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!

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.

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!

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 2 #8

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #8

Title: The Powderhorn Trail

Credits: Mike Grell (scripts) Paris Cullins, Gary Martin, Dick Giordano (art)

Cover Date: September, 1988

Synopsis: As Ollie arrives in Anchorage, he finally gets a chance to investigate the strange powder he found in Dinah's trunk. He tastes it and determines that its not coke, but he still has no idea what it might be.

Climbing back in the trunk, he hitches a ride to a chop shop, where the stolen cars are repainted (Dinah's gets painted yellow!). He sticks around long enough to trail one of the mechanics to a bar, where he captures him and takes him tp the police.

Larry, the mechanic, spills what he knows, which isn't much. Whatever the powder is, it is to be transported to "the meet-up" very soon. Ollie and the police figure out that there's a Tong connection to this mess. The car theft ring transports the goods, its the Tong who profit.

Ollie and the cops finally figure out how the meet-up will occur: namely that one of the sledders competing in the Iditarod is transporting the goods, and he'll meet up with his clients out on an isolated bit of Tundra.

Ollie, a customs officer, and the police ambush the meet-up, capturing everyone there. It turns out the strange powder at the center of the story is powdered rhinoceros horn, which fetches a pretty price in China.

With everyone under arrest, Ollie wonders what will happen to the sled dogs. There's no room for them in the chopper, so Ollie volunteers to take them back. MUSH!

Thoughts: From the surprise McGuffin to the site of Ollie running a dog sled team, there's a lot to get excited about. I like that for the most part, Ollie was using his brain here. He only fires a few arrows, mostly relying on his wit and deductive skills. That's a side of Ollie that I feel is important and often overlooked.

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 2 #7

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #7

Title: "The Lean Season"

Credits: Mike Grell (GA scripts) Ed Barreto (GA pencils) Dick Giordano (inks) Sharon Wright (BC scripts) Randy Du Burke (BC pencils
(This issue was a bit unusual in that normal artist Ed Hannigan was out with the flu, necessitating the Barreto fill-in. Additionally, the Black Canary portions of the issue were scripted and drawn by a different team, specified above)

Cover Date: August, 1988

Synopsis: Ollie stops to get Dinah's car washed at the local "Handee Wash." There, one of the employees accidentally busts in on her manager...making copies of all the keys his customers leave him. Later, Ollie gets a lead on some Tong drug activity, leading him to book a cruise to Alaska. Meanwhile, Dinah meets up with an old acquaintance, who happens to be the employee who burst in on her boss at the car wash earlier. She tells Dinah what she knows over lunch.

DInah decides to investigate, hiring a cab to follow the woman's boss. He ends up on a ferry to...Alaska! She returns home, only to find that her car has been stolen!

Later, Ollie is wandering the decks of the cruise ship when he comes across Dinah's car on the car deck. He suits up as Green Arrow, deciding to hide in the trunk and surprise the thief. As he's emptying out the spare tire, he finds several kilos of coke hidden in the trunk...

Thoughts: Not much actually happens in this issue. It serves more as a framing device for future story lines. I think the two writing/two artist teams worked out well and integrated smoothly, however.

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol.2 #6

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #6

Title: Gauntlet, part 2

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

Cover Date: July, 1988

Synopsis: Continuing from our last issue, Ollie prepares to give Colin a snack down in retaliation for he and his gang's attack. Colin convinces Ollie to back down, but only in exchange for ratting out the folks in charge of the new gang.

Meanwhile, the gang leader, Reggie, surprises his lieutenant, Kebo with a surprise inspection of their operations. Apparently their drug, prostitution, and protection rackets are going smoothly. As Reggie repairs to his room for some private time with his lady, he's confronted by an angry Green Arrow.

Ollie accuses him of arranging the recent rash of anti-gay hate crimes, but Reggie insists that while he's not an example of moral turpitude, he had nothing to do with those particular crimes.

Just then, Kebo and the rest of the gang bust in on them, but Ollie has an arrow pointed right at Reggie, so they quickly disarm. Ollie casually mentions to Kebo (and the gang) that he read up on a prisoner by the name of Keith Bowman, who was gang raped in prison. Kebo admits that he is Keith Bowman, but Reggie reminds Ollie that he has no standing with the gang, as he has not been initiated.

Ollie agrees to run "The Gauntlet," during which he will have to make ti through two lines of men armed with various clubs and knives. He manages to get through with only a few hits, a testament to years of super-heroics, not doubt. Since he has successfully run the gauntlet, Ollie is allowed to make his case.

He accuses Kebo of having the gay men murdered because of his experiences in prison. Kebo admits what he has done, claiming that since the "fags" abused him and gave him AIDS, in effect, killing him, that he's justified in taking a few of them out as well. He and Ollie get in a scuffle, Ollie wins, but Reggie ends of shooting Kebo. The kinds of crimes he's been arranging garner too much notice for a gang trying to fly under the cops' radar, so Kebo became a liability.

Later, Ollie tracks down Colin, who is still hanging out with the gang. He has nowhere to go, he says, and if he did try to leave, the gang would kill him. Distraught, Ollie leaves, but surreptitiously donates a large sum of money (presumably his reward from the bioweapons incident a few issues ago) to an urban youth center. The last panel depicts a man named Greg Osborne celebrating his discovery of the Green Arrow's whereabouts.

Thoughts: Well, this issue continues the hate crime storyline from last issue. Some commenters have felt that these kinds of stories are not appropriate for the comic medium, but I think that it fits perfectly with the "mature readers" line the DC was putting out. Now, whether the carefree urban crusader Green Arrow was the best choice to tell the story.... I don't know. Green Arrow was practically the only DC superhero with a social conscience at this point, so they didn't have too many people to choose from without creating a new character. All in all I like the slightly darker take. But then again, sitting here 20 years later, I know that the light hearted Ollie would make a comeback later on. At the time, I bet lots of GA fan felt their character had been derailed.

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 2 #5

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #5

Title: "Gauntlet"

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

Cover Date: June, 1988

Synopsis: A young gay couple comes into Sherwood Florist (Black Canary's flower shop) to purchase a rose to celebrate their 8th anniversary. Dinah congratulates them, and they leave for a walk in the park. Soon after, they're ambushed by wrench wielding assailant. One of them is killed, the other put in critical condition.

The cops, finding a receipt from the shop on one of the victims, arrive to ask Ollie and Dinah if they saw anything. Dinah takes one look at the photo and heads for the bathroom, while Ollie questions the cops to get a better read on the situation.

Apparently there's been a wave of gay bashing in the city, and the cops are hampered by an unwillingness of witnesses to talk. Some are scared, some are indifferent, and some feel that the victims deserve it.

Meanwhile, Dinah's assistant, Colin, tells her he can't work for her anymore. He's been forcibly recruited into a new gang, and they've put him through "The Gauntlet," injuring him severely. Dinah encourages him to go to the police, but Colin insists they can't help.

Ollie decides to go undercover and wanders out of a gay bar and into the park. As soon as he's out of sight of the street he's ambushed by a group of thugs. He fights them off, only to discover that one of them is none other than Colin, Dinah's assistant!

Thoughts: I'm still not entirely sure Green Arrow is the right guy for this venue, but the story sure is interesting. I suppose he has earned his social issue cred in his previous adventures with Green Lantern, so it would make sense for Ollie to be the one to investigate a string of hate crimes. I was dubious of Dinah's reaction to the crime scene photos at first, since she's a veteran crime fighter and has presumably seen worse, but it considering her recent experiences, it may have hit a little too close to home. Overall, I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 3 #4

Issue: Green Arrow vol. 2 #4

Title: "The Champions"

Credits: Mike Grell (scripts) Ed Hannigan (pencils) Dick Giordano (inks)

Cover Date: May, 1988

Synopsis: Continuing from our previous issue, Green Arrow arrives on San Juan Island in search of the pod containing the biological weapon. He meets up with Eddie Fyers, an ally from previous adventures, but this time on the opposing side. It turns out Ollie is working for the Russians, and Fyers for the Chinese. They discuss their ironic situation, then part ways in search of the weapon.

As Ollie is searching in the woods, he runs a foul of a booby trap set by Fyers. Wounded, he stumbles in a cabin owned by a local archaeologist. She patches him up (she spent some time in med school) but and Ollie takes the opportunity to activate the tracking device the Russians gave him. It beeps, immediately. Turns out the lady archaeologist found it earlier that day, and not knowing hat is was, brought it back for later study.

Just then, they're interrupted by a shot from Fyers. Ollie uses a trick arrow to disrupt Fyers night vision, allowing he and the lady to escape. Unfortunately, they're soon ambushed by Fyers, and then another agent hired by one of the rival powers. After a short fight, Fyers comes out on top, with Ollie falling down a crevasse and the rival agent falling down dead.

Ollie manages to survive, and sets off an explosive charge on the pod. Convinced the pod has been destroyed, Ollie and Fyers part ways. We later find out that GA had taken the payload out of the pod before running out of the cabin. Deciding that neither of the powers can be trusted with such a powerful weapon, Green Arrow uses some of the archeologist's acid to destroy the virus.

Thoughts: Well, there is a lot to like in this issue. The art is gorgeous, and the paper seems to have held up incredibly well over the past 20 years. Ollie displays a great deal of the cunning and guile we've come to expect from him. Of course, there's also a lot to dislike. There's very little archery, which is a problem in a Green Arrow book. The Russians hiring GA is a bit ridiculous, as Benton pointed out. After all, Ollie's only ever killed one person, in an extraordinary circumstance; its not like he's suddenly an expert in "wetwork." All in all, I'm glad I read it, plus this issue has the first letter column of the new series, and that's always neat. (I might have to scan it and send it over to Rick at Comic Book Letterheads)

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol. 2 #3

Issue: Green Arrow vol.2 #3

Title: The Champions

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

Cover Date: April, 1988

Overview: The issue opens with an attempted robbery on a bus. A certain beautiful, dark-haired lady slips out the window, circles around, and ambushes the perps as they exit the scene. One of them takes a swipe at her with a knife, she tells him to bring it on.

We then switch to Ollie practicing his archery with a toaster (don't ask) as a bedraggled Dinah Lance saunters into her flower shop. Even though she's beat all the hell, she feels great. Previously, she had been concerned that she would freeze in a fight (because of her recent brutal beating) but she handled the situation without even thinking about it. Her catharsis complete, she decides to take care of the other thing that's been on her mind, and she and Ollie move off to get biz-zay.

After the deed is done, Ollie decides to go on patrol. While out, he spots what looks like a mugging, but turns out to be an ambush. The assailants drag him off to the office of one "Mr. Joshua." Mr. Joshua tell GA that he needs help. An explosion occurred on the International Space Station (man, they were building that thing in back in the 80's too...). Certain...tactical research was occurring on the station at the time of the blast, and a pod containing the results has crash landed on an island off the coast of Washington. The pod contains a deadly bioweapon that is designed to attack specific DNA, only Mr. Joshua isn't sure what kind of DNA. It could wipe out the common cold, wheat, cows...or humanity. Mr. Joshua also reveals that the Chinese have sent an agent to get the pod, and he needs Ollie to get to it first. Ollie accepts, but only because he knows what might happen if the Chinese get a hold of a weapon that potent. Nervous about working for a foreign power (did I mention that Mr. Joshua doesn't work for the US government?) Ollie leaves for San Juan island, and adventure!

Note: The agent that the Chinese hire to find the weapon turns out to be Eddie Fyers (according to Mr. Joshua's file), who becomes a major supporting character to the Arrow Family.

Thoughts: This issue continues the grim and gritty theme that Grell started in Longbow Hunters continues in this issue. Mr. Joshua taps Ollie as his agent partly because of his training and willingness to kill. There are light moments, such as Black Canary's continued recovery and Ollie's adventures with the toaster, but the darker themes still prevail.

The highlight of the issue for me wasn't even part of the issue proper, it was in the back where the letters page would normally go. As the title was still new, there are no letters, but there is a kick ass publication and character history for Green Arrow, written by GA's current editor, Mike Gold. If you like Green Arrow and ever have a chance to pick up this issue, those few pages in the back are definitely worth the price of admission.

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol.2 #2

Credits: Mike Grell (cover, script) Ed Hannigan (pencils) Dick Giordano (color)

Cover Date: March, 1988

Synopsis: This issue picks up immediately after the last issue ended. GA is still trying to figure out how someone could survive an arrow to the chest, while Dinah comforts Dr. Green inside.
The police (and Ollie) rush to the Muncy mansion, determined to find evidence that the perp was indeed Al Muncy. Despite a tourhough search of the place, the cops find nothing. Muncy mocks both the police and Ollie, standing by and sipping beer straight out of the faucet (his family does own a brewery!).

The police conclude that the perp Ollie shot was likely a junkie looking for a fix and hoping that the Doc may have left something laying around. As much as Ollie and Lt. Cameron desperately want to nab Muncy, the evidence at the scene suggests it couldn't have been him (the footprint they found was from a larger, heavier man than Muncy).

Just then, GA has a flash of inspiration. Rushing back to the mansion, they find a partial suit of armor and a mocking note from Muncy. Green Arrow remembered the suit from earlier... when it had also included a chainmail shirt (explaining how Muncy could have survived the arrow AND why his footprints were those of a heavier man). They also find the secret passages and tunnels that the Muncy family used for bootlegging during Prohibition.

GA and Lt. Cameron down the villain...straight to Cameron's house. Muncy has Cameron's daughter and plans to kill both her and Cameron just to prove he can. Luckily, GA intervenes and puts an arrow through Muncy's wrist. Muncy manages to escape in a super sweet classic car back to his brewery. Again he mocks GA, telling him that there's another exit from the tunnel system and that he'll never find him. Muncy jumps into the elevator into the tunnels and flips the switch...and goes straight into a giant pool of beer. Earlier we'd seen GA open a valve, but were given no reason. Now we see he used it as a lethal (but probably delicious!) trap.

Thoughts: Well, Ollie kill another guy at the end of this issue, and doesn't seem to upset about it either. I can handle the grim Ollie who killed because he had to, but he seems to do it a bit too casually for my tastes in this issue. Lt. Cameron even gets on him about it, pointing out that if the perp from earlier hadn't been wearing armor, he would have been a dead man. If it turned out to be Muncy, no one would shed too many tears, but if it was some kid looking for a fix...well, Cameron promised trouble. I like that Dr. Green and Dinah spend some time talking about their mutual pain; Dinah seems to draw a great comfort from it.

I still enjoyed reading this issue. It was well written and paced, I'm just not sure of the characterization that Grell is using for GA at this point.

Spotlight:: Green Arrow vol.2 #1

In 1987, the comic book world shook with an unprecidented event: Green Arrow, after having existed for four decades, finally got his own series. This prestige format mini-series, Longbow Hunters, diverged radically from previous protrayls of the Emerald Archer. Rather than a social crusader in Star City who used goofy trick arrows, Ollie was now a grim, gritty Seattle resident who used your regular old arrow almost exclusively. Following that 3-issues series (which met with great critical and commercial success) DC gave the green light for an ongoing series written by Mike Grell and drawn by Ed Hannigan and Dick Giordano.

The first issue of the series starts off with Ollie foiling a mugging, then gets right into the grim part of the equation. Black Canary, who was brutally beaten and possibly raped (although DC editorials later said she wasn't) is having understandable intimacy issues with poor Ollie (who killed her attacker). The couple decides that they need to seek professional help, and do just that. Enter Dr. Annie Green, psychologist to our super-couple, and also the only witness to a 20 year old crime. At 10, Annie was brutalized by someone she identified as Al Muncy, heir to a brewery fortune and an accused serial killer. Mr. Muncy has been granted a re-trial after all these years, and now Annie Green is all that stands in his way...or does she. While Muncy is under house arrest, surrounded by dozens of policeman, someone hand delivers a package to Dr. Green's office; a package containing a piece of the dress she was wearing all those years ago. Later that night, Black Canary sits with the doctor while Ollie patrols outside. He spots a masked intruder, who runs off after Ollie sinks a shaft into his torso. GA finds the arrow on the ground, bent out of shape and with no blood on it... DUN DUN DUN.

That storyline concludes in the next issue, and you'll find out how it ended next week. As for my thoughts, I had a great time reading this book, although I must say that the new grim, gritty Ollie takes some getting used to.