Trick Arrow of the Week: Arrow-Bomb plus!

In a post that raises more questions than it answers, the giant Bomb/Three Stage Rocket/Morse Code Arrow!

Recommendation Arrow: Elongated Man

A few weeks ago, while digging through quarter bins at a local shop, I found all four issues of an Elongated Man mini I never knew existed! I've always had a soft spot for the Dibneys, so I decided to pick it up!

Man, am I glad I did! The plot is goofy, as one would expect in a book starring Elongated Man. Ralph and Sue are on vacation, trying to get away from the superhero lifestyle and just relax. Unfortunately, Ralph is unable to control his showboating, and ends up causing a scene nearly everywhere they go.

At a diplomatic function in France, the Dibneys meet up with Bito Wladon, ruler of the small European country of Modora. The name sounds familiar to Ralph, but he can't quite place it. Sue, of course, is thoroughly charmed. After Sue and Ralph retire to bed, they get in a knock-down, drag out fight about Ralph's total inability to take anything seriously.

Distraught, Sue runs to the arms of Wladon, who kindly invites them to tour his country...

The story gets goofier after that, including European themed villains like Escargot, Calamari, and the Wurst Gang (a group of super-villains dressed as various sausages) from France, Italy, and Germany respectively.

If you like fun, entertaining comics, make sure to check this one out!

Justice League of America #4

In an unbelievable display of generosity ARROWHEAD member Rick Phillips has sent your humble correspondent a copy of Justice League of America #4, the issue where Green Arrow joins the Justice League as its first non-founding member!

The book is in rough shape, but its still perfectly readable. Expect a report on this ish in the next few days!

Rick, you're the best!

Spotlight:: World's Finest Comics #98

Issue: World's Finest Comics #98

Title: "The Unmasked Archers"

Credits: Ed Herron (script) Roz and Jack Kirby (art)

Cover Date: December, 1958

Synopsis: Oliver Queen and Roy Harper are hanging out at Queen's club when the Police Commissioner (presumably of Star City, though Ollie's Base of Operations is as yet unnamed) tells him that the next night the club officers will be named.

Just then, the duo notice the Arrow Signal in the sky. While ducking into a room to change, they see a newspaper headline: Oliver Queen and Roy Harper are Green Arrow and Speedy!" With their secret IDs blown, they decide to finish this one mission, then hang up their bows.

Arriving on the scene, the archers use fan arrows to drive away the smokescreen the criminals were using to hide themselves, and then a (I swear I'm not making this up) fountain pen arrow to mark the car to make the crooks easier to follow.

Afterward, Ollie and Roy present themselves to the Police Commissioner to turn themselves in. The Commissioner think s they're joking, as apparently the newspaper was a fake, designed as a joke on Ollie as part of his club initiation. Now the pair must play along, allowing the Commish to believe they're just dressing up in a costume as part of the initiation.

Soon, they're called on the thwart a train robbery. Ollie must act as though he;s just a guy in a costume, while at the same time foiling the robbery. He shows up and fires off an arrow, missing by several yards. This convinces the Commissioner that he's just Oliver playing along with the joke, but the arrow ricochets over the train and launches a net, capturing the crooks.

The Commissioner is fully convinced by the Arrow-plane flying overhead. Obviously Ollie can't be GA if Green Arrow is flying s plane over their heads. We later find out that Roy had used a Balloon Arrow shaped like the plane to simulate the silhouette across the moon. (Why Roy didn't just fly the actual Arrow Plane overhead is a mystery).

Thoughts: Wow, this story was a bunch of convoluted nonsense, even by Silver Age standards. Nothing about it really makes sense, from the strange club initiation to the Balloon Arrow trick. I guess we can just chalk it up to Silver Age weirdness and a need to compress the story into 4 pages.

Up next: Green Arrow's origin story!

Ollie Watch: August 20th, 2008

Batman and the Outsiders #10: Can anyone tell me if Ollie is still on this team? I haven't been keeping up with the series, and he's not on the cover. Makes me wonder...




















Justice League of America vol. 2 #24: Join Black Canary and Animal as they team up with the rest of the JLA to fight a new villain for control of Vixen's Tantu Totem!

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 2 #11

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #11

Title: Here There Be Dragons part 3

Credits: Mike Grell (plot) Ed Hannigan, Dick Giordano (art)

Cover Date: December, 1988

Synopsis: Picking up where we left off, Ollie has been shot in the chest by Shado's arrow. He survives, but it takes him many weeks to recover. Delirious with pain, he remembers past conversations with Dinah about their having children. Ollie is up for it, but Dinah's recent injuries have rendered her unable to have kids.

Meanwhile, Shado has moved them to a secluded luxury villa. After a friendly archery competition (which Shado wins) they go spear fishing in the bay. As they fish, Shado tells her life story.

Shado's father dishonored his Oyibun, and had to be executed. To remove the stain of dishonor from her family, Shado was marked with the Dragon tattoo and trained with the elderly master (killed in the last issue) to become a living weapon for the Yakuza.

As she and Ollie return from their journey, they notice several sets of footprints on the beach. Yakuza commandos have arrived intent (for reasons as yet unexplained) on kidnapping the villa's elderly gardener, in addition to killing Shado. Ollie and Shado fight off the soldiers, but fail to save the old man, who dies of a heart attack in front of them. Suddenly, the commando's boat roars off. Enraged at the senseless death of the old man, Shado makes an impossible shot, killing the pilot of the boat and causing it to smash into some rocks and explode...

Thoughts: Another excellent issue, where we get some background on Shado. One thing I found interesting was Shado's thoughts on Ollie's archery. Where she becomes one with the bow, Ollie seeks to dominate it and bend it to his will. We also get a glimpse at GA's mild chauvinism when he blithely assumes that the pull on his bow would be too much for the lady Shado

Next time: the conclusion to the Shado arch!

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: