Summer Green # 14 - Last Rites!

The eighty-ninth issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow ends the run of the series for the time being. In this finale for the venerable Silver Age comic written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by the regular team of Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, we get a plea for the environment.

Green Arrow is much amused by reports of vandalism by an eco-terrorist named Isaac. An investigation indicates that his target is Ferris Industries which is testing a new jet which is somehow impacting the surrounding forests in severe ways.

Green Arrow runs afoul of some security guards while Green Lantern goes to Carol Ferris and investigates there. Eventually Arrow meets Isaac and finds out that he is a former scientist who now battles to preserve the natural world in the face of civilization. GL and GA meet and argue about what to do and fight with Arrow winning the day with a gas arrow. But Isaac rejects Arrow saying the gas is harmful too. Green Arrow is confused, but then both heroes again fall victim to the security guards who also capture Isaac.

The trio are chained to the wings of jet airplanes and left. Arrow using strength derived from years of working with his bow is able to finally free himself and Green Lantern, but is too late to save Isaac who dies rather than compromise his ideals, a martyr to his cause. Later aghast, Green Lantern uses his ring to destroy the prototype aircraft.

This one is a bit of mindflip, as Isaac is truly a fanatic but who has goals which seem necessary and even in their essence admirable. But his methods are so extreme that his zealotry overshadows his message. I'm not sure O'Neil meant for that to be the case, but that's how I read it. It's asking too much of a comic to nuance a conversation between economic development and environmental awareness, but that seems needed here as the extremes as presented seem to undermine the message.

And that's a wrap for the series, at least as a stand-a-lone. The heroes will join The Flash comic as back ups for several issues. The O'Neil and Adams team will produce four of those stories.

More to come still.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Summer Green #13 - Ring Of Gold!

I was always confused by DC's 80-page giant annuals since they were at once specials but also regular installments in the run of a series. This issue interrupts the fabulous Denny O'Neil - Neal Adams run on Green Lantern title, but it offers up a dandy Neal Adams cover featuring Lanterns of two Earths. I always liked Hal Jordan's sleek and modern uniform, but Alan Scott's outfit always struck me as a mess with too many colors and not nearly enough "green" for a hero with that color in his name. The classic look though has grown on me over the decades, especially after seeing the wretched things they they've dressed him in since.

The issues from this month also featured one of my favorite subscription ads of all time. This is drawn by the great Carmine Infantino (who ironically did the artwork on the Golden Age GL story in the GL special) and inked by Dick Giordano (according to the GCD, but I think Vinnie Colletta did the job). It's so quaint now with it references to newsstand distribution and mail-ordered products. Not many products come with instructions on how to destroy their ultimate value. And these ads were great indicators of which comics were getting axed from the schedule in the future as they'd sometimes disappear off the subscription list before the official announcements. I miss the 20th Century sometimes. 

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Summer Green #12 - The Black Lantern!

In the eighty-seventh issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow we meet a brand new Lantern, specifically John Stewart, the first black Green Lantern in the Corps. The first story by the now-regular team of Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano is a stunner.

Aside from Hal Jordan it was necessary for there to be a back-up.

Some years before, Guy Gardner had been selected as the fellow who would step in if Jordan were incapacitated. But as this story begins, Guy is severely injured on a horrible school trip gone wrong when a bus hits him. Since he's sidelined Hal is ordered to pick another and the Guardians insist on John Stewart.

Because of his in-your-face abrasiveness, Hal is reluctant to train the new recruit. But eventually he does.

Stewart, who eschews the mask, joins Jordan in protecting a presidential candidate who has loathsome ideas about race. After much hemming and hawing the duo appear to have failed to stop an assassin, but it turns out that Stewart detected a ruse and uncovered a scheme to make the candidate more popular by staging a mock attack.

Also in this issue is a Green Arrow solo story written by Elliot (Not-Yet-S) Maggin and drawn by Adams and Giordano, in which he debates the best way he can be of use to the most people and begins to question his role as Green Arrow. He is asked to run for mayor by a consortium of well-meaning types but is hesitant.

After getting involved in a race riot and coming to terms with the crisis conditions in the slum areas, he commits to running for mayor.

This is an odd issue. The duo appear in separate stories for the first time. The introduction of John Stewart has proven to be a lasting change in the DC Universe status quo with the hero being the go-to Lantern in many arenas. Making a Green Lantern black was a smart move since there's nothing intrinsic about the character which would preclude it, in fact it invites such a change, as most folks know there are many Lanterns in the Universe.

John Stewart's abrasive attitude is reminiscent of John Shaft and other black heroes of the time. The aggressive and antagonistic approach is a strong break from decades, if not centuries of kowtowing behavior. It comes across a bit over-the-top in terms of pure characterization, but speaks to the themes of the story which speak to the zeitgeist of the times effectively.

As for the Green Arrow running for mayor, it's an interesting idea, but is never mentioned again in the series.

More to come.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Summer Green #11 - Dopes!

The eighty-sixth issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow is the second of two issues which deal with the very real problem of drugs among the youth of America. The issue by the now-regular team of Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano is gorgeous to look at
.

When Green Arrow discovers his ward Speedy is a junkie, his reaction is anger, as he realizes a lot of it misplaced, but a fury which is rained down on  Speedy himself. Disgusted he abandons his ward.

Meanwhile the junkies who first accosted Green Arrow in the first part of the story are enjoying their reward to having turned over the heroes to the dealers and one of the them overdoses on the exceedingly pure drug.

Green Lantern discovers the body of the dead junkie and finds Speedy in throes of his addiciton. Speedy is taken to the apartment of Dinah Drake who takes the boy in while he tries to go cold turkey.  Green Arrow meanwhile is hunting the dealers, despite his injured arm, and is soon enough captured and sent to the bottom of the ocean with an anchor for company on the orders of the top boss a successful socialite businessman named Salomon Hooper. Green Lantern saves GL and while Speedy painfully recovers tended to by Canary, the duo locate the drug lab and bring down the operation.

At the funeral of Speedy's junkie comrade he confronts his mentor Oliver Queen and lets him know that drugs are a complicated response to a painful world and that Ollie needs to own his contributions to the problem. Walking away defiantly Speedy rebuffs his mentor, and Green Arrow shows regret for his role, and shows pride for the way his ward has grown up.

This one was a dang pretty good story. The battle against drugs is ongoing and sometimes gets swamped by the moralism which attempts to treat the issue more as sin than disease. In a society which is as medicated as our own, it's difficult to understand why people don't understand how the young learn quickly enough that outside substances are a way to deal with pain and suffering. They see it all around them all the time.

I'm not sure I agree with all the speeches in these Green Lantern issues but certainly the attitude that drugs are a taboo subject for discussion does no one any good.

More to come.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Rinkitink In OZ!

Rinkitink in OZ is an odd addition to the OZ canon. The story involves a small island which is invaded and the population taken into slavery. The only folks available to save them all is a young prince spared by chance and an overweight visiting monarch of questionable character along with his talking goat. Now that I've actually written that sentence, maybe this oddball is an OZ book after all. The book began life as a non-OZ project developed soon after the success of the first OZ titles around the same time that Baum was writing classic fairy tale stuff like The Enchanted Island of Yew and Queen Zixi of Ix. But the grind to keep putting out OZ material in 1916 was such that Baum reached back to his unpublished effort and added bits to it to make it an OZ book. 

The story begins on Pingaree where a good king by the name of Kittikut is trying to maintain things on the small island of Pingaree. He dreads an invasion from the islands of Regos and Coregos and this proves to be a valid fear. Before that invasion though he and his court are visited by a portly monarch named King Rinkitink and his talking goat named Bilbil. This stout fellow is a blowhard and a gourmand. After the devastating attack Rinkitink ends up in a well and the young Prince Inga is safe because he was good distance from the savagery. These two set out to save the people, Rinkitink reluctantly. Prince Inga is aided by three magic pearls, the first of which gives him strength, the second which gives him protection, and the third which gives him wisdom. But soon after getting to where his parents and people are imprisoned, he loses the shoes. He eventually gets them back when a peasant girl finds them. He and Rinkitink then have to travel to the kingdom of the Gnomes where they discover that the Gnome King is holding his parents. The Gnome King is the first OZ character to appear in the book and later on page 190 out of 222, Dorothy and the Wizard travel to the Gnome kingdom to help. And as it turns out Bilbil has a secret as well. 

This is an OZ book by the narrowest of margins. It seems that Baum did little aside from having the Gnomes, and later Dorothy and gang arrive as a garden variety deus ex machina to save the day. We get the usual roll call of names of other OZ folks at the end. It's getting crowded in OZ, I think. I was put in mind of the Avengers who after a few decades seemed to have a roster of dozens. Rinkitink in OZ is an okay read, but it has little to do with OZ. 

Next up is an actual book about OZ titled The Lost Princess of OZ. But before that I think we need to take a look at some of Baum's other OZ-adjacent titles. 

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The Phantom - The Swamp Rats!

The Swamp Rats was written by the late Ron Goulart under the pseudonym "Frank Shawn" for Avon 's The Story of the Phantom series of novels in 1974 and was based on the comic strip of the same name from 1959. 

The Hermes edition also has an essay titled "With the Phantom Everything is Possible -- Except Boredom" by Francis Lacassin a lecturer at the Sorbonne. The essay was written in 1972 in connection with an exhibit which opened at the museum. It's a glowing analysis of Lee Falk's storytelling skills and compares him in many with Homer of all people. 

The set-up gets going pretty quickly when a train goes off the rails near a deadly swamp and prisoners aboard that train escape into what is called "The Great Swamp". Later reports of raids in towns alongside the swamp by a gang calling themselves "The Swamp Rats" bring the Phantom to the case. I was struck how efficiently the story begins, drawing the reader in quickly. 

The self-styled Swamp Rats have in their midst an older man whose daughter comes looking for him. It's one of the oldest gags in adventure yarns designed specifically to get a dame into the mix. She finds a great-white hunter type to lead her into the swamp, but he turns out to be less experienced than advertised. Another unfortunate hooks up with the Swamp Rats after he committed a crime out of desperation. Add to the mix to loyal members of the Jungle Patrol and you have a downright mob wandering the deadly swamp. The scenes switch quickly from group to group with the make-up of each changing constantly. The Phantom works tirelessly to try and keep everyone safe as he can and still bring the villains to justice. 

Next month we'll take a look at The Vampires and the Witch. I'm very much looking forward to this one. 

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Summer Green #10 - Snowbirds!

The eighty-fifth issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow kicks off the most famous two-part story the series would create and cemented the reputation of the series for all of comics history. The drug issues made an impact outside the ghetto of comics fans and made the series part of the larger pop culture of its day. The issue by the now-regular team of Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano is a beauty.

Green Arrow finds himself up against some very small-time drug dealers who try to shake him down and in the process he himself is shot by an arrow which penetrates his shoulder.

He recognizes the craftsmanship on the arrow as his own and suspects his ward Speedy is working undercover, though he doesn't say this at the time. He calls upon Green Lantern to help him and the duo begin to unravel a drug operation which goes from poor junkies to predatory dealers.

They though themselves are subdued and injected with drugs which have powerful effects on our heroes.
The gather themselves and head home only to find Speedy in the process of shooting up, a moment which famously startles Green Arrow.

This one is a biggie, the cover probably one of the ten most famous images in comics history having been swiped and homaged dozens of times over the decades. When comics discovered the drug problem it was met with a range of attitudes. Over at Marvel we get a more paternalistic attitude with comics produced by men who are somewhat isolated from the then current drug culture. This effort seems more interested in the junkie's perspective offering up a really sympathetic image.

But there's more to this story, as we'll see next time.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Summer Green#9 - Plastic Men!

The eighty-fourth issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow is a curious story indeed. Produced by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, this issue is inked by up and comer Berni Wrightson. Wrightson had done one page in an earlier issue, but does the whole issue this time.

The story begins as Carol Ferris goes to a place called Piper's Dell which is run by a charismatic fellow named Wilbur Palm.

Later Lantern hears that the dam of Piper Dell is threatened and goes to solve the problem. Wilbur Palm appears to give his thanks but actually attaches an odd device called a "Kaluta" to his chest which spurts a strange perfume in his face. Lantern is invited into Piper Dell, a company town that manufactures and celebrates plastic. Lantern is later attacked by the zombie-like denizens of Piper Dell but manages to send his ring away to Green Arrow.

Arrow eventually discovers it and goes to the rescue. Meanwhile Lantern learns that Wilbur Palm is actually his old enemy Blackhand and the whole of Piper Dell is a malevolent experiment in citizen control by means of the chemicals and technology. Ferris was brought there only to lure in the Lantern. Lantern is able to escape and finds Carol and the pair try to leave Piper Dell and only the timely arrival of Green Arrow who shoots the power ring to Hal Jordan allows them to succeed. Quickly he subdues the denizens of Piper Dell and encases Blackhand in his own favorite substance--plastic.

This issue seemed to be mostly a tirade against plastic, and the kind of supposedly false society it supports. Given how plastics have developed since the early 70's the criticism seems moot, but never say never.

More to come.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Summer Green #8 - Nattering Nabobs!

The eighty-third issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow is the only issue of the run I actually bought and read during the original run. I don't know what prompted me to pick up this issue by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, but I doubt it was the unmistakable mug of Spiro Agnew on the cover.

In this one Carol Ferris, longtime romantic interest of Hal Jordan falls victim to a weird little girl named Sybil and her evil mentor Grandy (the guy who looks like Spiro Agnew - shamed former Vice President for Richard Nixon back when one could shame a politician.). For the record, Sybil reminds one of Richard Nixon himself, an odd choice indeed. Sybil paralyzes Ferris for some momentary slight to Grandy.

The story picks up some weeks later as Dinah Drake is headed to a job at a private school. She is chaperoned by Green Lantern and Green Arrow and the trio immediately come under attack by a flock of birds. A portly postman gives the hint where the inspiration for this attack came from. At the school Lantern and Arrow are given short shrift while Canary remains behind.

Later Hal Jordan finds Ferris in her wheelchair and his old feelings surface. The new trio come under attack when their car falls apart sending them over a cliff and only Lantern's ring saves the day.

Meanwhile Canary becomes suspicious of the all-too quiet children and offends Grandy who sicks his mentally-slaved minions to attack her. Sybil subdues the Canary who is thrown into a room with wasps. Lantern and Arrow arrive to save the day but fall victim to Sybil themselves before Arrow manages to send off an arrow which distracts her. Quickly they save Canary as Sybil revolts against the pernicious demands of the evil Grandy. In a desperate act of defiance she brings the school down on their heads while everyone else escapes.

Green Lantern then finds his feelings for Carol remain and the story ends a bit openly as the pair walk away into the rain.

This story has always been a most memorable one for me, it's so completely weird. I can only assume that the use of Agnew and Nixon suggests some broader implications for the metaphor of mind control in the story, but I don't really parse exactly the point being made. Their use might simply be playfulness on the part of O'Neil and/or Adams.

More to come.

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Summer Green #7 - Harpies!

The eighty-second issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow features the most important but unlisted member of the team Black Canary. By the team of Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, this one is an odd one indeed.

Ollie attempts to woo Dinah Drake with flowers when suddenly there appear a pair of malicious harpies who disappear as soon as they appear. Arrow calls in Green Lantern who promptly encounters them himself along with their apparent mistress, a red-skinned menace who calls herself the "Witch Queen". But Lantern detects a familiar threat.

Later Arrow and Canary encounter some very buff Amazons who are much impressed by Canary's fighting skills and then tell of their home dimension was the scene of a battle between a troll-like Wizard and the Witch Queen which banished them. The amazons are out to make all men pay for the Wizard's crimes.

It turns out the Witch Queen is actually the sister of Sinestro and this is a plot to lure Green Lantern into a trap. While Green Arrow and Canary fight with the Amazons to free him, the Lantern is trapped in a distant dimension fighting Medusa. It all comes to a hasty conclusion.

This wasn't the best story of the series, but did have some terrific moments. The relevance seemed to take a back seat to the fantasy, though women's issues are of the moment through out.

It's worth noting that Berni Wrightson inked a single page of this story, a harbinger of things to come.

More to come.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Summer Green #6 - Make Room!

The eighty-first issue of Green Lantern and Green Arrow picks up right after the last. In this one Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano have fashioned a cautionary fable of another world in which there just too many people.

Old Timer, the Guardian who traveled with our heroes and who was brought before his fellow immortals for judgment faces his sentence, to be made mortal and to live out his now numbered days on Maltus, the planet from which the Guardians sprang.

But Maltus has changed. Fearful of a faltering of children, a woman named Mother Juna instigated a program of cloning which has resulted in a planet overrun with people of all sorts. To stem this tide of humanity the heroes along Black Canary seek her out and put an end to her programs. The Old Timer chooses to remain on Maltus and help his people rediscover their way.

This is wild one, full of some creative derring-do. We see Green Lantern limited by his classic weakness of yellow and his diminished ring (thanks to the Guardians) struggle to fend off cloned super-warriors. Green Arrow and Black Canary have to use their skills and wits to survive not only the warriors but also the crowds which teem about the planet and rise all too quickly in rage and panic.

At the time this was written it was generally assumed that the world's population would soon overwhelm its resources. But revolutionary changes in farming have forestalled that fear. Recently I heard that these advances are once again reaching their limits and we are faced with a world which might produce more people than it can fend for. So this fable is once again, as it was before timely.

The name of the planet "Maltus" is choice as the "Malthusian Theory" posits that the world will end up just as described in this tale of a far distant planet.  I was struck too by the absolute lack of foresight demonstrated by the Guardians who have failed to look after their home world. It is suggested their immortality makes them negligent since they have forgotten urgency. An interesting notion and it is  reinforced by Old Timer who says that he does not fear death, but has now a sense of purpose he formerly lacked.

Nice stuff.

More to come.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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The Scarecrow Of OZ!

The Scarecrow of OZ is reputed to be Frank Baum's favorite of his numerous yarns about this strange territory. Perhaps this story's strange origins have something to do with that feeling on his part. The book was published in 1915, but before that there had been a movie. 

His Majesty, the Scarecrow of OZ was a 1914 movie and the second from The OZ Film Manufacturing Company after The Patchwork Girl of OZ. This was a company begun by Baum with other investors specifically to take his OZ creation to the relatively new medium of motion pictures. This second movie was well liked by the critics but didn't do much business. Later it was released again under the title The New Wizard of OZ and did better. The film exists today only in fragmented form, but it does exist. 

Silent movies are an acquired taste for certain. I am not able at this distance of over a century to know if the film is technically fine, but it is compelling to watch if only as a relic of a time lost. 

The book is likewise requires a bit of literary archelogy to understand. It seemed after the massive success of The Wizard of OZ that Frank Baum spent much of the rest of his life trying to divert from the world he'd or at least find a way harvest its popularity on stage and in film. He also wanted to write non-OZ books and to that end he created Trot and Cap'n Bill who had together had adventures under the sea with mermaids as well as in the far distant upper atmosphere on a floating island. These books didn't do as well, so he did the inevitable and inducted Trot and Cap'n Bill into the land of OZ. The Scarecrow of OZ is also it seems using parts of an unpublished Trot and Cap'n Bill adventure blended with the movie story. Baum had a lot of energy put into making this ninth installment of his legendary series. 

The story begins when Trot and Cap'n Bill find themselves lost in a cave and after much wandering about run across a strange bird creature called an Ork with which they strike up a partnership. The escape the tunnels but find themselves stranded on some islands, one of which is Mo, the domain of the Bumpy Man. The then discover their old ally Button-Bright is also on Mo. This trio eventually get to the land of OZ by using strange fruit to make some birds big enough to haul them the land of the Quadlings where they are soon enough battling a tyrant named King Krewel. Eventually the titular Scarecrow gets involved. There is an atypical love story which hits a ditch when the Princess Gloria's heart is frozen by the witch one-eyed witch Blinkie. Cap'n Bill gets turned into a grasshopper at one one point, but as you might suspect gets better. Our whole mob (Trot, Cap'n Bill, Button-Bright and the Scarecrow) are whisked away to OZ in the final pages. 

The next installment is called Rinkitink in OZ and it too has a strange origin. 

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