When last we left Speedy and Blue Arrow, they were plunging to their rocky cliffside doom, having been outwitted by some cheap hood named "Bronco Bates" with the old "there ain't no balcony" trick.
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| "Muttley! DO SOMETHIIIING!" |
Obviously, they are goners.
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| Fortunately, Blue Arrow is oblivious to the obvious. |
Can Blue Arrow make such a miracle shot?
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| Hm... No. I'm pretty sure you DO like to brag, Blue Arrow, given that this is the first thing you say, even before swinging to safety. |
Again, this seems to me like bog-standard Green Arrowing, but, based on Golden Age principles, if you are told something is a Miracle Shot, then it IS a Miracle Shot. One that is not only life-saving, but one which enables a surprise counterattack against Bronco Bates and his baleful buddies.
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| "Blue Arrow! You're back!" "Yes, I almost broke it!" See, B.A., THAT would have been witty. This is why you won't be in the JSA. |
So Blue Arrow is: exceedingly confident, gives solid smack talk, is stupidly gullible, and makes crazily expert shots on the regular. I guess we have a winner!
At least that's what Blue Arrow thinks; Speedy has another idea, however.
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| "Say WHUT?!" Awesome catchphrase, Blue Arrow. |
I will not mention the little dervish doll, or the clay pipe, or the Made in China pot. But I will note that these multicolored archers seem to have been given deep access to Arrow Stuff (including the Trophy Room), which is in Ollie's house. Or apartment. Or Arrowcave. The Golden Age was very vague about such things. Are they all told Green Arrow's secret identity? How would you handle such logistics without or before giving away the secret identity?
Well, we'll never know, BECAUSE...
Speedy has decided to slowly denude Blue Arrow with repeated shots that whiz tantalizing close to his body. As a test of his... bravery.
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| "And, trust me, I am watching your body closely to see whether your muscles are quivering!" Sure, Roy. Whatever helps you sleep at night. |
Wait, why is Blue Arrow wearing green underwear? OH, NO....
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| IT WAS EARTH ALL ALONG! |
Yup.
There never WAS a Red, White, or Blue Arrow. Each one was just Ollie, dickishly deceiving Roy, while -- AMAZINGLY -- wearing a full Green Arrow costume UNDER his Other Colored Arrow costume. Honestly, that's more impressive than any of those trick shots. At least explains why Ollie gave the "other" Arrows unfettered access to his Arrow Stuff.
But then who were those guys at the archery contest?
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| ... Good question, Roy. |
Turns out they were NPCs that Ollie just willed into existence, like they were bystanders generated by a special power on his Heroclix card.
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| Their names are unimportant; only my deception matters. |
This is dizzying in its implications. Does OLLIE have an archery club, and, if so, isn't that unhealthy for his secret? Does GREEN ARROW have an archery club and how has that never been a plot point before or since? Does Roy not KNOW the people in this club well enough to see through the disguises? Does Roy not know OLLIE well enough to see through the disguises? When, why, and how did Ollie become a master of disguise and mimicry (while falling to his death)?
Is Ollie being a dick, teaching Roy a lesson, like a Silver Age Superman hoodwinking Lois Lane "for her own good"? Is Ollie becoming wisely humble, knowing that he needs to earn Roy's trust again? Can you earn someone's trust by deceiving them? Is this the incident that leads Ollie to inspire the "Green Arrows of the World" group eight years later? Is this the initial crack in an obviously broken relationship whose disintegration will eventually lead Roy to dissipation in an opium den? What IS going on here?
Regardless, the lesson YOU must learn is: Golden Age writers do not care. They are about tricking you and subverting expectations, not creating logical sequences of events. They used this potential rich and resonant story concept -- a sidekick comes to the difficult realization that his mentor is slipping and forces the selection of a replacement -- not for pathos but for unrealistic and childish trickery. The Green Arrow writers patted themselves on the back for fooling a bunch of ten-year-old readers and then left for an early three-martini lunch at Delmonico's, confident that no one will be questioning their wisdom or their morals after reading this story, let alone 70 years after it was written.
This is like Lois Lane thinking that, every day at the Daily Planet, a different Clark Kent is showing up. "Good golly, there must be HUNDREDS of Clark Kents!"
ReplyDelete- HJF1
To understand the archery club, you must think like Ollie. Admittedly difficult, but bear with me. It is obviously Ollie's archery club, and it is what Ollie would consider a clever smokescreen to hide his identity. All he has to do is shoot poorly at the club meetings (meets? matches?), and no one will suspect him of being ace archer Green Arrow. It's roughly equivalent to Clark Kent pretending to be a coward, or Bruce Wayne pretending to be a dissolute playboy. Except, y'know, stupider.
ReplyDeleteThe three members of the archery club seem to show up just that one time at the beginning of the story, and then apparently disappear. So the entire rest of the adventure must be a really tedious exercise in Mrs Doubtfiring, with Ollie constantly coming up with flimsy excuses to leave the room and re-enter in a new costume. Thank goodness the writer spared us all of that.
ReplyDeleteI mean, Speedy would HAVE to pick up on what's going on, right?
- HJF1
HJF1, a charitable interpretation of the story would be that Speedy recognized that Ollie was going through a slump and then played dumb to help Ollie get his confidence back. But, as Scipio points out, that's not at all how Golden Age writers think. No, Ollie flawlessly played four different roles using only a tiny domino mask, costume changes, and his acting skills to fool his best friend.
ReplyDeleteIt puts me in mind of a theory I read (maybe here?) regarding Batman '66. They postulated that the citizens all knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne but pretended not to because he's rich, it seemed important to him to think he's fooling everyone, and hey, he keeps those pesky villains busy.
So, to recap:
ReplyDelete1) GA was in a slump and was called out by his underage ward/sidekick.
2) The archery trial was a sham to fool his underage ward/sidekick. And the NPCs who showed up.
3) GA continued lying to his underage ward/sidekick for three additional nights, all while taking them both into increasingly dangerous situations where trust is paramount.
4) Speedy never clued in that his crime-fight partner and all around father(ish) figure that he spends every day and night with was the same person because the outfits were different colors. He even continues to bash GA to each of the Chromatic Arrows.
5) When the big reveal happens, Speedy is completely surprised because GA was THAT good at hiding his cheekbones. And voice? And mannerisms? And aftershave?
The only reason I can think of as to why this city hasn’t been overrun with crime is that the criminals are even more inept than the protectors. Especially when one of those protectors feels the need to elaborately prove himself because a kid said he was old.
I love the Golden Age.
"2) The archery trial was a sham to fool his underage ward/sidekick. And the NPCs who showed up. "
DeleteIt wasn't to fool the NPCs; they were in on the scheme, says Ollie.
"because the outfits were different colors."
Ollie was wearing SOME kind of facial disguise to resemble the final three NPC contestants. It's not believable, but it's more than just wearing a different color.
"the criminals are even more inept than the protectors. "
ReplyDeleteExcept for Bronco Bates, who doesn't have a balcony, but has a door that leads to one.
I find it interesting that even though Speedy describes it as a test of "bravery", the final Being A Target test is actually about TRUST (specifically in Speedy's abilities); this is exactly the test that Speedy FAILED when he doubted Green Arrow. There's something deep there, even if the writers certainly didn't intend it to be.
ReplyDeleteI've been rewatching Batman: Brave and the Bold, because it's delightful, but one of the many clever things is that Green Arrow is literally a Batman wannabee, who is constantly trying to one-up Batman. Also, I just watched the Deadman episode and was struck by the fact that when asked if Speedy could be possessed, Ollie basically says, sure, go ahead without ever consulting Speedy. Decoy, indeed.
ReplyDeleteI have discussed before the "Ivory Soap" marketing principle: taking the central flaw of a product and turning it into the selling point. B&TB did that with Green Arrow, turning his central flaw ("he's a Batman knockoff") into his selling point ("he's a batman knockoff!")
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