Special Saturday Edition: Batman Comic Strip

Hey guys! In a bit of news, I got a hold of issue #11 of the Grell Green Arrow series. Now I have enough material to last until Dragoncon, where I anticipate filling in most of the remaining holes in my collection. As such, I no longer have to use the Batman Strip as filler on Mondays. From now until the strip is completed, I'll be running the strip on Saturdays instead.

Here's the first of this series where Green Arrow appears:

Trick Arrow of the Week: Mind Reading Arrow

You know, with all his liberal ideals and objection to magically induced mind wipes, you'd think Oliver Queen would be a little more respectful of people's civil rights. Apparently not:


Big Brother wears green!

Spotlight:: Adventure Comics #255

Issue: Adventure Comics #255

Title: "The War That Never Ended!"

Credits: Dave Wood (script) Jack and Roz Kirby

Cover Date: December, 1958

Synopsis: Green Arrow and his partner Speedy are on a Trans-Pacific flight, headed to Japan for the "International Crime Convention" (I want to see the Bonnie and Clyde cos-players!) when their plane has engine trouble and ditches in the ocean. In raft with no paddle, the duo drift away from the other survivors, fighting off a shark attack and washing up on a desert island.

Suddenly, The Emerald Archer and his sidekick are ambushed by a group of Japanese soldiers! When a typhoon destroyed their radio in June, 1945, the soldiers were cut off from the outside world. Convinced the war is still ongoing, and that GA and Speedy are enemy spies, the soldiers attack, detaining Green Arrow (Speedy manages to escape).

The Japanese major explains that after their radio was knocked out, a typhoon destroyed their heavy weapons. Spotting an American fleet on maneuvers, he demands Green Arrow use his engineering abilities to build them arrow-based artillery to attack the fleet.

GA complies, building them catapult powered Mine Arrows and Bomb Arrows. Just as the weapons are launched, Speedy commences with a rescue operation. The Japanese are defeated, and it turns out that GA weapons are harmless, and serve only to signal the fleet of his presence.

Finally convinced that the war is over, the Japanese major and his men honorably surrender to GA aboard the American ships.

Thoughts: Another "Japanese soldiers trapped on an island who don't know the war is over" story, but well done and fun. Some of the arrows are especially trippy, even for the Silver Age, especially the Bomb Arrow, which deployed a giant Green Arrow instead of exploding. How Ollie managed to pull that off while the Japanese soldiers were watching is another story in itself :)

Again, excellent art by Jack Kirby and his wife Roz, but that pretty much goes without saying.

Ollie Watch: August 11th, 2008

Out Tomorrow:

Green Arrow/Black Canary #11: The circumstances behind Connor's shooting will finally be revealed! (supposedly)

UPDATE: I just got back from the comic shop and read this book...the plot thickens...

Spotlight:: Batman Comic Strip

(Our weekly review of the Grell Green Arrow series will pause temporarily, as I have a gap in my collection. Until that gap is filled, we'll replace it with a new feature!)

Running in Amazing World of DC #4 and #5, this strip features Batman, Robin, and our resident hero, Green Arrow. This is going to be a long post, as I'm putting up all the strips before GA appears in the strip in the first post. Future posts will feature much smaller sets of strips.

Trick Arrow of the Week: Flare Arrow

Trick Arrow of the Week: Flare Arrow

In honor of the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games, we at the Arrowcave present this week's trick arrow: The Flare Arrow! Famous for lighting the Olympic flame at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, this arrow, presumably purchased from Queen Industries, goes down in history as one of the coolest ways ever invented to light a fire!

I ask you to compare the following two images:

and

Eh? Eh?

Queen Industries, proud sponsor of the Olympic Games since 1941

New Blog Joins the Family

My good buddy El Jacone over at the Comic Book Bunker has started up a new blog about the Gliding Gladiator himself, Hawkman. So head on over to Being Carter Hall as El Jacone blogs his way through becoming a Hawkfan!