near complete destruction. The demons battle one another but realize their powers cancel one another out. So they get teams of heroes to battle for them. Abnegazar chooses Lightning Lad, Chameleon Boy, Shadow Lass, Princess Projectra, and Wildfire to fight for him. Reaching back into to time, the other demons recapture the League and the Society and use them as pawns. Rath takes control of the JSofA and Ghast takes control of the three remaining JLofA members. Chapter 2 "The Battle that Shook the 30th Century!" begins with a flash of action. The three teams battle one another back and forth across the landscape of future Earth. Meanwhile Mordru's body is about back to his tomb and Green Lantern of Earth-1 has gone to rescue Arrow and Canary. He does so and the trio also defeats the Legion members who brought Mordru's form. Back on Earth the members of the opposing teams realize that they are under different levels of control from the demons and realize that a stalemate between their forces might bring about a potential resolution to the problems. Battling over a global tunnel, the teams almost succeed. Chapter 3 "Some Say the World End in Fire...Some Say In Ice!" has the heroes fighting in a future city in the Antarctic snowfields. They pursue their strategy of striving for a stalemate and succeed. This frustrates the demons who once again attack each other directly. Abnegazar and Rath eliminate each other. Ghast survives and is defeated by the combined power of the heroes and imprisoned when Dr.Fate (juiced up with power left over from the deceased demons) in the fragments of the JLofA satellite which is reassembled around him. The heroes compare notes and then head back to their own times, a slight alteration to their memories thanks to the Green Lanterns to forestall paradoxes.

This is not one of my favorite crossovers. Again Dillin and McLaughlin get huge props for telling an amazingly complex story literally overflowing with heroes. Sadly few of the Legion members get much personality save Wildfire and Brainiac 5. Some don't even speak I'd reckon. The League and Society do better with Power Girl getting a lot of attention. She was the breakout star of the new All Star comic and she gets showcased a bit here. I'm not quite sure where this story goes wrong. The elements seem pretty good. Mordru and the Demons seem worthy opponents, but somehow it all just rattles along barely, seemingly wanting to fall apart at any minute. The story just feels compressed and crowded. I will say that the satellite reforming was a really cool sequence, and in 1977 an interesting glimpse into a near future which hadn't quite happened yet. It makes sense that Paul Levitz would have a hand in this story since he was in charge of the Legion at the time. But it's a shame that Steve Englehart never wrote a crossover. This two-parter interrupts Englehart's great run on the JLofA, and he'd come back on board for two more issues after this crossover completed. Englehart's League was vibrant with personality, and sadly there's little of that in this tale. Probably just no room for it despite some expanded page counts. There was little novelty in this one either, since all the heroes on display had their own series at this time. This is a diverting tale, but not really compelling alas. 

 Rip Off

The Adventures Of Aquaman 1967!

Aquaman is a hero who often gets little respect. And frankly I've always wondered why that is. Likely it's the fact his first really high-profile gig was with the Justice League of America where his specific skill set was difficult to work into a story. After many years as a reliable back up (no doubt somewhat a result of the fact he was created by Mort Weisinger, a powerful editor at DC at the time) he started to get some attention which really bloomed when he was tapped to join Superman in animated form on Saturday mornings starting in 1967.

The Adventures of Aquaman cartoons are really good and stand up well to a modern eye. Filmation did a pretty good job creating a credible undersea realm for Aquaman, Aqualad and Mera to function in. With the aid of Storm and Imp, two enormous seahorses the undersea duo rode and the comedy relief of Tusky, a walrus, the heroic team faced monsters which threatened the domed city of Atlantis. We also get to see some of Aquaman's better foes as Black Manta gets at least three appearances and the Fisherman shows up a couple of times.

Aquaman comes across as a very capable hero, voiced by Marvin Miller who gives him great authority. He demonstrates a steady confidence and calm in the face of some staggering threats. Each cartoon reaches its end when Aquaman says with assurance that it's time to go home, a reassuring comment for the viewer.

Rip Off

Amazing Transformations Of Jimmy Olsen!

Jimmy Olsen is one of the all-time great comic book characters. Created as a supporting member of the sprawling Superman cast he gained his first notoriety in the offshoot productions of the comic in radio and later in television. He was such a hit that he got his own comic which lasted for several decades. During that time he had scuds of screwball misadventures, usually always needing the timely intervention of Superman to save him at the crucial moment. Sometimes his own smarts saved the day, though most often his own dimwitted or naive notions triggered the trouble to begin with. Like many characters of the Weisinger edited Superman family he changed form a lot. These oddball changes are the focus of this light-hearted fun read The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen.

Jimmy's stories usually begin with him meeting up with Professor Potter (or some similar looking mad scientist) and getting his mitts on a potion, device or ray which would change him into something weird and sometimes unsettling. Often the potion would be found in a cask or case brought forth by Superman himself and left in Jimmy's care despite his long record of irresponsibility in such matters. Whatever the gimmick, the story quickly gets the change started and then Jimmy spends the rest of the story trying to change back or come to terms with his new status. The stories are invariably hair-brained and small-minded. Jimmy often is just trying to impress his fickle love interest Lucy Lane. In these stories we see Jimmy become a Legionnaire, journey to Kandor, and even a planet full of just himself. Zany and wild and often entertaining.

Here are the covers of most of the stories in this collection. My personal faves are the the Jimmy from Jupiter, Octopus Jimmy, Bizzaro-Jimmy and my all time fave -- Giant Turtle Man Jimmy.

Check this one out if you have the time. The cover by Brian Bolland is a great one.

Rip Off

The King's Arrow!

The Green Arrow was the brainchild of longtime DC editor and infamous bully Mort Weisinger who introduced the lackluster Batman wannabe into More Fun Comics where he held sway for many years even for a time being the cover feature. He was moved over to Adventure Comics where he disappeared into the back pages behind the Superboy feature which was drawn by the same artist - George Papp. Hidden in plain sight, the feature survived the downsizing in superheroes of the late 40's and likely thanks to having an editor as his daddy tumbled along right into the burgeoning Silver Age. But when the Justice League of America was created by Julie Schwartz the Green Archer didn't make the cut immediately. But he did eventually, and it was as part of the the League and later a partner with Green Lantern that Ollie Queen eventually made his bones.

But there was a time briefly in 1957 when Jack Kirby with writer Dave Wood brought a new aesthetic to the world of the Green Arrow, giving the feature a shiny sci-fi polish with some really bizarre concepts. Green Arrow also got his origin spruced up in what became the definitive rendition for many years to come. (To read it go here.) But as quick as it came, the Green Arrow returned to relative obscurity when Kirby left and the reliable Lee Elias took the helm.

The Kirby material has been collected several times by DC over the years. My first encounter was seeing the origin story in various venues, but the whole run got reprinted way back 2001 in a delightful slender reprint which I highly recommend to one and all.

For more money you can have those stories and more in The Jack Kirby Omnibus Volume One which focuses on Kirby's 50's work.

And for the Green Arrow lover the stories are gathered along with many many others in Showcase Presents Green Arrow from 2006.

I have all three, and  I enjoy these yarns almost as much as any the King has ever drawn. He seemed to be really having fun with the Green Arrow feature, giving it an injection of imagination it woefully lacked for most of its time. Green Arrow for a very long time was less than sum of his inspirations of Batman, Robin Hood, and such. When Kirby got hold of him, he caught fire, though briefly.

Rip Off

Crisis Part 27 - Fight The Future!

The recent crossovers between the Justice League and the Justice Society had focused on reviving long lost heroes such as the Seven Soldiers of Victory, Quality's Freedom Fighters, and Fawcett's champions.


In 1977 the two teams meet up with another then-current DC team, the Legion of Superheroes. This crossovers is almost like a meeting of the Schwartz-DC heroes and the Weisinger-DC heroes.


While Julie Schwartz had been fabricating his modernized DC universe with updated heroes of classic DC types, Weisinger concentrated on the Superman universe and arguably the most inovative thing to come out of that arena in the Silver Age was the Legion of Superheroes. And since continuity was an important part of Bronze Age DC, it was of course only normal that these sides of the DCU would meet.


The Legion of Superheroes had really become the darlings of the DC universe again after some years in the wilderness as back-ups. Dave Crockrum's redesigns for the Legion some years before had rescued them and given them some charms for Bronze Age fans. Cockrum pulled off the same magic with the X-Men later in the decade. Mike Grell had really turned the Legion into fan favorites and its this polished team that shows up at last in the crossover.


"Crisis in the 30th Century!" was written by the team of Paul Levitz and Marty Pasko, and drawn as usual by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. Anthony Tollin is credited with the colors and Milt Snapinn is identified as the letterer. The cover is a rare one by Dick Dillin himself. The story picks up in 1977 in the satellite headquarters of the Justice League where the Justice Society has been resting after a battle with the Psycho Pirate in their own title. The heroes from both teams are snatched by a giant mystical hand and dragged to the century 2977. The League members are Superman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Green Lantern, and Batman. The Society members are Dr.Fate, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, and Power Girl. They have been kidnapped by Mordru, a 30th century magician and longtime foe of the Legion of Superheroes. Superman, a member of that team as a boy recognizes their captor. Mordru tells the heroes that he's held some Legion members hostage as others seek out the Bell, the Jar, and the Wheel, three mystical artifacts which imprison three ancient demons named Abnegazar, Rath, and Ghast. As it turns out the League had once battled these demons and imprisoned them, keeping the three artifacts in the satellite, but it seems the JLofA satellite has been blown up since 1977 and the artifacts are missing. Mordru wants the teams to find the items and return them. He has already sent Legion members to do so, but they've not returned. Mordru keeps Green Arrow and Canary as hostages and sends the heroes on their missions.

Chapter 2 "Crisis on a Cosmic Quest!" shows Legion members Wildfire and Sun Boy prisoners of a people shaped like wheels. Superman, Hawkman, and Dr.Fate show up and they figure out the people of this world worship the wheel and have taken its shape. Dr.Fate fills the sky with bright explosions which the people are fascinated with, they then alter their worship and their shapes allowing the combined heroes to leave with the magical wheel.

Chapter 3 "For What the Bells Tolls..." shows Batman and the two Green Lanterns showing up over a planet attacked by space dragons. Legion members Brainiac 5 and Princess Projectra are already trying to negotiate for the Bell, but since it keeps the dragons at bay the people of the planet are loathe to give it up. Batman figures out the planet needs a scarecrow and the Lanterns carve a massive predator of the space dragons into one of the planets uninhabited land masses which serves silently to repel the dragons. The team then leaves with the Bell.

Chapter 4 "The Final Errand" has only Power Girl and Flash finding the Jar, but its been mistaken for an egg by the aliens of the planet on which it fell. Power Girl switches out a true egg for the false one and they able to leave with their prize with minimal fuss.

The heroes return to Mordru and try to attack him, but fail. He then uses his skills to free the three demons, and return the heroes (save Green Arrow and Black Canary) back to their own times. But Abnegazar, Rath, and Ghast promptly turn on Mordru and as the story ends Green Arrow and Black Canary are trapped in the unconscious Mordru's hourglass pendant and the Demons plot their next move against Earth.


"Crisis In Triplicate!" is again by the Pasko, Levitz, Dillin, and McLaughlin team. The cover is by Rick Buckler and Jack Abel. The story begins with the demons Abnegazer, Rath, and Ghast free and plotting against Earth. The Legion of Superheroes (Lightning Lad, Ultra Boy, and Wildfire attack them but are rebuffed. Then Sun Boy, Saturn Girl, Ultra Boy, and Brainiac 5 are ordered to take Mordru's spiritual form and combine it with his body in his prison. Green Arrow and Black Canary unfortunately go along for the ride. The three demons though have different plans for Earth. Abnegazar has grown weary of strife and seeks world peace and harmony under his rule, Rath seeks to plunder the planet of all its physical wealth, and Ghast wants nothing less than to completely reshape the planet meaning its near complete destruction. The demons battle one another but realize their powers cancel one another out. So they get teams of heroes to battle for them. Abnegazar chooses Lightning Lad, Chameleon Boy, Shadow Lass, Princess Projectra, and Wildfire to fight for him. Reaching back into to time, the other demons recapture the League and the Society and use them as pawns. Rath takes control of the JSofA and Ghast takes control of the three remaining JLofA members.

Chapter 2 "The Battle that Shook the 30th Century!" begins with a flash of action. The three teams battle one another back and forth across the landscape of future Earth. Meanwhile Mordru's body is about back to his tomb and Green Lantern of Earth-1 has gone to rescue Arrow and Canary. He does so and the trio also defeats the Legion members who brought Mordru's form. Back on Earth the members of the opposing teams realize that they are under different levels of control from the demons and realize that a stalemate between their forces might bring about a potential resolution to the problems. Battling over a global tunnel, the teams almost succeed.

Chapter 3 "Some Say the World End in Fire...Some Say In Ice!" has the heroes fighting in a future city in the Antarctic snowfields. They pursue their strategy of striving for a stalemate and succeed. This frustrates the demons who once again attack each other directly. Abnegazar and Rath eliminate each other. Ghast survives and is defeated by the combined power of the heroes and imprisoned when Dr.Fate (juiced up with power left over from the deceased demons) in the fragments of the JLofA satellite which is reassembled around him. The heroes compare notes and then head back to their own times, a slight alteration to their memories thanks to the Green Lanterns to forestall paradoxes.


This is not one of my favorite crossovers. Again Dillin and McLaughlin get huge props for telling an amazingly complex story literally overflowing with heroes. Sadly few of the Legion members get much personality save Wildfire and Brainiac 5. Some don't even speak I'd reckon. The League and Society do better with Power Girl getting a lot of attention. She was the breakout star of the new All Star comic and she gets showcased a bit here.

I'm not quite sure where this story goes wrong. The elements seem pretty good. Mordru and the Demons seem worthy opponents, but somehow it all just rattles along barely, seemingly wanting to fall apart at any minute. The story just feels compressed and crowded. I will say that the satellite reforming was a really cool sequence, and in 1977 an interesting glimpse into a near future which hadn't quite happened yet.

It makes sense that Paul Levitz would have a hand in this story since he was in charge of the Legion at the time. But it's a shame that Steve Englehart never wrote a crossover. This two-parter interrupts Englehart's great run on the JLofA, and he'd come back on board for two more issues after this crossover completed. Englehart's League was vibrant with personality, and sadly there's little of that in this tale. Probably just no room for it despite some expanded page counts.

There was little novelty in this one either, since all the heroes on display had their own series at this time. This is a diverting tale, but not really compelling alas.

Rip Off