If any DC hero seemed destined to vanish into obscurity in 1969, it was Green Arrow.
The Ace Archer had never had his own book. His World’s Finest backup feature ended in 1964. His only appearances since then had been in Justice League of America, a Brave and Bold team-up and JLA-guest appearances such as Action Comics #365, part of the Virus X arc (cover by Ross Andru)
That logically should have put him in the same boat as J’Onn J’Onzz who lost his backup strip, then got written out of the League. After all, what did GA have to attract readers? No personality, no memorable art or writing, and silly weapons such as the boxing-glove arrow (not that the absurdity bothered me as a kid or even now but I can’t blame people who find it too absurd to swallow). Instead, 1970 would see a reboot turn him into a popular, successful character. Brave and the Bold #85, “The Senator’s Been Shot” by Bob Haney and Neal Adams is a foretaste of what’s to come.
The beard on that Neal Adams cover is the first sign this is not your father’s Emerald Archer. Men’s hair has long been a sensitive subject in America; when New Englander Joseph Palmer grew a beard in the 1830s it provoked a couple of men to shave him by force. Palmer fought back only to wind up in jail for “unprovoked assault.”
In the 1960s long hair and beards were even more of a cultural flashpoint, a mark of a commie hippie nonconformist challenging the system. Dick Van Dyke’s 1969 comedy Some Kind of a Nut was built around him losing his job because he’d grown a beard. In 1969, Oliver Queen’s beard made a statement.
Not, I should note, the kind of statements he’d be making the following year in Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Here he’s still Oliver Queen, millionaire businessman—but a businessman with an eye to making the world a better place.
As you might gather from the title, what kicks the plot off is Miklos Minotaur, Greek corporate titan-cum-crimelord, having State Senator Paul Cathcart shot. As the governor tells Bruce, Cathcart’s set to cast the deciding vote on an anti-crime bill that will shut down the illegal side of Minotaur’s operations. To ensure the bill passes, the governor wants Bruce to step in as senator until Cathcart recovers.
(My assumption is that Minotaur is modeled on Aristotle Onassis, the prominent billionaire shipping magnate, but that’s only a guess)
Bruce initially turns the offer down, When Cathcart’s son demands to know why, Bruce explains it’s because he thinks Batman is a higher calling.
Eventually, however, Bruce decides he can do more to fight Minotaur stepping into Cathcart’s shoes.
Meanwhile, as the panels above show, Ollie’s masterminding a development project that will also throw a monkey wrench into Minotaur’s ambitions. The syndicate responds by stealing the plans. Green Arrow hunts them down but gets to thinking: if Oliver Queen panics Minotaur that badly, is it possible Oliver is more important than Green Arrow?
While Super-Hero No More was becoming a standard story trope following Spider-Man considering quitting, this one doesn’t feel like same-old same-old. The standard character arc has the hero contemplate quitting and settling into a happy, ordinary life. Then they decide that would be selfish — they can’t give up as long as they’re needed to fight evil! Case in point, Hal Jordan (drawn by Gil Kane) contemplating Green Lantern No More (a year and some change ahead of Spider-Man’s definitive take).
In “The Senator’s Been Shot,” the question isn’t Duty Before Self, as Hans von Hammer liked to put it. It’s a matter of which duty matters more — the good the two heroes can do as themselves or the good they do when they put on a mask? Unsurprisingly they decide the world needs both.
In Twomorrows’ Batcave Companion, Neal Adams talks about how much he liked working with Haney and what a plotter he was. Denny O’Neil, Adams said, could come up with a good plot for a single issue; Haney would work three or four good plots into the same number of pages (I may come back to this topic in a later post). That said, I’m not sure how much this was a Haney story rather than a Neal Adams story. While Ollie’s not the ranting radical of GL/GA, he’s a step towards it; it’s hard to imagine Adams didn’t have a hand in that. Even if he didn’t, he gets credit for something nobody else has managed to date — making Green Arrow’s archery look cool.
They should make a movie about that Joseph Palmer beard story. I’m thinking Christian Bale for the role.
Had no idea an issue of Brave and the Bold was the debut of the New Look Green Arrow.
I’ve heard tell that the reason beards fell out of fashion was because they were impractical to wear under gas masks in WWI.
The timing of that has never struck me as true, given Renaissance paintings of men without beards; this story certainly shows the WWI timing to be false!
It surprised me too when I learned about it.
IIRC, the story involves both Batman and Green Arrow confessing their secret identities to therapists; it always seemed very out of character for them.
Also, when Bruce told Minotaur’s son who he was, I knew something bad would happen to him.
Amnesia all around, iirc?
Yes the therapist detail was absurd, though for maximum drama I’d buy one of them doing it.
I could believe Ollie going to a therapist, certainly!
It was definitely way out of character for both them. That’s why I always just say that these Brave & Bold stories took place on Earth Haney which makes it easier to go along for the ride.
I have this back issue bought from a well known auction site: yet to read it!… I’m sure I first learned of The Senator’s Been Shot! when I bought B&B 150 off the local post office racks as a young lad. It had a list at the back of previous B&B teamup issues and 85 was among those highlighted?
“My assumption is that Minotaur is modeled on Aristotle Onassis.” That was my reaction.
Miklos Minotaur, Argonaut Unlimited… all the subtlety of a hired Crete/Greek mythology assassin from Bob Haney, but it’s easy to sneer when the target audience was still chiefly 8 to 12 year-old kids — despite all the erudite letters from older-fans-mainly-soon-to-turn-pro would have you believe.
* Merry Xmas to all AJShoppers!
Miklos Minotaur still sounds better than Diogenese Diamondopolis, the Onassis-based villain in a later issue of Wonder Woman.
Merry Christmas to you, Pete.
Diogenese Diamondopolis: Denny O’Neil (his writing period?) wins the festive internet!
Nope, the prize goes to Elliott S! Maggin
As absurd as it may sound/look, I can assure you the boxing glove arrow works extremely well, but only up to about 10 yards or so. After that, it loses velocity rapidly. But at less than 30 feet (9 meters for the non-Americans), it can pack a whallop. It won’t knock you out, but you’ll know you’ve been hit. Just sayin’.
How very cool. I’ve heard people talk about trying to duplicate GA’s gimmick arrows over the years. Don’t remember if that was one of them.