So You Want to Read Comics: Green Lantern / Green Arrow
These days, many so-called fans of comics will decry that “SJWs” (Social Justice Warriors) are ruining comics and destroying the heroes they grew up with. This seems to completely ignore the fact that Superman fought wife beaters and corrupt landlords in his earliest adventures, much less how heroes have always fought corruption and the wrong-headedness of any system. However, despite these progressive beginnings with their heroes, DC Comics was actually once accused of being out of touch.
In the 1960s, DC was solidly into the Silver Age of comics. Most adventures involved heroes taking on goofy situations, or villains whose worst crimes were making a special kind of fish. Or trying to shrink a city. You get the idea. DC focused entirely on the problems of the superheroic, with near-perfect personal lives.
To make matters worse, the entire pantheon of DC characters tended to be white, unless they were a sidekick. Thanks to the politics of the day they were created, non-White characters were often given racist or unfortunate nicknames and awkward sidekick status. Green Lantern’s sidekick of the era, an Inuit aerospace engineer, named Thomas Kalmaku… was nicknamed Pieface.
Allegedly, this was a nickname for someone with “a round face and dim look,” but it seems remarkably ill-used.
Meanwhile, Marvel Comics had just risen from the ashes of Atlas Comics, launching the concept of heroes with real personal problems. Peter Parker didn’t just have to worry about Electro, he also needed to worry about that month’s rent. The Fantastic Four didn’t just fight Doctor Doom, they also fought amongst one another like a family. While DC kept trucking along with their comics, Marvel would continue to tell stories that would resonate with readers, although they would also have an initial problem with diversity in the 1960s. This resulted in older comic fans reading more and more Marvel, who were often almost as popular with the kids. Comics were changing, and at least one of DC’s books would try and change with the times.
Green Arrow, aka Oliver Queen, began his life in comics as a Robin Hood crossed with Batman. Premiering in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941, his concept was not that revolutionary for the time. Ollie was another billionaire playboy who fought crime at night with themed gadgets and vehicles. Green Arrow would eventually land a spot in Adventure Comics as a regular backup story to Superboy, thanks to creator Mort Weisinger, also being the editor on the Superman books. Oliver would be one of the rare heroes to escape a then-modern reboot when DC’s heroes would start to re-emerge in 1954, entirely because he never left print. When 1969 came about, however, his character would begin to evolve to meet the times.
Artist Neil Adams would give Ollie a Van Dyke style beard in the team-up comic The Brave and the Bold, to change up the character’s appearance. Meanwhile, writer Dennis O’Neill would strip Oliver of his wealth and turn him to the left politically in the pages of the Justice League. As he didn’t have a book of his own, Neil Adams and Dennis O’Neill would actually borrow Ollie for the new book they were working on Green Lantern.
The recreated Green Lantern for the Silver Age of DC Comics is Hal Jordan. A test pilot for Ferris Aircraft, Hal was literally kidnapped by a dying alien and recruited into a force of intergalactic cops known as the Green Lanterns. Unlike Ollie’s new character change, Hal Jordan was strictly by the books and remarkably rigid in his carrying out of the rules. Despite coming to comics in 1959’s Showcase #52, Hal really had not evolved much at all in the times since. That was about to change.
1971 would see a changing of the guard on the regular Green Lantern comic. O’Neill and Adams would find themselves together on the book, and they would bring Ollie into Hal’s world in a big way.
The two heroes would find themselves butting heads pretty quickly. In their first issue, Hal Jordan would take the side of a tenement owner, while Oliver Queen would argue the angle of the destitute living inside and their intentionally poor conditions. While Hal initially stuck with the letter of the law rather than the spirit, Ollie would speak to Hal as if he was an equal and educating him on how the letter of the law could be abused, driving doubt into the fearless Green Lantern for the first time ever.
It was the first time in over a decade that Hal would show change, and it was ingenious. Fans of Green Arrow and those who thought DC needed to adapt got to see truth told to the bland and powerful. Those who were fans of Green Lantern still got to see Hal grow as a character and a human being, rounding off the sharp edges with humanity and compassion. While Hal did represent the power, “the man,” he was still just a normal man who could learn from his mistakes and grow from them. Instead, O’Neill and Adams would use the Guardians of the Universe as an overall representation of “the man.”
The Guardians, the head of the Green Lanterns themselves, would object to Hal Jordan questioning power. After all, the greedy landlord did nothing wrong in the case of the tenement. Instead, they would threaten to remove Hal from the Corps or make him perform grunt work that would keep him away from Earth. This anchored Hal in the middle, preventing him from becoming the villain in his own comic.
As the book evolved, the book would gain another cast member. One of the Guardians of the Universe would go in disguise as a human, tagging along with Green Lantern and Green Arrow as the two of them hopped a truck and began to travel the United States.
During these travels, the unnamed Guardian and Hal Jordan would both find their worldviews changed and challenged. The Guardians would find this detestable, as the Green Lanterns operated at this time on the idea of right and wrong. Issue 77, for example, wound find the Guardians trying to place restrictions on Hal himself. As he was on a “leave of absence” to truck around the US with Ollie and the “old man,” why not place limits on the off duty GL?
This depowering would also leave Hal weaker, needing to strain and focus his will to do what was once the easiest of tasks. At the very least, it added an extra thrill to the events of the books and put Hal on a closer level of Ollie. When Hal was struck down by accident when a pollutant tanker was on fire, the Guardian traveling with him would risk his own life to save Hal, but doing so wound up polluting the waters as the barrels going overboard could not be stopped. The Guardians chose to punish the old man… by sentencing him to death.
The Guardians are basically big, blue assholes. Unfortunately, this is one of the few things that never change, no matter the year.
No matter the social subject that GL/GA would tackle, it would never be taken lightly. The character of Guy Gardner had been briefly introduced as Hal’s backup but had fallen into obscurity. Adams and O’Neill would bring him back, but an accident during a rescue of school children from a collapsing bridge would leave Guy bedridden for months. The Guardians needed a new backup, and they had someone in mind: John Stewart. Much like the scene at the start of the series, Hal would again be called out on possible racism.
However, Hal had learned from his past prejudices to an extent. He was more concerned over the actions of the man, rather than the color of his skin. John would be given a chance with a ring, and the two would find themselves trying to sabotage a plot against a racist presidential candidate. John would choose to go without a mask, preferring to let his actions speak for his words, and the two would part as friends.
In this same issue, Oliver Queen would find himself deciding to run for mayor of Star City, a change to his character that would have lasting effects. The weirdest issue, though, spoke out against corporate pollution with issue 89. A green Earth activist named Isaac would demonstrate against Ferris Aircraft, where Hal was once a test pilot. New jet engine tests were polluting the skies, and while they were more fuel-efficient, they would increase pollution by the hundreds. With both GA and GL knocked out by crooked executives who wished to earn money on the backs of the weak and ill, they were all crucified on airplanes. Did I mention Isaac looked like the inaccurate anglo-saxon rendition of Jesus Christ?
...no, seriously. These comics did not mess around when it comes to delivering a message. And neither did Hal, coming up with his first real act of rebellious justice:
However, sales were not fantastic. The book was already a bimonthly release, with the final issue coming out in May of 1972. The working duo of Dennis O’Neill and Neil Adams would be given one last story to fully round out both Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen. Taking place as a trio of backup stories in Flash 217-219, Ollie would now be the one being deconstructed. While trying to take down some thugs in an alleyway in Star City, Ollie’s bad arm would be further injured in a close-quarters brawl. Taking aim at a sniper, Oliver’s bad arm would act up and throw off his aim.
Green Arrow killed a man, even if by mistake. Distraught and driving himself mad from guilt, Oliver would go through great pains to destroy what was left of himself. Hal would find his costume shredded, his bow broken in half, arrows snapped, and even his house blown up by a bomb! Ollie also took his Arrowplane (see what we mean about him being a Batman-inspired hero?) and deliberately smashed it into a mountainside.
Oliver Queen would find himself at a nearby monastery, shaving his head and following the ways of these non-religious monks. It wasn’t until Black Canary, GL’s on and off lover, was in mortal danger and needed a blood transfusion that Oliver would return. Head freshly shaven and still wary of his own skills as an archer, it would take Hal’s life being put in danger to bring Oliver out of his funk.
With the final page of Flash 219, the team-up of Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen would fall into a five-year sleep. 1976 would see the two return in Green Lantern / Green Arrow #90 and would go on for another few years. While O’Neill and Adams would no longer be on the book, their adventures would continue to flesh out and make Hal and Ollie into fast friends who would have their backs whenever danger reared its head. Despite being nearly 50 years old, are these comics still worth reading?
Yes, yes, a million times, yes.
It is completely depressing to think that nearly all of these messages that O’Neill and Adams worked into their tales are still 100% relevant. Racism and bias? The rise of the alt-right and Nazis have made it more than relevant for this day and age. Corporations taking advantage of rules and regulations to profit off pollution? That’s only increased since the days of 1971. Drugs and abuse among the worse-off populations, no matter the race? Still, an issue, though the problem seems more skewed to legal drugs than illegal. A broken legal system that argues the letter of the law until it hits someone it favors? Tragically, this is even more prevalent today. A racist presidential candidate? How about a racist president instead?
These 13 issues (and a three-part backup) are some of the most revelatory and important comics published by Marvel or DC. While they get incredibly preachy at some points, and the lessons are as subtle as a hammer on an anvil, these are lessons that you can’t afford to be subtle with.
DC has republished these comics several times in the last few decades. While it may seem strange, I honestly recommend looking for older collections. Neil Adams has a strange habit of re-doing art and re-coloring books using more modern techniques. While these digital prints used do not have any changes, physical copies might be more adjusted. If you do not mind-altered art or colors from the originals, then grab any variation you happen to like.
Comics have always had a streak of the political running through them, even when the comics companies try to hedge their bets. Books like Adams and O’Neill’s run on Green Lantern are why you should read comics.
