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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Summer Green #4 - Redskin Brothers!

The seventy-ninth issue of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow comic by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, this time with Dan Adkins on the inks, finds our team at crossroads.

Confronted with the stark reality of an Indian reservation and the profound poverty which dominates the place, Green Lantern seeks to find a legal solution to the problem and so heads off to find a man who might have in his possession a deed which will spare the Reservation from loggers who are ready to begin taking down the virgin forests.

Green Lantern finds he must battle a raging fire to save the man and fails in his mission. Meanwhile Green Arrow assumes the role of a ghostly Indian brave and tries to scare the loggers into submitting. Both missions fail and the two end up in fisticuffs as their two methods come into futile focus. As it turned out the authorities brought the villains to justice without the help of our heroes.

By the way Black Canary is still around too in this one, spending her time in helping the Native Americans with various medical issues and whatnot.

It was nice to see Green Lantern stand up a bit for himself. Green Arrow's personality is powerful and had dominated the series since its revision, and GL had mostly just tagged along after having his own view of the world cracked. But now we see he might be getting a greater resolve which is what a journey of discovery is all about.

More to come.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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Summer Green #3 - Family Affair!

The third Green Lantern and Green Arrow adventure by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams with inks by Frank Giacoia  adds a new and significant piece to the storytelling. With the addition of Black Canary, the cross-country adventures have assembled their cast.

Created in the Golden Age by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, the Black Canary was very much the street-level crimefighter who had a long career in her own back up features and as a part of the Justice Society of America.

Sher was revived as were most all the Justice Society members in the pages of the Justice League of America. Eventually though after the death of her husband Larry Lance, she needs a new start and with the help of Superman transfers over to Earth-1 and becomes a part of the League itself.

She even ends up with a spiffy new super-power, her canary cry which has some devastating effects.

After her debut as a League member though, she feels the need to discover her new land and that is where we find her as the story begins.

Some motorcycle hoods called the Diablos spy the lovely Canary and crave her bike. Despite her best efforts to pummel the ruffians she is nonetheless knocked unconscious, and they make off with her wheels. Later Green Arrow and Green Lantern run across the Diablos and recognize the bike.

After a good bit of fisticuffs, they defeat the Diablos and later learn that the local Indian reservation has a menace. Specifically, his name is Joshua, and he has potent hypnotic powers and a "family" who are compelled to do his murderous bidding. Canary has fallen under his spell, and it is only her budding love for Green Arrow which is strong enough to ultimately defeat that influence.

The echoes in this story of the Manson Family are strong and so is the condemnation of the kind of charismatic leadership, which was so attractive at the time, and sadly remains so today.

More to come.

This is a verdant vintage Dojo post. 

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