Aquaman Needs Your Help!

www.80stees.com is producing a line of JLA themed hoodies. These hoodies replicate the torso region of the respective hero's costume, making it look rather like you're wearing Superman's shirt, etc.

Unfortunately, the Aquaman hoodie has been cancelled! Rob talked to the president of the company, who told him that there had been so few pre-orders for Arthur's torso, they'd decided not to produce it!

We cannot let this stand people! Go on over to It's a Cold Day in Atlantis and sign up for the campaign to save Aquaman's hoodie! 80's Tees has informed us that if we can get 150-200 pre-orders, they'll produce the item.

Go over there and show your support for the King of the Seven Seas today!

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 2 #10

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #10

Title: Here There be Dragons part 2

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

Cover Date: November, 1988

Synopsis: Dinah surprises Ollie in bed with a birthday cake and card. Ollie grouses about his age (44) but makes a birthday wish regardless. Anyone who's ever read any Green Arrow before can probably guess what he wished for...

Dinah leaves the planning to llie for the day, as it is his birthday. Ollie chooses to go to the zoo, where they enjoy a day filled with exotic animals and chili dogs. After a while, they notice that they're being followed by a pair of suits...

The pair ambush their pursuers, who turn out to be Eddie Fyers and an anonymous CIA agent. While Dinah and Eddie spar in the background, the CIA mook tells a story about how the Phillipino government buried the nationl treaury in secure locations during WWII. A map to the treaure troves was recently discovered, and then stolen.

Coincidentally, known agents of the Yakuza have been uying up property in the Phillipines, ostensibly to build hotels, but for some reason they never get past the excavation phase... But recently, the excavations have come to an abrupt stop. Rumor is, a certain lady with a dragon tatoo has stolen the only copy of the map.

The agent demands that Ollie, who knows Shado best, track her down, or he'll turn him in for tax evasion of the income from his mission in the first few issues. Ollie reculantly agrees, tracking Shado down to Honolulu, and then to a houseboat. Just as Ollie is approaches the boat, he ends up with an arrow in the chest! THE END

Thoughts: Another neat issue, with some really sweet action involving Shado and her attackers. Its also kind of nice to see Ollie get in hot water for the shady mission he performed earlier in the series. The CIA agent also points out that Ollie's mask does very little to hide his ID, and the only real reason no one has figured it out until now is that no one knew to try. I'm a big fan of little bits of realism like that.

Recommendation Arrow: Prez

Recommendation Arrow: Prez

So last night, I was sitting in my recliner, casting around for something to do, when my nerdy little eyes caught of a glimpse of one of the books I picked at up Heroescon last month, the first issue of Prez.

So, lacking anything better to do, I read it...

Holy crap folks, Prez is the weirdest, most out there comic I've read in a long time. The basic premise is that with 18 year olds gaining the vote in an age where they made up a large chunk of the population, a great many teenagers would be elected to Congress (in this world, the law lowered the age limit on office holders as well).

Looking for a dupe to retain his power, uber-corrupt political hack Boss Smiley (literally, a guy with a smiley-face head) recruits young Prez Rickard to run for senate.

Prez, an 18 year old from Steadyton (where there are hundreds of clocks, none of which agree) lives with his mother and sister, and enjoys racing his hotrod "Lolipop" and fixing things. One day, tiring of nothing getting done in town because no one knows what time it is, Prez fixes every clock in town. This garners him a certain amount of fame, fame which Boss Smiley is determined to use.

Boss Smiley, ever the entrepreneur, wants to demolish the last stand of unspoiled forest in the country to build s superhighway to Steadyton. He's also planning to demolish the local dam, both to clear the forest and to reap the profits when his construction company "happens" to get the contracts to rebuild the dam and any other buildings destroyed in the flood.

During the "blow stuff up" ceremony, Prez and the crew is attacked by a young Native American and his menagerie of forest creatures (and elephants, and gorillas, and giraffes, for some reason). The creatures demolish the construction equipment, then retreat. prez follows them, and has a long conversation with the young brave about Boss Smiley and his rampant courruption. He also learns to communicate with animals and some sort of animal kung fu, while he's at it.

Now determined to bring Boss Smiley down, Prez and Eagle Free break into Boss Smiley's offices and steal documents proving his corruption (why Boss Smiley keeps paperwork on his bribes and racketeering is anybody's guess). Now famous and beloved, Prez wins the next presidential election in a landslide (on a flower power ticket, no less). he then appoints Eagle Free head of the FBI, his mother as Vice President, and his sister as his personal secretary...

And all that happened in the first issue! Unfortunately, that was only one of 4, but that just makes it easier to collect! Seriously folks, you have to check this out, its totally nuts!

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 2 #9

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #9

Title: "Here There be Dragons"

Credits: Mike Grell (scripts) Ed Hannigan, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin (art)

Cover Date: October, 1988

Synopsis: Dinah and Ollie have spent a year in Seattle, and the place is starting to feel like home. ON the way back to their apartment, Dinah asks Ollie if he ever thinks about "her." He denies it, but the fact that he knew who she was talking about proves him a liar.

As Ollie lies in bed, he can't stop thinking about what he had to do to rescue Dinah the previous year, and that draws his thoughts back to the other person who was there: Shado.

We then cut to Shado, as she reports in to her Yakuza masters. She has killed everyone she was tasked with, except for one...the one that Ollie killed.

The "Oyibun" is not happy with Shado, for she has violated his orders by allowing another to kill one of her targets. First, he demands a demonstration of her abilities. She obliges, firing an arrow at her master's chest, which is stopped by a swinging pendant.

He then demands her prized jade ring...and the thumb that she wears it on. Unwilling to let his best student be ruined for petty reasons, the master holds off the Yakuza guards long enough for Shado to run away. She stops and looks back, witnessing the Oyibun execute her master. In response, she put an arrow through his skull, then leaves...

Thoughts: This was a surprisingly GA-lite issue. He appeared in only a few panels, with most of the action focusing on Shado and her dealings with the Japanese Mafia. Still a good issue, though, with Ollie haunted by the fact that he took a life, and Shado facing the consequences for letting him. Good stuff!

Ollie Watch: July 22nd, 2008

Ollie Watch: 7/22/2008




Green Arrow/Black Canary; Road to the Altar:

Follow Ollie and Dinah from proposal to wedding night and beyond in the first trade collecting Green Arrow/Black Canary issues!

If you've been wanting to catch up on the happenings in the GA/BC universe, here's a great place to start!

EDIT: I don't really like that cover, though. I looks like Canary really has to go to the bathroom or something.

Merchandising Arrow: Green Arrow Postcard

Green Arrow Postcard 2006

This amazing postcard was sent to the Arrowcave via the Aquaman Shrine and its proprietor Rob Kelly!

Published in 2006, the postcard features Jack Kirby art and a brief history of Green Arrow, including his first appearance and his 50's spots in Adventure Comics and World's Finest.

Recommendation Arrow: Strikeforce: Morituri

(Recommendation Arrow is an occasional feature we run here at the Arrowcave, where I will recommend older, more obscure series that I enjoy)

It is 2069, and Earth is in trouble. The human race has been conquered by the Horde, a race of interstellar scavengers who steal resources, slaves and technology from their victims, doing little if any work besides the conquering itself. Even their ships and weapons were stolen from other species. In fact, they have to keep moving from system to system because they have no idea how to maintain the technology they steal.

Fortunately (sort of) for Earth, the Horde do not conquer the humans in the traditional sense. Instead, they destroy Earth's military might, then conduct sporadic raids for supplies and slaves. This leaves most areas of Earth functional and able to operate normally.

Unfortunately, none of Earth's weapons have proven a match for the Horde. In desperation, the Padeia, Earth's ruling body, turns to a scientist named Dr. Tuolema and his Morituri Process. The experimental Morituri Process grants superhuman powers to those who undergo it, granting humanity a chance to strike back at the Horde.

Again, unfortunately, the Process is not without drawbacks. Only a small percentage of the population is compatible with the process, and only those between the ages of 18-21 have much chance of surviving. Secondly, and most disturbingly, the process has a 100% fatality rate, hence the name (Morituri, roughly translated from Latin: "About to Die"). Approximately one year after undergoing the process, the subject will reject the treatment and explode. Yes, explode.

Despite the obvious drawbacks, the terror and destruction inflicted by the Horde on the human race means that there is no shortage of volunteers. The comic itself follows the adventures of the second batch of recruits to the program (the first having died in a blaze of glory while killing the Horde commander of Earth). Don't get used to these guys, though. The volatile nature of the Process means the cast turnover is quite high. In fact, one of the point of view characters dies in the fourth issue. This might seem like a drawback for fans used to years and years of the same character, but the book makes you feel for these characters, who accepted certain death in exchange for a chance to save humanity.

The series ran for 31 issues, from '86 to '89. There was a follow up miniseries a couple years later called Electric Undertow.

As far as I know, these issues have never been collected anywhere, but they make for an excellent read, and can be found in discount bins everywhere.