Meanwhile... Mr. Fixit & Diabolu Frank welcome back the uncensored cuss words favored by Rolled Spine Podcast listeners as they discuss the "Berlantiverse" of DC television adaptations The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow. It's an ADHD ramble though, so the conversation jumps around to the announcement of #Rebirth, Alan Moore's legacy at the company, Jack Cole's Plastic Man, Snyder & Capullo Batman, the Dark Knight Returns sequels, Roy Harper Lee, Forever Evil, the DTV animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham, and in a real tangent, Deadpool, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the showdown between the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the FoXCU and the DC Extended Universe.
Previously in Justice
An Indian woman wrote her parents about the wonderful city run by a super-villain that she had run away to live in, and mentioned the differences between each villain's haven.
The seemingly triumphant Legion took to formal dress and toasted themselves in a building whose architecture recalled the Hall of Doom. The Atom was detected as a spy in their midst, and turned out not to be the only one, as armored heroes rushed the hall. Violence ensued. The Flash/Mercury used Plastic Man/Platinum to super-speed bind some villains. A Captain Marvel bound up in golden bandages (thought it was Metamorpho at first) and a Lead-plated Man of Steel clashed with Black Adam and Bizarro. Green Lantern paired off with Sinstro, and actually, most of the matches were entirely predictable.
The mind-controlled sidekicks of the main heroes were called in by the Legion as reenforcements, but were met outside the hall by the Doom Patrol. Robotman was torn to pieces by Mary Marvel, and Beast Boy fared little better against Kid Flash. Negative Man challenged Captain Marvel Junior as Elasti-Girl stood tall against Batgirl and the Teen Titans while wearing a mini-skirt. However, once Larry Trainor was forced to return his negative form to his corporeal body, Rita was overwhelmed by the Marvel Family. The Joker had managed to insert himself into the city, stole Robotman's severed head, and detonated bombs he'd planted all over town.
Platinum (Again? Spread thin?) and Gold pretended to cover Green Arrow and Black Canary, but that duo was secretly teleported into a sewer tunnel by Zatanna. Once there, they were attacked by Clayface (again,) who was contained by Green Arrow's "shadow," Elongated Man. Once the deception was detected, Gold and Platinum tangled with Parasite and Metallo, 'Tina ending up worse for wear. Superman knocked Toyman about while keeping a choke hold on Bizarro, but then Lead taunted Solomon Grundy and Kal-El took the brunt of the resultant punishment.
Green Arrow insisted that Black Canary save her sonic powers for a planned moment of truth, but once the pair located the supporting cast hostages, Ollie was left to deal with the possessed Supergirl. Dinah argued against Ollie firing a kryptonite arrow at the Maid of Might, a discussion super-hearing easily allowed Kara to act upon. Supergirl dodged the arrow, which struck John Stewart in the chest. As it turned out, all went according to plan, since the arrow actually had a power ring on its tip. Green Lantern declared "You're not killing any super-heroes today, Supergirl. You're going to help us save the world. Just like always.
"Chapter Ten" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.
Continue the story through these character-specific posts:
Superman was being held down by Solomon Grundy, while Metallo killed the Man of Steel slowly with radiation from his kryptonite heart. Bizarro and Parasite looked on, until lightning crossed the skies, and an unseen force began to attack the villains.
In no time, the Power of Shazam was at Superman's disposal. Captain Marvel had answered Kal-El's distress signal, and now offered a helping hand. Superman was too sick to hold himself up, and Bizarro had recovered, so the Big Red Cheese flew them both to safety. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor teleported to the scene to save Parasite from the kryptonite (he'd absorbed Superman's weaknesses with his strengths) that he replaced in Metallo's chest cavity. Bizarro rejoined the motley crew.
Dinah Lance walked into her bedroom to find her lover Oliver Queen buried under a fleshy mass, and with green arrows seemingly buried in his head. Whether this was from the Scarecrow's nightmare gases or Clayface's shifting form, an ear-splitting Canary Cry shook the facade loose. Ollie Queen yet lived, and shoved the sparking end of a busted lamp into Clayface's electrocuted hide.The villains fled, and a tearful Black Canary held her shaken man. Dinah wondered why her cry hadn't hurt Ollie, until he removed his earplugs. You see, Clayface had turned himself into a blond Dinah to trick Queen before the attack, not realizing Lance was naturally a brunette. Ollie figured he might be needing more than one form of protection, if his Pretty Bird was indulging in amorous role-play...
Green Lantern Hal Jordan had been forced through a Boom Tube by Sinestro and left in a starless, uncharted area of space. His power ring couldn't get him back home, so he asked it "How much longer before your charge runs out and I die?"
Superman guided Captain Marvel to the Batcave. None of the active Leaguers were answering his calls, so some reservists like the Captain had been notified. The Dark Knight was angry that Superman had compromised him, but Marvel assured, "I would never tell anyone about this place. Which is really cool, by the way." Marvel thought it might help to transform back into his normal self of kid reporter Billy Batson, but Batman just complained about the noise and magic lightning bouncing around his headquarters, not to mention questioning the kid's experience with "crime and loss." Billy politely blew off the Caped Crusader's ignorance, while Superman cold decked his friend. The Man of Steel was too weak for it to be a killing blow, but he gave it all he had, since Batman had palmed some kryptonite. X-ray Vision revealed that Batman was full of mind-controlling mechanical worms, and Superman soon realized he was similarly compromised. Alfred Pennyworth was too, as he covered Billy's mouth with one hand and threatened to slice the boy's throat with the Batarang in the other.
Lex Luthor cast black marbles into a body of water, and from out of it emerged ebony spheres the size of cities. This was Braniac's doing, and though one super-villain would inevitably betray the other, for now everything was going according to mutual plans.
Billy's heel slammed hard into Alfred's foot as he broke loose of the butler's grip. Superman pegged the manservant in the brow with a flung coffee cup, while with one magic word, Captain Marvel was restored. Alfred and the Batman were tied up. Next, Superman asked Marvel to throw him into the sun, in order to burn out the worms...
The powers of the gods allowed Captain Marvel to try to talk Superman out of the prescribed course of action while traveling through the vacuum of space. Wordlessly, the Man of Steel made it clear he was more afraid of his infestation making him the man who killed Captain Marvel than vice versa, so the Big Red Cheese threw Superman into the sun.
Hal Jordan was mildly amused to finally encounter a portion of space(?) the Guardians of the Universe knew nothing about, but not too much under the circumstances. His power ring only had seven hours worth of charge remaining, and he was potentially lost forever. Green Lantern decided to convert himself into electronic impulses stored within his ring, perhaps indefinitely.
"This involvement of Captain Marvel was unforeseen," noted Brainiac to Lex Luthor and Grodd. The Super-Gorilla seemed the most irritated by the party crasher, and was given permission to send the pseudo-prophetic nightmare shared by the Legion of Doom to Black Adam in order to increase their numbers.
Ablaze with solar energy, the Man of Tomorrow was restored. On learning that Superman had rid himself of a worm-like bodily invader, Captain Marvel offered Mr. Mind as a suspect. Just as the pair were reaching the JLA Satellite, it exploded in front of them. Captain Marvel asked if Superman detected any trace of Red Tornado in the debris...
John Stewart told Zatanna when he arrived at Ferris Aircraft Company, and asked that she thank Elongated Man for calling him in. On the property, Stewart met with Hal Jordan's sometimes girlfriend Carol Ferris and sidekick Tom Kalmaku. Stewart was searching for Hal, but the best idea "Pieface" could offer was pointing to the sky. "Thanks. That narrows it down."
Hal Jordan knew that it was Sinestro who had "killed" him via Boom Tube, but tried to move on with his everlasting illusion of life. Simulations of Coast City and its residents were constructed, but they were hollow things, and Green Lantern wondered how long he would wait before allowing space to take him...
An emaciated Flash continued to run across the globe, surely doomed to die from exhaustion...
Brainiac was aware Aquaman's body had been found, but it served its purpose of distracting the League, since Lex Luthor had failed to assassinate the super friends. Of course, Brainiac himself hadn't found in the Sea King's brain what he was looking for, so it was up to Gorilla Grodd to initiate a new phase in the trio's plans. Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman, Jean Loring, Carol Ferris, Steve Trevor, John Stewart, Dick Grayson, Wally West... all targeted...
Once again, the Wisdom of Solomon trumped any thoughts in Superman's head. Captain Marvel flew as close to the wayward Flash as he could, and with one magic word, magical lightning shook the Scarlet Speedster out of his uncontrollable race toward death. Superman caught Billy Batson before any harm could come to him, then gave him space for the power of Shazam to restore Captain Marvel. Getting thrown into the sun had burnt up the Man of Steel's wallet, so Earth's Mightiest Mortal came to the rescue again, offering his only ten bucks to feed the Flash at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Hal Jordan was already feeling like death in a self-centered world of his own making. However, his power ring refused to restore his physical form for such an end. "Your essence has been converted into an electrical impulse that has been stored within the ring... You will now live forever. Alone."
In Shazam's lair within an abandoned subway tunnel, Black Adam covered Mary's mouth, and threatened to kill her if Freddy said a word...
Superman arrived at his Fortress of Solitude, greeted by fellow heroes awaiting him...
In an Arabian desert, the Flash broke up Captain Cold's mini-harem. "You tried to kill me. And that means you tried to kill everyone I hope to save until the day I die. That's a lot of people." Cold should have pointed out that if he had succeeded, the Scarlet Speedster still would have saved everybody he saved until the day he died, but since he didn't die, he might ought to consider swapping a chemistry class for some remedial English. Instead, Cold drew a replica pistol made of ice, which Flash totally fell for, so maybe he needed another police detective class, too. Captain Cold froze up a hall of mirrors, and when that didn't work, created sculptured duplicates of himself. Failing yet again, Captain Cold was run to the Fortress of Solitude.
Still trapped in his power ring, Hal Jordan argued with simulations of his brothers about the benefits of lacking fear, and where his adventuring ways landed him.
Batman, having interrogated Captain Cold, learned all about the prophetic nightmares that motivated the villains to action. Black Canary wondered if the Legion of Doom thought they were doing the right thing, but Batman explained that the villains wouldn't have tried to turn the situation to their advantage to lord over potential survivors if their hearts were truly in the right place.
Supergirl, Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon were all captured by Legion forces.
Hal Jordan had regressed to childhood, which is why he wished to heed the command of his parents not to talk to the Stranger who had paid him a visit. "So there you are, Hal. I've been looking everywhere for you." The Phantom Stranger then helped Hal with some self-realization psychobabble about not trying to remake the real world in his image/with great power comes great moderation/how the League helps Hal check his head/yadda yadda. The important thing was the the Stranger brought a power battery and a direction home, so Green Lantern could try to look cool saying his oath in a painted splash page.
All the heroes were together at the Fortress of Solitude, except John Stewart, who got himself kidnapped by the mind-controlled kid sidekicks of other heroes (mostly the Teen Titans and the Marvel Family.)
"Justice, Vol. 2," collecting issues #5-8 of the 2005 mini-series, was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.
The world was ending, and Superman could do little more than watch as Wonder Woman died. A tearful Flash failed his city, and Martian Manhunter was already gone. Green Lantern Hal Jordan was more effective, almost saving hundreds, before a lapse in attention saw them all to their ends. Hawkman and Hawkgirl passed. Aquaman saw the oceans boil away. Green Arrow fired an arrow line from a burning rooftop to another building in hopes of saving Black Canary and others. As the arrow struck, the whole building collapsed, stranding hard traveled heroes on a doomed plain. Batman was among the last remaining as the Earth exploded.
The Legion of Doom found "It's time to wake up. They are all having the same dream. Over and over again. Every one of them. All so humanity will survive these creatures of tomorrow." The Justice League of America would fail us in this predicted future, it seemed, so it was up to the super-villains to save the world. For starters, Captain Cold would bring ice to the desert, while Black Manta handed a fallen Aquaman to Lex Luthor...
Batman pursued the Riddler, who had successfully hacked the Batcomputer and downloaded sensitive information related to the JLA's identities and abilities.
Red Tornado sought the missing Aquaman by proxy, alerting Batman, Superman and Martian Manhunter to be on the lookout.
Plastic Man endorsed his own themed credit card in his off time.
Potions administered by Dr. Jonathan Crane (The Scarecrow) allowed the infirm to walk again.
Red Tornado followed the global news media love for the newly found charitability of super-villains.
The Flash took a jogging trip through the Middle East, and discovered his old foe Captain Cold had helped turn desert to forest with Poison Ivy.
The Riddler was captured and deposited at Arkham Asylum, where the Joker pleaded upon deaf ears to be included in Nigma's grander scheme.
Aquaman found himself strapped to an operating room table, about to have his mind dissected by Brainiac.
Aquaman remained Brainiac's captive, as he was teased with psychological trauma on an operating room table.
Martian Manhunter searched for his friend Aquaman in the ocean, and uncovered the Legion of Doom's black dome.
Gorilla Grodd telepathically surveyed all, but targeted the Manhunter.
The Toyman supplied artificial limbs to disabled children in war torn countries.
Conservative commentator Jack Ryder considered on television the benefits of the super-villains' change of heart. Ray Palmer was watching, as were Ollie Queen, Billy Batson, Clark Kent, the Metal Men, the Doom Patrol and more.
Edward Nigma escaped Arkham Asylum with help from the visiting Lex Luthor. The Joker demanded inclusion in their Legion of Doom, but was ignored and left behind in his cell.
Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado were assaulted and seemingly left for isolated deaths. Gorilla Grodd released the alter egos of Earth's heroes to the Legion of Doom.
Lex Luthor, Poison Ivy, Black Manta and the Riddler, all in civilian garb, announced through holographic projectors in a host of languages that they were essentially taking over the planet for its own good. They also condemned the half-measures of Earth’s former heroes, who they claimed had abandoned their charges. Instead, the Legion of Doom had launched attacks of the super friends in their secret identities.
Bizarro burst through the ceiling of Clark Kent's apartment, and pulled Superman out to fight in the steets of Metropolis.
Hal Jordan was looking in his locker at Ferris Aircraft when Sinestro showed up to shove Green Lantern into another plane of existence.
The impossibly cut abs of the brunette Dinah Lance didn't save her stomach from doing cartwheels when the Scarecrow's gas caused her to see insects crawling about her apartment. A blond wig clued Ollie Queen that he was in for a serious night of sexing with Black Canary, until this version of a barely dressed Dinah began to melt and ooze all over him.
Bizarro was bad enough, but then Solomon Grundy began contributing to the blows striking Superman. Brought to his knees, the Man of Steel was held fast, and began to be drained of life force and powers by the Parasite. Metallo's kryptonite heart further compromised Kal-El's health as he called out for help.
Barry Allen was on a date with Iris West at a nice restaurant when a JLA alert forced the Flash to his feet...
"Justice, Vol. 1," collecting the first four issues of the 2005 mini-series, was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.
Guy Gardner had been fighting with Hal Jordan over who would serve as Green Lantern of Earth. When he lost, Guy spent a mini-series looking for a new source of power to continue being a super-hero, which ended up being the yellow Qwardian power ring stolen off the corpse of Sinestro. After a little over a year in his own series, Guy learned that the Green Lantern Corp had been destroyed by a Hal Jordan driven mad by the destruction of Coast City. Gardner led a team of powerful heroes against Hal, but the unit failed. Gardner's power ring was destroyed, and after another quest, Guy Gardner gained the ability to turn his body into a shifting variety of weapons thanks to an unknown alien Vuldarian heritage, and took on the codename Warrior. This attracted the Tormocks, who had been enemies of the Vuldarians before they had been wiped out, and now sought their last living representative.
Meanwhile, the greatest heroes of the DC Universe were brought together by Ganthet the Guardian to assist the last remaining Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner. Hal Jordan, now calling himself Parallax, wanted Rayner's ring for his collection...
I thought folks might like to give these podcast episodes a listen, which you can download here. I was fairly fit to burst with comments, so I'll take advantage of promoting the podcast and run them below.
Green Lantern #63 (Begins at 8:11)
I’m not sure if I ever actually read “Parallax View”… I may have just thumbed through it. I never committed to Ron Marz’s Green Lantern run, but guest stars and events kept me coming back so often, I probably ended up with a quarter or more of it in my longboxes. Most of it was alright, but this one always struck me as pure stunt-- all sizzle and not a bite of steak. Also, in 1995 I was not following books for Martian Manhunter, but was most certainly doing so for Wonder Woman. Alas, no Diana, no dice.
I like how each of the Green Lanterns had their own personal types of ring constructs. Alan Scott seemed to favor Arthurian imagery and flames. John Stewart’s intricate designs were my favorite, but Kyle Rayner’s pop culture/anime stuff was cute. Guy Garner’s should have been more violent and over the top, like something from Looney Tunes mixed with Rambo, which is sort of how he manifested during his Warrior days. Hal Boredan always had the most low-to-middlebrow constructs, which suits him, but it’s also one of many reasons I can’t stand the dude.
Following Zero Hour, Oliver Queen shaved off his goatee, and occasionally wore the same type of suit most associated with his son Connor Hawke. He was still alive in the summer of 1995, as he wouldn’t perish until the following year’s Green Arrow #100-101. Like two peas in a douchebag, I have about as much regard for Ollie as I do Hal. I could see him stiffing a waitress on a tip over some trumped up grounds, but that would have nothing to do with his being a liberal. If anything, evidence would suggest a liberal would be a better tipper, even if you subscribe to the notion of their being elitists looking to “take care” of the “lower classes.” Tightwad conservatives, bootstrap Randians, and faux-Christians who can’t imagine tipping more than they tithe are far more likely to stiff the service industry.
Black Canary was a brunette who wore a blond wig as a disguise until the first Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey special in 1996. There was always fan confusion on the matter, so DC finally gave up and had Dinah start dying her hair instead.
Click To Enlarge 1994 Zero Arrow Green Arrow redesign style guide turnaround by Mike Norton & Scott Hanna
I read X-Men comics throughout the ‘80s, and even when I dropped the actual books in the early ‘90s, I still followed the ersatz versions in the Avengers, New Titans and Justice League lines. The League was the least suited to ape the mutants, since they were still straightforward super-heroes working with the U.N., and their interpersonal dynamics were never familial/unified by minority. Thanks to all the Post-Crisis reboots and the bias against the comedy in JLI, only the dregs of DC Comics were made available across three team books, and DC has never been as egalitarian as Marvel to boot. Evidence of DC’s contempt for Wonder Woman includes her being forced to lead J.L.A. teams that included Nuklon, Obsidian, Crimson Fox, Metamorpho, de-powered Fire, Icemaiden, Agent Liberty, Black Condor, Maxima, de-powered/Liefeld-armored Booster Gold, Blue Devil, El Diablo, and the Yazz as members. I don’t miss any of those series, but the last year and a half of Justice League Task Force under Christopher Priest are very good reading involving some seriously underwhelming characters legitimized by the book’s overall quality. Bucking the contemporary trends, the Neal Adams/John Buscema influence seen in artists Sal Velluto and Ramon Bernardo holds up better two decades on than the Image wannabes.
I was a fan of the Giffen/DeMatteis JLI, but I didn’t bother with Jurgens’ awful continuation until years after initial publication. As a Wonder Woman fan, I decided to use the #0 issue to jump back on Justice League America in 1994, and suffered through a year of miserable crap that mostly continued/wrapped storylines from the deservedly cancelled Justice League Europe from which the “new” creative team had come. The book finally began to improve after the “Way of the Warrior” crossover, to the point that I was almost sorry to see it go in 1996. Those Flicker appearances bugged me, because he was never properly introduced in J.L.A., under the assumption that he’d be familiar to Green Lantern readers and the rest of us could go screw.
Guy Gardner: Warrior #32 (Begins at 45:33)
I jumped on Guy Gardener with #20, totally dug it through #25, bought all the back issues, and watched its steady decline from there. Decent crossovers and surprisingly great fill-in artists buoyed the book for a while, but in retrospect "The Way of the Warrior" was when the wheels fell off. The plot was a stupid disjointed mess, and after this issue, the art and storytelling on the flagship book of the event was the worst of the lot. After Chuck Dixon and Beau Smith had spent over a year turning Guy into a respectable hero, it seemed like this one violent temper tantrum was throwing all that effort into the trash. I was cool with the new costume and tats so long as Mitch Byrd was drawing them, but nobody else made it work for me. Smith had a terrible habit in these issues of having every damned character tell the readers fawningly how much more powerful Guy was and how much he had changed. The hard sell was sickening, like everyone was breaking character mid-show to sell Marlboros or Ovaltine. Hawkman did a nice job announcing his primary role in the crossover by ordering Extreme Justice and the JLTF to fall in and prepare for war.
There have never been a lot of female artists in comics, and especially in 1995, the ones who were had "girlie" styles that weren't in step with the times. For a while, Joyce Chin was the only woman who could hang in the Chromium Age. She wasn't at 100% by this point, but I liked her work, and watched it improve through another project with Beau Smith, Wynonna Earp. Most of this issue is kind of rough, with a few exceptionally bad panels, but there were others where Chin strutted. Wonder Woman, Tigerman and Arisia came out best. Chin's married to Arthur Adams, by the way.
I hate it when Christ imagery is used in relation to Superman. He was created by Jews as a diaspora allegory with an origin story cribbed from Moses who continues to act more like the Zionist conception of a messiah than the Christian one. The most Christlike DC icon should be Wonder Woman, created by gentiles espousing a universal approach to redemption in line with the school of Hillel. Even her predilection for BDSM recalls the Passion. Luke’s description of her compassion and “bountiful love” is spot on, so when she runs around stabbing people and choking them with her lasso, it might as well be a cat o’ nine tails. I liked Guy Gardner in JLI, but I became for a time a devoted fan of the character after his thoughtful interaction with Wonder Woman in Warrior #20. I came for the Amazing Amazon’s guest appearance, and stayed because Beau Smith impressed the hell out of me with that moment. It’s a shame he never wrote the character in her own book, as his handling was better than most of the folks who did.
Justice League America #101 (Begins at 1:14:45)
I knew that I no longer my Hawkman collection, but I thought for sure J.L.A. was still somewhere around the house. So much for certainty. They're gone too. When I read these comics (OMFG) EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, I didn't realize that Obsidian was supposed to be gay. I just thought he was suicidally depressed and annoyingly needy.
I met Chuck Wojtkiewicz at the 2000 San Diego Comi-Con. If I recall correctly, he pronounced his name “Voight-kev-itch.” It took me a long while to warm to his work, but by the end of his run I was really into his expressive figures and voluptuous ladies. I inquired about buying some of his art, including pages from a rejected New Gods proposal. He was asking $200-250 at a time when I’d been spoiled by $40-100 pages by bigger names in the early days of eBay. Good stuff though. Like a lot of guys after the bust, he moved on to animation, and then into video games (including design work on the DCU MMORPG.)
Hawkman #22 (Begins at 1:24:23)
It’s funny when Luke characterizes the Hawkman/Guy Gardner team-up as true “warriors.” Katar Hol’s more reluctant, contemplative soldier/policeman seemed to match that more than the zealous bloodletting of the avatar/Hawkgod version. Meanwhile, Guy always seemed puffed up playing as a tough guy, even though he was just a gym teacher, unlike his hero cop brother. See also the subdued attitude of the ex-marine sniper John Stewart versus the swagger of the civvie Guy. I guess “Weekend Warrior” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
At the time, it drove me nuts that Wonder Woman was featured so prominently on covers for this crossover, and in a book written by William Messner-Loebs, but did not join in with her own title. In retrospect, this took place during the writer’s final arc on the title, so there was no room for her to get involved. Mike Deodato Jr. was leaving with #100, and I believe Messner-Loebs was pushed off the title after three years to make room for John Byrne. Diana’s little known stint as a back-up dancer for C+C Music Factory was her sad stab at Doomsday/Knightfall infamy, and if you think it looked bad in black, you should have seen Brian Bolland’s garishly colored original design (I think I remember a red or pink Exposé mini-jacket.) Both the redesign and the arrival of Artemis were a commentary on/satire of the Chromium Age, as best as I can tell. Then again, Messner-Loebs joined Ed Benes for an Artemis mini-series, so maybe it was an example of totally selling out. Both Guy Gardner and Diana were on that series of crappy holofoil silhouette 100th issue covers within months of one another. Messner-Loebs was off Hawkman just a few months later, then he took over Thor from Warren Ellis for his last good run in the comics industry.
The Emerald Archer is former millionaire, now crusading newswriter, Oliver Queen. He possesses a quiver filled with specially designed arrows-- created for every conceivable occasion.
Mortimer Weisinger was the Rob Liefeld of the 1940s. A bullying, abusive editor, Mort had a hand in the creations of the Sub-Mariner knock-off Aquaman, the Flash riff Johnny Quick, the Superman swipe Martian Manhunter, and the ersatz Marvel Family formed around Superman. When Errol Flynn was box office gold as Robin Hood, the comics filled up with archers. Mort's contribution was Green Arrow, around the time the film adaptation of the book The Green Archer was in cinemas. Mort's "innovation" was marrying the movie to a naked lift of Batman and Robin, simply trading bats for bows. Green Arrow and Speedy followed an arrow signal in their Arrowcar or Arrowplane to swing into battle against a Jokeresque foe called Bull's Eye. When other heroes folded tents with their companies in the late '40s bust years, Green Arrow just kept on trucking at DC as a mediocre also ran (although Jack Kirby had a regarded run in the 1950s.) When Batman wasn't allowed to play with the Justice League of America in its early days, Julie Schwartz just got Green Arrow.
Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams revamped the character in the late '60s and early '70s. That's where I was first introduced to Oliver Queen as a left wing ladies man with a rockin' Van Dyke and a turtleneck. Basically, everything I wanted to be when I grew up. I loved his devil may care attitude and groovy choice of weapon. Turning Speedy into a recovering heroin addict was a bold move, and the art was so dang pretty. I wanted more, so I bought a Brave and the Bold team-up involving the Penguin, and ended up hating the art and the story. As the '80s progressed, Green Arrow became a direct sales only, mature readers series. Since I was still buying off the newsstand, that meant my awareness of the character was dependent on house ads with sweet Mike Grell art.
Finally, in the early '90s, I started catching up on the Emerald Archer through back issues and reprints. I had no idea how stupid, simplistic and shrill those old O'Neil/Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow were when read as a collection in a modern light. Grell's The Longbow Hunters was mean-spirited, and seemed like a watered down version of Jon Sable with some stupid Eastern elements tossed in. Worse, it was at this point Queen quit using his Batman-style trick arrows. That meant he was running around like a hoodie ninja shooting people with regular arrows. It's one thing to continue employing a World War II era fad as your m.o., since comics are forgiving like that. However, a grim and gritty "realistic" series about an archer in the age of the Punisher? Even if I could suspend my disbelief over his continued survival, that wouldn't make it interesting, no matter how many C.I.A. conspiracies you try to drag into it.
By the mid-90s, Oliver Queen was a wimp in a drab book few people read who had been divorced from the DCU for years. DC jazzed things up using the Knightfall method: develop a supporting character, then ditch the original hero and push the successor model. It got me to jump back on the book, and I found I vastly preferred Ollie's illegitimate son Connor Hawke to Queen. Actually, I preferred Speedy, ex-girlfriend Black Canary, and Marvel's Hawkeye by that point. I followed Connor's book until the end, when it was cancelled to make way for Kevin Smith's planned revival of Ollie. That took a few years to materialize, and while it gave Green Arrow his most relevant comic run ever within the industry, I resented this over the hill douche for spearheading DC's great whitewashing of the '00s.
Aside from getting a kick out of Mike Barr and Trevor Von Eeden's early '80s mini-series, I've found Green Arrow to be one of the most irritating and frustrating characters that I've had the misfortune to read. However, there may be some small redemption. When the producers of Smallville couldn't get the rights to feature Batman on the show, they used Green Arrow in his original role as an obvious proxy. A quasi-spin-off show is upcoming, which will only emphasize the Dark Knight over the Emerald Archer. It's a tired posture in comics, but still better than the self-righteous sleazy hypocrite he's been for decades...
In 2009 or so, the comics department of the popular video game website IGN.com put together a list of their Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time, and have finally followed up with the vastly less well considered Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time. There is much here to mock and debate (in that order,) so I'll have to do it on an installment plan. Watch the video if you like, but expect a poverty of speech content...
40) Reed Richards
Question: Why isn't he listed as "Mr. Fantastic?" That's his nom du s'étirer. Superman isn't going to be listed as Clark Kent. Did Reed have a stint in the X-Men or something?
Question: Have you or anyone you have ever known of held Reed Richards up as their favorite super-hero? I've known some Elongated Man fans, and there's a deep love for Plastic Man, but Reed Richards? Sure he's the official genius of the Marvel Universe, but the guy was never been lead feature in Strange Tales, he's never had a solo series to fail in, and as soon as he gets a fill-in stint on the Avengers, the fans start counting the days to his departure. He's Dad-Man. Worse, he married a girl decades his junior and can get a bit creepy sometimes, so his lack of a libido and perm are the only things keeping him out of Terry Long territory.
39) Cyclops
God, this list is so lazy. Take the two unappealing guys who lead prominent super-teams, figure out which one is "best" (A: Not Cyclops,) and dump them as a couple into the next available slot. At least there is an actual fan base for Scott Summers' sleazy soap opera life, even as he continues his glacial pace toward outright villain status.
38) Dr. Strange
The Master of the Mystic Arts is one of the Marvel characters that can't seem to be ruined for me, no matter how hard they try. I think he's got one of the finest origin stories, and he'll always have cache with writers. However, I think the general public lost interest in the character as their consumption of psychadelia declined. He's another hero who should probably hover well into the back half.
37) The Crow
Say what you will, but "killer mime" makes for a great visual. The comics were racist, dumb, and nauseatingly pretentious. The films are good soundtracks that proved goth friendly enough to inspire allegiance, even if they are just Charles Bronson revenge fests in drag. With a television series and four feature films (a fifth on the way,) I'd say the Crow is actually too low on this list.
36) Spawn
Why, if it isn't another ultra-violent creator owned character resurrected from the dead and placed on a trail of weepy "poor me" vengeance in service to broad multi-media penetration. I swear, this is a top 50 list puffed-up with +1s. Once again, Spawn is probably too low on this list, considering he had the top book in the industry for a number of years, and still holds the record for best-selling indie. His toy line kept the speculation industry alive for a while after they burned through sports cards and comics, plus there's the film and cartoon series. Finally, like the Crow, there are an awful lot of fan tattoos out there, and that means something (besides shaking your head and stifling a chuckle.)
35) Judge Dredd
Oh dang, they went for the triple. Actually, Dredd is the icon of corporate-owned comics in the U.K., and his strips have a sense of humor to go with their outrageous bloodshed. His flagship book broke the 1,000 mark ahead of Superman, and Dredd remains a solid parody of the fascistic leanings of U.S. entertainment.
34) Jesse Custer
Sigh. I've said this many times, but I'll give it another go: Preacher was True Romance as a comic book, and True Romance was a lesser Tarantino work to begin with. It was simply a diluted, deluded continuation of the stuff Ennis and Dillin had done better on Hellblazer. Plus, the ending didn't have half the balls of Ostrander and Mandrake's The Spectre, which wrapped in truly sacrilegious fashion within a year or so of Preacher. I don't see it ever translating to the screen, and it would be too late besides. It's been so long since this book mattered, I expect it will eventually fade into one of those series you have to explain to a younger generation, like Howard the Duck.
33) Nick Fury
There was an article in Amazing Heroes decades ago about comic book properties that should never be adapted. It was pointed out that if you want to do Nick Fury, just create something like Jake Anger, Agent of B.O.S.S. and save the licensing fees. I grew up on Steranko Fury, so I have a definite affection for the character, and he's proven useful as the lynchpin of the Marvel movies (although I really prefer Agent Coulson at this point, especially after Thor.) Still, go to the back fifty, goldbricker!
32) Tim Drake (Robin)
Dick Grayson will always be my Robin, and I felt like he was thrown under the bus by Chuck Dixon to make Tim Drake look good, but I can't hold that against Tim. For a generation, Drake was Robin, and I'm sure those fans are just waiting for the Damian Wayne thread to play itself out to get their guy back. He's a good kid, and the best of the Robins to date.
31) Deadpool
Against my better judgment, I was excited about the Merc With A Mouth when he first appeared in New Mutants, but he was eventually revealed to be Spider-Man by way of Deathstroke the Terminator. The more derivative and ridiculous he became, the more folks liked him. Now, he's Marvel's Lobo, and I'm anticipating his eventual burnout.
30) Green Arrow
Thanks to great artists and a swashbuckling vibe, I thought Green Arrow was cool as a kid. As I got older, I recognized how irritating his kneejerk liberalism was, only compounded by his joining the Big Chill gang as a midlife conservative. His most successful series mistook plodding and mundane for "mature," so I found myself vastly preferring his boys Roy and Connor. Still, Ollie Queen has put in the years as a Golden Age veteran, he was one of the first political heroes (however shrill,) and he seems to have gained his broadest audience yet through Smallville by going back to his origins as a poor man's Batman.
29) John Constantine
Either the last great Bronze Age character, or the first Modern Age one. Who would have ever predicted Hellblazer would end up as not only the grand dame of Vertigo, but one of the few series to have held up its numbering through to the present? Constantine is the quintessential London cool that defined the cliche.
28) Swamp Thing
Argh! Again? In whose book did John Constantine debut and spend the early years of his career before they both moved to Vertigo before they were both reintegrated into the DCU? Swamp Thing hasn't had Hellblazer's longevity, but he managed to hit the triple digits on his longest lasting title. Swamp Thing was an early example of a book driven largely by its creators (Bernie Wrightson's art in the early days, Alan Moore's writing in the sweet spot) as opposed to the character. That said, it's tough to argue with two films, a cartoon, a toy line and a TV series (R.I.P. Dick Durock,) no matter how relatively minor they might have been (a box office bomb, a five-episode retroactive "mini-series," a single assortment, and three seasons on the dregs of basic cable.) Swamp Thing at least has a cult following outside comics and high esteem within.
27) Punisher
While owing Mack Bolan an enormous debt and still playing the same single note after all these years, the Punisher is still the ultimate vigilante icon of the super-hero set. The simple costume is still among the finest, and Frank Castle has crossed over to just about every media you can think of (no matter how embarrassingly incompetent those appearances may have been.)
26) Rick Grimes
One of the major problems with a list like this is their trying to spotlight "character actors" in ensemble pieces and stack them against proven performers that can carry their own weight. On the TV show, Grimes is very much the action hero saving the day, but in the comics he's more of an everyman whose life and humanity have been stripped away piece by piece. Not only do I think The Walking Dead could get by without Rick, but I honestly think he's outlived his usefulness, becoming a bit of a drag on the series. At the end of the day, Rick is just a survivor in a zombie feature, whereas Groo and Usagi Yojimbo have proven themselves stars for decades while they chart in the '90s.
25) Hellboy
Another character I've never been able to get into, as I find his personality flat, equating him to Ben Grimm the Vampire Slayer. Regardless, he's become the central figure in one of Dark Horse's few franchises, the star of two films, and some DTV animation.
24) Yorick Brown
People love Y, the Last Man like they did Preacher, and all I have to say to that is that it all comes down to monkey poop.
23) Raphael
Truly the crown prize winner of stupidity with regards to this list. Leonardo was the leader, Donatello was the brains, Michelangelo was the dude, and Raphael was virtually indistinguishable from any of them beyond most directly aping Frank Miller. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been outrageously popular for decades, but only as a unit.
22) Professor X
A highly recognizable and majorly important figure from the X-Men franchise, but does anybody actually like him very much? He's a downright villainous manipulative jerk in comics, and he's the guy who gets knocked out in the first or second act in most stories outside comics. Isn't he more of a supporting character or story device than an actual "hero?"
21) The Spirit
I assume that a pedantic IGN staff member insisted that Denny Colt was too important to be overlooked, or these guys really loved the Frank Miller movie, but they didn't seem to get what a can of worms he opens. The Spirit was a newspaper strip, which opens the door for Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, the Phantom, and countless other strip features with far broader reach and significance than most comic book heroes. Do we really want to get into Prof. X versus Popeye the Sailor Man? Further, the Spirit as a character isn't nearly as important as the cinematic storytelling methods and design aesthetic employed in telling the tales. The Spirit got hit a lot and ran around without socks. The star of the show was perspective and how the logo would get integrated into the art.
Superman was being held down by Solomon Grundy, while Metallo killed the Man of Steel slowly with radiation from his kryptonite heart. Bizarro and Parasite looked on, until lightning crossed the skies, and an unseen force began to attack the villains.
In no time, the Power of Shazam was at Superman's disposal. Captain Marvel had answered Kal-El's distress signal, and now offered a helping hand. Superman was too sick to hold himself up, and Bizarro had recovered, so the Big Red Cheese flew them both to safety. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor teleported to the scene to save Parasite from the kryptonite (he'd absorbed Superman's weaknesses with his strengths) that he replaced in Metallo's chest cavity. Bizarro rejoined the motley crew.
Dinah Lance walked into her bedroom to find her lover Oliver Queen buried under a fleshy mass, and with green arrows seemingly buried in his head. Whether this was from the Scarecrow's nightmare gases or Clayface's shifting form, an ear-splitting Canary Cry shook the facade loose. Ollie Queen yet lived, and shoved the sparking end of a busted lamp into Clayface's electrocuted hide.The villains fled, and a tearful Black Canary held her shaken man. Dinah wondered why her cry hadn't hurt Ollie, until he removed his earplugs. You see, Clayface had turned himself into a blond Dinah to trick Queen before the attack, not realizing Lance was naturally a brunette. Ollie figured he might be needing more than one form of protection, if his Pretty Bird was indulging in amorous role-play...
Green Lantern Hal Jordan had been forced through a Boom Tube by Sinestro and left in a starless, uncharted area of space. His power ring couldn't get him back home, so he asked it "How much longer before your charge runs out and I die?"
Superman guided Captain Marvel to the Batcave. None of the active Leaguers were answering his calls, so some reservists like the Captain had been notified. The Dark Knight was angry that Superman had compromised him, but Marvel assured, "I would never tell anyone about this place. Which is really cool, by the way." Marvel thought it might help to transform back into his normal self of kid reporter Billy Batson, but Batman just complained about the noise and magic lightning bouncing around his headquarters, not to mention questioning the kid's experience with "crime and loss." Billy politely blew off the Caped Crusader's ignorance, while Superman cold decked his friend. The Man of Steel was too weak for it to be a killing blow, but he gave it all he had, since Batman had palmed some kryptonite. X-ray Vision revealed that Batman was full of mind-controlling mechanical worms, and Superman soon realized he was similarly compromised. Alfred Pennyworth was too, as he covered Billy's mouth with one hand and threatened to slice the boy's throat with the Batarang in the other.
Lex Luthor cast black marbles into a body of water, and from out of it emerged ebony spheres the size of cities. This was Braniac's doing, and though one super-villain would inevitably betray the other, for now everything was going according to mutual plans.
Billy's heel slammed hard into Alfred's foot as he broke loose of the butler's grip. Superman pegged the manservant in the brow with a flung coffee cup, while with one magic word, Captain Marvel was restored. Alfred and the Batman were tied up. Next, Superman asked Marvel to throw him into the sun, in order to burn out the worms...
"Chapter Five" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.
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Alone and wounded in the trophy room of the JLA Watchtower, Connor Hawke was tasked with saving the team from a dream world created by The Key. The villain had destroyed the quiver of the new Green Arrow, leaving the son of Oliver Queen to rummage through his father's old display case for arms. "Stay calm. Improvise. Handcuff Arrows. Net Arrows. Boxing Glove Arrows? Dad. Oh, dad. You're going to be the death of me."
Lex Luthor, Poison Ivy, Black Manta and the Riddler, all in civilian garb, announced through holographic projectors in a host of languages that they were essentially taking over the planet for its own good. They also condemned the half-measures of Earth’s former heroes, who they claimed had abandoned their charges. Instead, the Legion of Doom had launched attacks of the super friends in their secret identities.
Bizarro burst through the ceiling of Clark Kent's apartment, and pulled Superman out to fight in the steets of Metropolis.
Hal Jordan was looking in his locker at Ferris Aircraft when Sinestro showed up to shove Green Lantern into another plane of existence.
The impossibly cut abs of the brunette Dinah Lance didn't save her stomach from doing cartwheels when the Scarecrow's gas caused her to see insects crawling about her apartment. A blond wig clued Ollie Queen that he was in for a serious night of sexing with Black Canary, until this version of a barely dressed Dinah began to melt and ooze all over him.
Bizarro was bad enough, but then Solomon Grundy began contributing to the blows striking Superman. Brought to his knees, the Man of Steel was held fast, and began to be drained of life force and powers by the Parasite. Metallo's kryptonite heart further compromised Kal-El's health as he called out for help.
Barry Allen was on a date with Iris West at a nice restaurant when a JLA alert forced the Flash to his feet...
"Chapter Four" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.
Archery was never my favorite super-heroic attribute. Like running for speedsters, the necessary act of drawing an arrow out of a quiver, cocking it, and firing gets repetitive mighty quick. The golden ages of comics and film overlapped, and because the Robin Hood archetype was huge in movies until the 50s, every comic company seemed to have at least one arrow-slinging hero of their own. Green Arrow and Speedy were not the first, but they proved the longest lived. They were among a select few super-heroes to survive the genre bust of the late '40s and continue to be published, albeit as a back-up feature in the books of bigger names.
The first Green Arrow story I ever read was either an O'Neil/Adams issue of the book he shared with Green Lantern, which would have soared for the art alone, or a copy of The Brave and the Bold. I loved team-up titles, because the lesser character's origin was usually recounted in detail, and those are often the best stories a character has to offer. Green Arrow was a prominent member of the Justice League at the time, even though I likely didn't know him from Adam, so his origin was skipped in favor of a generic adventure. I think the Emerald Archer helped Batman save Robin from the Penguin, as if the Caped Crusader couldn't handle that on his own. The damned thing wasn't even drawn by Jim Aparo, who usually provided the best Batman art on the market.
Green Arrow had his own teen sidekick, but I had to wait for a New Teen Titans Drug Awareness Special to meet him. Even though it was a giveaway, I bought mine in a grab bag of comics from a thrift store. Speedy was in the best one, by the hit creative team from the actual series, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. That was a great looking and melodramatic book in which Speedy, as a recovering heroin addict, took center stage. Roy Harper stood out for me from that moment on, both for his vibrant yet unappreciated costume, and for the all-too-human frailty so rarely allowed in super-heroes. Plus, he was the only hero I knew of at the time who dealt with real issues, like teenage runaways. Based on that comic, you'd think Speedy was Cloak, Dagger, and Daredevil rolled into one, but in fact he didn't even rate a steady gig amongst a group of teenage crime fighters.
Roy Harper was something of a bad penny from then on, turning up in all sorts of random places. While Mike Grell was making Green Arrow as "realistic" as was possible in telling crime and espionage stories involving a hero wielding an antique, Speedy was performing impossible trick shots and still employing the occasional high concept gadget arrow. Is it any wonder that, despite his sordid history and general underachievement, I still held Roy in much higher esteem than his rapidly aging, womanizing mentor? Sure, Speedy wasn't the brightest bulb, and he went down faster than Robin without his trademark crotch jabs, but Roy had heart and personality. That goes a long way.
Dick Grayson grew from Robin the Teen Liability into the fan favorite Nightwing, but was forced to sit out his prime earning years without a solo title at the behest of Marv Wolfman. As the Titans franchise continued its great collapse, the Batman Family editors decided to reclaim their prodigal son. Roy Harper was brought back to serve as a Nightwing proxy, re-dubbed Arsenal. In a purple outfit clearly meant to evoke the departing Grayson, Harper would diversify his weaponry, the better to pander to '90s fads. I didn't mind though, because it felt like Roy would finally come into his own, or at least Nightwing's abandoned own, which was way better than occasional guest spots in Action Comics and Deathstroke the Terminator
The Titans began hemorrhaging characters and fans, while Arsenal changed his costume every third month in hopes of catching the zeitgeist. Roy reconstituted a team he objectively had no business leading around whatever up and coming heroes DC wanted to promote. The inorganic mess finally bit the dust a few years into Roy's watch. However, that only opened up the opportunity for revivals and new teams capitalizing on Titans nostalgia, which was manna from Heaven for Roy. Like Aquaman and Martian Manhunter in JLA, Arsenal could ride a resurgent belief in the strength of foundation characters on DC teams out of irregular publication and back into the public eye.
During Roy's lean years, he slept with an international assassin named Cheshire, and conceived a little girl, whom he would claim sole custody of. While the mantle of Green Arrow had been taken up by Oliver Queen's multiracial bastard son, whom he'd spent nearly twenty years pretending not to know about, Roy became the rare example of a responsible, loving single parent super-hero.
Roy Harper, with seventy years of publishing history, translations into multiple media, the successful assumption of adult heroic identities, and a unique role to serve within comics through his parenting. Of course, especially in the current climate at DC, it couldn't be expected to last.
Fueled by screenwriter/director Kevin Smith's fan following, Oliver Queen had been restored as Green Arrow and as a presence on the sales charts. De-aged and having had a heroic "family" of his own spring up, Green Arrow became a prominent super-hero again. All was well and good so long as the cash kept rolling in, but as Queen's fortunes turned, his desperation knew no bounds. Black Canary was removed from her near decade long starring role in Birds of Prey, supposedly to lead a new Justice League, but soon revealed to become indentured support to Queen as his wife/partner. The bastard son/replacement, Connor Hawke, was placed in a coma to cut down on the redundancy of multiple archer heroes running around in the DC Universe. It was inevitable that Harper, now "Red Arrow," would be the next to fall.
Roy Harper couldn't be competition as an archer any more if he lost an arm, right? Avenging him would give Green Arrow a highly visible motivation for revenge. Not nearly enough to draw in the fanboys though, so why not kill Roy's little girl, too? Why not strip everything from Roy? Have him backslide into drugs? Watch his team fall apart around him? Maybe even lose his sanity? Claims could be made that this would be his opportunity to be "Born Again" as a player, but step by step, Harper just goes deeper into the darkness. You don't build a fan base for Arsenal as a hyper violent vigilante by going so far as to have him suffer erectile dysfunction while attempting rough sex with his dead baby's momma, though. The geeks get uncomfortable about that sort of thing, and really, how many consecutive comics can you have a hero sink into the muck until he can't rise, phoenix like, from the ashes of his former life?
No, when you heap on the degradation to an unbearable degree, and announce your protagonist's upcoming association with a group of mercenary hero killers, the point is not to redeem your character. Green Arrow has a fairly thin rogues gallery and a fairly lame set of abilities, so it stands to reason you can help shore up the character by turning his derivative sidekick into a sympathetic adversary. Poor Roy Harper. So much potential to be a positive role model and unique brand of super-hero. Instead, it's all squandered in favor of a particularly nasty heel turn. Well, that's my present theory, anyway. Still, wrong or not, I just wanted to take a moment to mourn what could have been, and express my ever growing disdain for Green Arrow and the modern DC Universe in general. Roy, I'm truly, deeply sorry for your loss.
Platinum (Again? Spread thin?) and Gold pretended to cover Green Arrow and Black Canary, but that duo was secretly teleported into a sewer tunnel by Zatanna. Once there, they were attacked by Clayface (again,) who was contained by Green Arrow's "shadow," Elongated Man. Once the deception was detected, Gold and Platinum tangled with Parasite and Metallo, 'Tina ending up worse for wear. Superman knocked Toyman about while keeping a choke hold on Bizarro, but then Lead taunted Solomon Grundy and Kal-El took the brunt of the resultant punishment.
Green Arrow insisted that Black Canary save her sonic powers for a planned moment of truth, but once the pair located the supporting cast hostages, Ollie was left to deal with the possessed Supergirl. Dinah argued against Ollie firing a kryptonite arrow at the Maid of Might, a discussion super-hearing easily allowed Kara to act upon. Supergirl dodged the arrow, which struck John Stewart in the chest. As it turned out, all went according to plan, since the arrow actually had a power ring on its tip. Green Lantern declared "You're not killing any super-heroes today, Supergirl. You're going to help us save the world. Just like always.
"Chapter Ten" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.
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