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| "Arrow... stitch?" REALLY, now. |
Well, there's little point in trying to make fun of THAT.
The Archers and Faber head to see Sloan, the Victim whose voiced was faked to lure Faber to his gravity-based doom. But not before Ollie leaves a note taunting the Devils:
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| There's no point to it. Other than "Green Arrow's a ****." |
The super-shaftsmen go back out in the wilds of Gayland hoping to be attacked by the Devils.
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| What horned devils WOULDN'T want to keep their date with two super-shaftsmen? |
Who's the Green Arrow **** who's a sex machine to all he tricks? SUPER-SHAFT! You're damned right.
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| "IT'S RAINING MEN! HALLELUJAH!" |
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| This is not as bad as the ketchup bottle incident, of course. But still. |
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| "Just relax," Ollie says. "Just let yourself go." Wow. |
The Red Devils lead the Archers on a merry chase to and through the Funhouse...
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| "Funhouse"? Is that what the kids call it nowadays? |
where the bowmen pretend to be overwhelmed by one of those tilt-a-way floors. You know, the kind you regularly navigated while laughing as ten years old. All this is, um, part of a plan by Ollie to disguise himself as one of them?
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| Clearly, the writers are just making it up as it happens, much like Ollie. |
Fortunately, Ollie (and the writers) realize they need the Boy Backup to hang back and wait until Ollie screws things up. Which is immediately.
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| Ollie failed to notice that he's a header taller than the guy he's replacing. Have I mentioned recently that Green Arrow is not a detective? |
Speedy is there to save Ollie's sorry butt, but even his assistance is insufficient.
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| "We've got a date with a cannon." I'm so sure. |
I draw your attention to the Devil's lame William Tell joke. Sure, Golden Age characters quip stupidly and improbably while fighting. But this joke comes up on top of others in this story I haven't highlighted: the Wadsworth Poem, Robin Hood, (h)arrowing, William Tell, "getting the point". These references aren't just in this story, they are in EVERY Green Arrow story in the Golden Age.
Writers are, famously, supposed to write comic book stories as if "every comic is someone's first", but Green Arrow writers write every story as if it were someone's LAST. "Well, it's not like anyone reading this will ever read ANOTHER Green Arrow story after this one, so we better put ALL the archery jokes in here. Every time." And if you think that sounds normal, just imagine someone calling Batman "you flying rodent!" in EVERY SINGLE Batman story.
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| Couldn't resist that one, either. |
TOMORROW: I Shot A Green Arrow Into The Air....
"A rubber mask!" Did Roy think they were fighting actual devil-acrobats?
ReplyDeleteAnd forget about detective work, if Ollie's so much taller, how'd he even get into that guy's pants? Hm. Y'know, I'd rephrase that, but Ollie clearly knows the members of the Gayland Acrobatic Troupe and Rotating Luncheon Society on sight.
I was actually willing to go along with the arrow-stitch. It's sort of plausible with good timing and the art clearly shows the arrows coming from both directions, implying that the ragged edges were pushed together. But...Stan--sorry, Roy--is standing right next to Ollie, meaning there were some off-panel arrow-navigation shenanigans involved, so I don't like them apples.
This story must be setting some record for the number of times a sap appears, though. It's happening enough that I'm surprised they're not named "the Saps" to go along with Slingshot, Snare, Roper (I assume Stanley), Dr. Blades, Detonator, Angler, and probably more archers than really seems likely...
Credit where it's due, at least Green Arrow and Speedy are trying to solve all their problems via archery, or as many as possible anyway. Not every recent GA comic has felt any obligation to involve archery at all.
ReplyDeleteNow whether that leads to strange stories that inadvertently expose the limitations of archery as a solution to problems, that's another matter. But they are nevertheless sticking to the character premise, as they should.
But really, shouldn't they just tag the falling victim (I've forgotten where in the alphabet we are) with a parachute arrow? Or snag him with a net arrow? I feel like the whole arrow-stitching thing was dreamed up in a bar at about 2 pm after six gin and tonics, and somebody REALLY wanted to knock off work and have a few more drinks.
ReplyDelete