Comic Book Review: DC Special No. 23: Green Arrow

Comic Book Review: DC Special No. 23: Green Arrow edited by Len Wein

Green Arrow was created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp for More Fun Comics #73 in 1941. Oliver “Ollie” Queen was originally an old-money anthropologist with a special interest in Native American cultures, who’d learned archery from the tribes he was studying. He got stranded on a plateau where orphan Roy Harper had been raised by a Native American guide since an earlier plane crash. Criminals looking for treasure also wound up there, Ollie and Roy defeated them using bows and arrows, and the criminals inadvertently nicknamed the duo “Green Arrow” and “Speedy.” Ollie took Roy in as his ward, and began a superhero career as sort of a cross between Batman and Robin Hood.

Mort Weisinger went on to become one of the editors at DC Comics, and Green Arrow was one of his pet characters, and thus was among the few superheroes published regularly all the way through the Golden Age to the Silver Age. Over the years, his backstory, costume and attitude underwent various changes. This anthology collects several noteworthy stories up to the publication date of 1982, with a framing story of Ollie and his love interest Black Canary going through old scrapbooks.

“The Unmasked Archers!”, art by Jack Kirby, has Green Arrow and Speedy alarmed when the morning newspaper has a headline story outing them as Oliver Queen and Roy Harper. This turns out to be a prank by Ollie’s “brothers” at his gentleman’s club, but now the Emerald Archer must find a way to make sure no one will get an epiphany and make a real connection.

“The Case of the Camouflage King!”, art by Lee Elias, introduces a band of robbers who use a special paint that automatically makes them the same color as the background to hide in plain sight. It’s a limited gimmick that’s easily foiled by the right trick arrows.

“The Amazing Miss Arrowette”, art by Lee Elias, concerns Bonnie King, a female archery champion who decides to try her hand at crimefighting like her hero Green Arrow. This story reeks of Fifties sexism. All of Arrowette’s special weapons are themed around feminine cosmetics or accessories. When she makes a couple of rookie mistakes, Green Arrow convinces her to bow out as “crimefighting isn’t for girls.” (Black Canary gives him a bit of stinkeye on that one.) Bonnie reappeared decades later as the mother of a new Arrowette.

“The Green Arrows of the World”, art by Jack Kirby, reveals that as the greatest archer superhero on Earth, Green Arrow has inspired many imitators, like Midori no Yajirushi of Japan, and Sahm ‘Akhdar of Arabia. All these international Green Arrows are attending a first ever convention in America. However, one of them is not truly a costumed crimefighter, but an impostor. Is it Flèche Verte of Paris, or perhaps Panah Ijo of Java? This one crams as many national stereotypes into six pages as it can manage. As far as I know, none of these characters ever appeared again. But fanfic fodder ahoy!

“The Mystery of the Giant Arrows” and “Prisoners of Dimension Zero!”, art again by Jack Kirby, is a two-parter. In the first part, Green Arrow and Speedy deal with skyscraper-sized arrows that are mysteriously coming out of the sky over Star City. Eventually, they discover that the arrows are coming from another dimension, and must team up with the gigantic Xeen Arrow of that world to save the day. It’s silly, but highly enjoyable.

“The Senator’s Been Shot!” written by Bob Haney with art by Neal Adams, jumps ahead a couple of decades to the debut of Green Arrow’s new costume and beard. This was one of the more successful redesigns of a superhero costume. A just-confirmed senator is shot and is in critical condition as an important anti-crime bill is coming up for a vote. Without him there, the Procrime Party will be able to keep it from getting passed. The governor appoints Bruce Wayne (who may be an idle playboy, but is known to be anti-crime) to fill in. Problem is, Bruce Wayne is also investigating the attack as Batman, and can’t be in two places at once!

Meanwhile, Oliver Queen is putting his money to good use as a financier, proposing a new development in Gotham City that will bring prosperity to a rundown neighborhood and in theory reduce the need for crime there. The other bidder for the project is a front for mob boss Miklos Minotaur, and if he gets control over the area, crime will assuredly not go down. The plans are stolen and Ollie comes under attack. He needs to investigate as Green Arrow, but he needs to deliver the proposal as Oliver Queen in a very short time frame, and can’t be in two places at once!

Both men confide in psychiatrist Edmond Cathcart, the son of the catatonic senator, about their identity crises. (He turns out to be one of the few non-evil psychiatrists in Gotham City.) Edmond’s then kidnapped by Minotaur in an effort to get him to sign over his father’s holdings and possibly get leverage on Wayne and Queen. By teaming up, Batman and Green Arrow are able to thwart Minotaur and have him arrested, pass the anti-crime bill, and get the development underway! Edmond uses self-hypnosis to forget their secret identities, at least temporarily.

Immediately after that story appeared, a plotline started in which Oliver Queen was “legally” robbed of his company, reputation, and assets (including his house and the Arrowcave!) by a man named DeLeon. A few nights on the street dealing with the social services net from the bottom radicalized Ollie. From at best a limousine liberal, he turned into a loud-mouthed leftist and champion of “the little guy.” This new personality made him distinctive among DC superheroes of the time. DeLeon died before Ollie could prove he’d been framed and cheated, which leads us into the next story.

“The Origin of Green Arrow” story by Denny O’Neil, art by Mike Grell, opens with Green Arrow having tracked down one of DeLeon’s henchmen, who’s taken a hostage. The henchman orders Green Arrow to hurl himself overboard from the storm-tossed ship they’re on, and tosses him the documents that would prove DeLeon’s crimes and Oliver Queen’s innocence. (The documents also contain dirt on other powerful men, and the henchman realizes he’s never going to be free from trackers as long as he has them.)

This causes Green Arrow to go into a flashback that revises his Silver Age origin. In this version, Oliver Queen was an idle playboy, bored on a cruise party, when the yacht he was on was attacked by modern day pirates. Oliver is easily beaten by the thugs and tossed overboard. He’s a decent swimmer, though, and manages to get to a seemingly deserted island. There, he manages to survive and thrive. Remembering the time a Hollywood stuntman taught him the basics of archery, Ollie slowly builds up his bow and arrow skills, even improvising a sort of net arrow.

After a year or so, other people land on the island. It turns out to be the same pirates, who are forcing the sailors from a small cargo ship to unload their goods before killing them. Taking advantage of ambush, Ollie is able to incapacitate the criminals with his distinctively green arrows and get a ride back to civilization, where he became a superhero. Speedy came later in this version.

Back in the present, Green Arrow sacrifices the documents to save the hostage and take down the criminal. He has no desire to return to the playboy life. (Except in stories by Bob Haney in The Brave and the Bold during this time period, where Ollie is defined by his desperation to be rich again.)

“What Can One Man Do?” written by Elliot Maggin, with art by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano, follows up with the then-trendy “relevance.” The mayor of Star City is getting too old and tired to deal with the problems of a major modern city. The crime, pollution, poverty, racial unrest, and other ills of the time are getting out of hand. Problem is that the most likely candidate to succeed him if the mayor doesn’t run again is from the Procrime Party. Other stalwarts from the mayor’s party are mentioned, but dismissed as uncharismatic, kinda racist or alcoholic. They need someone fresh!

Oliver Queen is brought up. It’s now generally understood that he was not responsible for the loss of his company and his reputation has largely been restored. He’s also a known philanthropist and single father, and despite some leftist views, is staunchly anti-crime. The mayor’s party decides to reach out.

Ollie…doesn’t immediately turn them down. He enjoys swashbuckling heroism, and does good work as Green Arrow, but there’s only so much a costumed crimefighter can do against social ills. He reaches out to his superhero friends, all of whom advise against getting into politics–Clark Kent even mentions that Oliver’s distinctive beard will be a dead giveaway to his secret identity if he’s more socially prominent.

On the way to visit Black Canary for a further talk, Green Arrow stumbles across a riot in progress (we specifically learn nothing as to how it started or what it’s about) and tries to intervene. When a child is shot, Green Arrow rushes the youngster to the hospital, but it’s too late. Broken-hearted, Oliver Queen decides to run for mayor. This is a particularly strong story, and uses an Ernest Hemingway quote to good effect.

(He loses, and it will be decades before he does get a term as mayor.)

Let’s talk about Black Canary! She first appeared in Flash Comics #86 in 1947 as a supporting character in the Johnny Thunder strip. (Johnny Thunder was a comical character who could summon a genie to help him but wasn’t very bright about it.) Dinah Drake was a crimefighter who posed as a criminal to bring down the underworld from within. Her classic costume with its fishnet stockings and short jacket are basically stuff you’d wear to a nightclub in the late 1940s. Black Canary proved popular and took over both Johnny’s strip and his place in the Justice Society of America. She moved into being an open good guy and solved cases with the help of private eye Larry Lance.

When she returned in the Silver Age, she was now Dinah Lance, having married Larry in the interim, and was a full-time member of the Justice Society. During a Justice Society/Justice League crossover, Larry died between dimensions. Dinah came to Earth One to mourn, and somehow developed a new superpower in the process, a sonic Canary Cry. She replaced the recently depowered Wonder Woman in the JLA.

After a suitable mourning period, Black Canary and Green Arrow started becoming romantically involved. After a few years, it was retconned that this Black Canary was in fact Dinah Laurel Lance, the daughter of the original Black Canary, who’d been cursed with sonic powers in infancy. She’d been placed in a preservative coma between dimensions until a cure could be found. In this version, Dinah Lance had died with Larry, but her memories were transferred into the body of her now young adult daughter, minus the dying part or the memory that she’d had a daughter. (Okay then. Apparently this was done because someone thought it was icky that Green Arrow was dating an older woman. This bit got retconned away again after Crisis on Infinite Earths.)

And that’s where things stood as of this next story.

“The Plot to Kill Black Canary!” written by Elliot Maggin, art by Dick Giordano has Oliver Queen now working as a public relations agency. He’s landed the Trump Motorcycles account (no relation, a play on the classic Triumph brand) and promised he’d get Black Canary to endorse one by giving a riding demonstration. Except he didn’t tell Dinah until after landing the contract. She’s only slightly mollified by the mention of a fat fee going to charity.

Some baddies learn about the demonstration and decide to get revenge for a previous defeat by putting a bomb in the motorcycle. Green Arrow gets a heads up about the plot, and saves Black Canary in spectacular style–though she points out he could have just told her about the problem before she went into the stunt sequence. She still loves him anyway.

And the framing sequence ends with Ollie and Dinah reaffirming their love for each other. Aww.

This is a fun collection of miscellaneous Green Arrow stories, before the massive changes that would come with the Longbow Hunters series after the Crisis. Some excellent art in here! It might be a little hard to track down, but will be well worth it for Oliver Queen fans.