Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #444

In the early 1970s, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #444 is cover dated February 1975 and hit the shelves on November 28, 1974, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell and a cover by Nick Cardy.

The ominous-sounding Green Arrow strip called "The Black Canary is Dead" is scripted by Elliot S. Maggin based on a story by Mike Grell who also provided the art.  The story begins with Green Arrow arriving at Star City Police Headquarters where the cops play a recorded message for him.

One of the detectives agrees with Green Arrow that the tape's assertion that Black Canary is dead must be a lie, because it was sent to the cops with evidence--a lock of blonde hair.  But the cops have identified the blonde hair as coming from a wig, which they think proves the Canary must be alive.  Only Ollie knows the truth, that Black Canary is naturally dark-haired and wears a wig in her crime fighting guise.

Green Arrow storms out of the police station and thinks back to a moment in the recent past when he was approached by an elderly Italian immigrant named Mr. Genetta who begged the Emerald Archer to save his grandson Tommy from losing his life to drugs like so many other teenagers these days.  But when Green Arrow visits Tommy, the boy tells him to get lost and boasts about the head of the drug trafficking syndicate, Max Looker, is so successful.

Ollie leaves Tommy, reflecting on his awful track record for not dealing with junkies in a mature, patient manner and thinks back to his ex-sidekick Roy Harper.  His attention is diverted, though, when he sees a well-dressed man getting out of a fancy car in the poorest, most dangerous part of town.  He follows the man down the street to a vacant lot.

Surrounded by street toughs, Green Arrow cuts loose, taking out half a dozen punks in the alley.  In the process, though, he loses track of the man in the suit.

Green Arrow goes to the police and describes the well-dressed man to the police sketch artist.  One of the cops identifies the mystery man as Peter Lazenby, one of the "Four Horsemen" known to control all drug trafficking across the globe.  The cop says they have identified three of the four drug kingpins, and believe the fourth one is Max Lucker, the man name-dropped by Tommy the Junkie.  The cops tell Green Arrow they don't have anything concrete on Lucker, but he runs a casino outside of Star City.

Ollie needs help roping in Lazenby and Lucker, so he goes home and recruits his lover, Dinah Lance.

Green Arrow busts into Max Lucker's office and demands to know if he's responsible for flooding the streets with drugs.  Lucker calls security into his office and Green Arrow disarms them easily.  He fires a couple arrows that pin Lucker to his chair, and as Ollie leaves, Lucker vows vengeance.

Is Black Canary really dead?  You'll have to come back next week to find out... but (spoilers) she totally isn't.

I'm loving Mike Grell's art on these backup strips lately.  It's definitely more of a DC house blend then his later stuff with these characters, so the transition from Dicks Dillin and Giordano isn't so jarring, but he throws in some personal flourishes with the action and the facial expressions.  And his Dinah, even in one panel, looks as sexy as ever.

Come back next Monday for another tale of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Action Comics...

Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #441

In the early 1970s, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #441 is cover dated November 1974 and hit the shelves on August 29, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan and a cover by Nick Cardy.

The Green Arrow strip called "The Mystery of the Wandering Dog" is written by Elliot S. Maggin with art by Mike Grell.  Like the first chapter in this story that I posted yesterday, I'm such a big fan of this story I'm just going to post the pages below and offer my commentary afterward.

Were you able to solve the mystery before Ollie and Dinah?  The mystery dog was Krypto all along!

I shared my love of dogs and Mike Grell's art in yesterday's post.  Both are just as applicable to this part of the story.  As far as that story goes, it's a little on the thin side considering that two out of the six pages are devoted to recapping what happened in the previous chapter.  It's a little silly that Green Arrow has to free Professor Steelgraves from police custody in order to find out where all his mad-sciency equipment was being stored.  The police ought to be able to get that information themselves.

Regardless, there are two highlights in this story for me.  First, Dinah actually suits up as Black Canary for the first time in a while in these backup strips.  What's more, she looks damn good drawn by Grell until she's made to look old and ugly when Steelgraves uses the aging ray on her and Ollie.  The other standout part of the story is that Krypto saves the day.  I know how destructive dogs can be, so I got a kick out of him ripping the lock off of Dinah's flower shop door, and then smashing into Steelgraves' crazy contraption.

It was cool to see Clark Kent make a cameo in the final panel.  I haven't read the story where Krypto's amnesia is explained or resolved, but I know it all works out.

Come back next Monday for another tale of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Action Comics...

Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #440

In the early 1970s, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #440 is cover dated October 1974 and hit the shelves on July 30, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Elliot S. Maggin with art by Curt Swan and a cover by Nick Cardy.

The Green Arrow strip called "Little Dog Lost" is written by Maggin with art by Mike Grell.  I love this story so much that I'm not going to summarize it.  I'm going to post the six pages below and offer my commentary afterward.

I believe this issue marks the first time Mike Grell drew Green Arrow and Black Canary.  He would continue to chronicle their adventures in Action Comics and World's Finest before taking them to unparalleled places (both heights and depths) with The Longbow Hunters and beyond.  At this early point in his career, Grell's work looked pretty similar to the DC House Style that Giordano and Dillin used on earlier Green Arrow and Black Canary stories.  But you can definitely see where Grell provides a flourish with facial expressions and body language in some of the close-ups.

As for the story, it grabbed my heartstrings immediately.  I'm a dog lover.  I have two dogs and I love them more than some of my family members.  I'm Facebook friends with people who run animal rescue shelters, so my wall is filled with heartbreaking videos of dogs being rescued and reunited with returning veterans.  All that is to say when I opened this comic for the first time, I fell in love with Grell's rendering of the mystery dog's curiosity-filled eyes.

The action in this story is terrific.  Maggin does a great job of creating three villains with distinct personalities in such a short amount of time; Professor Steelgraves--why hasn't this guy come back to haunt Star City more often?  Large Maxie--who doesn't love a hired goon who talks in the third person?

As with so many Green Arrow backups in Action Comics, Dinah Lance only appears in her civilian identity, not as Black Canary.  And the most action she gets is hallucinating and judo chopping a dog. That I didn't care for, but the storytellers make it clear she didn't hurt the dog seriously (as if she could), so I kind of let it slide.  I'm not wild about her naming the dog Demian.  Such a weird, unlikely dog name except for a vicious snarling guard dog, perhaps.

Of course, this story is only the first chapter of a two-parter.  Where did this mystery dog come from?  What could explain its unusual abilities?  What will Ollie and Dinah do with the mad science device retrieved from Steelgraves' boat?  These answers and more will be revealed tomorrow when I review Action Comics #441.  See you then!

Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #436

In the early 1970s, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #436 is cover dated June 1974 and hit the shelves on March 28, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Elliot S. Maggin with art by Curt Swan and Vince Colletta and a cover by Nick Cardy.

The Green Arrow strip called "Young Man with a Drum" is written by Maggin with pencils by Dick Dillin and inks by Tex Blaisdell.  The story opens with Black Canary handing an unsolved mystery off to her boyfriend, Green Arrow.  Two panels on the first page are the only appearance Dinah makes in this story, but oh well...

Green Arrow changes into civilian clothes and, as Oliver Queen, checks out a band called Great Frog that's playing in the park.  Great Frog just arrived in Star City after touring the country, so maybe they're involved in the case.

Unexpectedly, Ollie recognizes his former kid sidekick Roy Harper playing drums for the band.  He hasn't seen Roy since the boy headed out on his own after the historic events of Green Lantern #85 and #86 where Ollie discovered Roy was addicted to heroin.  Now he figures Roy has infiltrated the band as part of an unknown undercover operation, y'know, rather than a teenager just living every kid's fantasy of touring with a rock and roll band.

Ollie then changes back into his Green Arrow duds and snoops around the band's dressing room.  He finds false-bottoms built into the band's instrument cases and stolen cameras and merchandise inside. He theorizes that someone is concealing the stolen goods inside the band's equipment so that Roy and the others are unwittingly transporting the contraband throughout the tour.

I'm not sure why he doesn't suspect the band themselves; I guess he just really trusts Roy, who, as we mentioned earlier, has a drug problem.  Green Arrow assumes Roy knows about the stolen goods and is about ready to close the case.  After the gig, Roy comes back into his dressing room and finds his old mentor there.

Damn, Roy, we all want to smack Green Arrow now and then, but dude!

Archie, the manager who walked in the room, is suitably impressed that Roy seemed able to take out a costumed vigilante with one punch.  He pulls Roy aside and confides in him the secret that the music tour is really a nationwide smuggling and fencing operation.  As they walk out of the room, Roy tosses a small object that lands next to Ollie, who opens his eyes, alert but not ready to give that intelligence away to Archie.

Later, a pair of goons come into the room to dispose of Green Arrow's body, but he springs up and effortlessly takes them out.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Archie takes Roy to see Mr. Aubrey, the man who books the band's cross-country tour and the man who runs the criminal operation.  He tells Roy he could have a bright future in fencing and drug trafficking, which is just want Roy wanted to hear.  At that moment, Green Arrow swings through the window and kicks Aubrey across his desk.  Ollie fires off two arrows that pin Archie to the wall and plug the barrel of his gun.

Aubrey confesses to the whole criminal enterprise and the police take him and his goons away.  Green Arrow chides Roy for the impractical use of the radio transceiver he threw down in the dressing room after pretending to know Arrow unconscious.  Roy tells him he would have had the case solved and the bad guys taken out whether Ollie showed up or not.  Ollie tells him not to be so headstrong and to ask for help once in a while.

Sorry to say, Roy, but I don't think Great Frog has a very bright future.  Also, you must not have been a very good drummer, because Darwyn Cooke pegged you for a bass player on his variant cover for Teen Titans #5 this December.  I mean, you do seem more like a strings guy, right?

We don't get much of Black Canary in this story, but it's still a pretty enjoyable tale, and Maggin makes nice use of continuity by extending the tension between Ollie and his ex-partner.  Green Arrow acts like he wants to it out, like he expects Roy to come back and everything will be the same, which was always Ollie's problem when it came to Roy.  When it came to any of his friends and family, actually.  For all his pretense about social activism and progress, Oliver Queen doesn't handle change to his personal life well at all.

Come back next Monday for another tale of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Action Comics...

Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #434

In the early 1970s, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #434 is cover dated April 1974 and hit the shelves on January 31, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan and Vince Colletta and a cover by Nick Cardy.

The Green Arrow strip entitled "Zatanna's Double-Identity" is written by Elliot S. Maggin with art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin.  The story opens with Green Arrow recounting the most recent frustration in his terribly burdensome life.

Dinah Lance is hella pissed that her Justice League teammate, Zatanna, is locking lips with Oliver Queen, Dinah's boyfriend.  But what pisses her off even more is how Zatanna acts like she is Ollie's lover and Dinah is a total stranger.  Dinah storms off letting Ollie sort out the situation.  Maggin makes a point of referencing Dinah's judo mastery; she leaves to maintain discipline over her mind and body.

Ollie assumes that Zatanna has been the victim of some kind of magic spell that screwed wit her memory and perceptions, but instead of concocting a practical way of solving that problem, he takes Zatanna with him to the public demonstration of a bank's new super security system.

There's some not-too-sublte jab at the anti-Communist witch hunts in Washington, D.C. before a pair of armed robbers bust in and try to rob the place.  Ollie changes into his Green Arrow costume and he and Zatanna spring into action.

Except, as Green Arrow notices, Zatanna isn't fighting the way she normally would.  She's fighting the way Black Canary does!

Zatanna slowly comes to her senses and remembers her own identity and powers.  She changes the robber from a wolf back into his human form.  That's lucky for him, because remaining in animal form for too long could be disastrous and permanent, as Zatanna explained to Black Canary in the Bloodspell graphic novel.

Back at Ollie's office, Zatanna reveals what happened to make her behave so strangely.

Ollie is relieved that Zatanna's attraction to him was all part of an accidental spell, or so he would think.  Zatanna doesn't want Ollie thinking it was entirely an accident and she pulls him in for another kiss before she leaves.

Green Arrow slumps into his chair to dwell on this latest revelation.  That's when Dinah--who had left to calm down, if you remember--comes back dressed as Black Canary and kicks Ollie's door down!

First, how awesome is Nick Cardy's cover to this issue!  Forget Kryptonite, Superman's real weakness is the threat of tooth decay!!!  As for this story, like oh-so many Silver and Bronze Age adventures, it was silly and somewhat nonsensical but so much damn fun.

Zatanna looks great in her classic stage magician costume, so much better than either of the costumes she would wear as a member of the Justice League of America in the late '70s and early '80s.  Dinah, too, looks sexy as always regardless of what outfit and hair she's sporting.  I'm not always a fan of Dick Dillin's work, but I have no real complaints about it in this story.

Even though Dinah is shunted off to the side for this story and only appears as Black Canary after the action is over, she does have an unexpectedly large role in this story.  It's flattering, as a fan of the character and her physical prowess, to see how highly Black Canary's martial arts skills are thought of by Zatanna and Green Arrow.  It's a nice validation of the character who hasn't had much to do in the Action Comics backups so far that Dinah is a master hand-to-hand combatant and that a real super-powered magic user would try to emulate that in battle.

The one lingering question I have, though: Why the hell did Zatanna turn one of the robbers into a wolf?  Wolves can still be freaking dangerous if scared or threatened; why not turn him into a rabbit or a guinea pig?

Come back next Monday for another tale of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Action Comics...

Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #428

In the early 1970s, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #428 is cover dated October 1973 and hit the shelves July 31, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson and a cover by Nick Cardy.

The Green Arrow strip entitled "The Plot to Kill Black Canary" is written by Elliot S. Maggin with art by Dick Giordano.  The story opens with Oliver Queen making a deal to have Black Canary publicly endorse a motorcycle company.

Dinah Lance is less than thrilled that Ollie volunteered her for such an appearance without her approval, but she agrees to go along with it when he says it's for charity.

In a seedier part of Star City, two smalltime crooks, Pete Larkin and Albert the Artist, read about Black Canary's upcoming motorcycle demonstration in the newspaper.  Since the Canary had previously foiled one of their counterfeiting schemes, Pete and Al decide to take their revenge at the bike show.

The day of said bike show, Green Arrow visits a pool hall and rounds up a pair of gold smugglers with some nice sharpshooting archery action and good old fashion punching.  After rousting the hoods, Green Arrow is met by his criminal informant outside.

Louie the C.I. tells Green Arrow that Pete and Al are planning to kill Black Canary with a bomb planted in her motorcycle during the bike show.

Green Arrow races to the show where his Pretty Bird has started driving around on her motorcycle.  Arrow finds Al the Artist disguised as someone in Canary's pit crew and takes him down, but the bomb is live.

Green Arrow fires an arrow and swings away so the bike explodes when it crashes harmlessly away from he and Canary and any spectators.  He lets the police capture Pete and Al, while Ollie and Dinah have a private debriefing later on.

Come back next Monday for another tale of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Action Comics...

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and Banshee

It's Thursday and that means I get to lazily graciously repost one of Ross' custom DC/Marvel crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  Last December, Ross celebrated his 600th crossover cover with a four different mash-ups, including Black Canary and Banshee's final scream!

I love all of these team-ups, from the Avengers and Star Trek crew, to Wolverine and Lion-O of the Thundercats, to Deathlok and RoboCop.  But naturally my favorite is the sonic power-couple of the X-Men's Banshee and Dinah Lance.

The Black Canary image above is by Nick Cardy and comes from the cover to The Brave and the Bold issue #91.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #426

In the early 1970s, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #426 is cover dated August 1973 and hit the shelves May 31, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson and a cover by Nick Cardy.  The issue included two backup stories, one featuring the Human Target by Len Wein and Dick Giordano.

The Green Arrow strip entitled "The Wrong Side of the Tracks" is written by Elliot S. Maggin with pencils by Dick Dillin and inks by Giordano.

The story begins, after Green Arrow shouts at the reader, with Oliver Queen entering Dinah Lance's Pretty Bird Flower Shoppe...

Dinah leaves the store to Ollie, telling him she'll be back in time for dinner.  So, while technically minding the store, he kills time by designing a new trick arrow with some of her tools in the back room.  Then two delivery men arrive with some freaky sci-fi sculpture, but Ollie points out that they're on the wrong side of town.

"If you drop a bowl of spaghetti out a window, the way it lands will look like a street map of Star City," Ollie tells the delivery men before redirecting them to the correct address.  Hmm... I've heard similar descriptions for the layout of Boston.  Clearly, at the time this story was written, Star City was imagined as an eastern city, not the West Coast hub it will become later in DC's history.

After the delivery men drive off, Ollie realizes that their truck is from a building that went out of business the year before.  He changes into Green Arrow and swings across town with his rope arrows.  He sees the delivery guys bringing the sculpture to a man named Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. (seriously!) and uses a bug-arrow to listen in on the recipient, but his surveillance equipment detects the presence of another bug in the office that must have been planted on the sculpture.

Green Arrow intercepts the delivery men leaving the office and questions them.  They say the Osborne Foundation's vice president, Gregory Gates, hired them and gave them the truck and sculpture; that's all they know.  Green Arrow turns them loose and then meets with Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. revealing the spy equipment hidden on the sculpture.  Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. is angry, so angry!  Can you imagine how angry Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. must be?!

Green Arrow leaves the office of Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. and goes to see Gregory Gates, the vice president of the foundation run by Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.  Ollie overhears Gates admit to spying on Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. after the "twerp" inherited Osborne Foundation and demoted him.  Gates doesn't approve of how unselfishly Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. wants to spend the foundation's money.

That's all Green Arrow needs to hear to spring into action.

Green Arrow recalls how his own million-dollar company was taken away from him by conniving jerks like Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. like Gregory Gates.  He beats the crap out of Gates and his men, and then goes to help Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.  He tells the young man not to let this experience spoil his entrepreneurial spirit or idealism.

Then, inexplicably, he convinces Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. to show him his financial records and goes through all of his books to make sure his company is safe.  Ollie mentions attending four years at Hudson University.  Clearly, he is well educated in business, but why the hell would this C.E.O. trust him with this kind of information after knowing Green Arrow for about six minutes.

At the bottom of the page is an ad for Mike Kaluta's The Shadow which looks awesome!

Another fun little Green Arrow story.  Dinah is just Dinah once again, not the Black Canary.  She doesn't get to kick ass in her fishnets and blonde wig, but she does look terrific as ever.  It's kind of funny reading these stories where she is treated as the hero's girlfriend who happens to own a flower shop.  In a way, these stories feel like Black Canary's Golden Age stories told from the perspective of Larry Lance.  In those old tales in Flash Comics, he didn't know Dinah and Black Canary were the same woman, and Larry always fancied himself the hero in his own mind.

Come back next Monday for another tale of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Action Comics...

Action Plus: ACTION COMICS #421

In the early 1970s, Black Canary appeared regularly in the pages of Justice League of America and pretty regularly in Green Lantern.  When the adventures of the Hard Travelin' Heroes got cancelled, Black Canary popped up in a few other places, like issues of Adventure Comics and The Brave and the Bold.

After Green Lantern ended, Green Arrow joined the "Action Plus" feature of Action Comics, which alternated backup stories starring the Emerald Archer, the Atom, and Human Target.  Black Canary made numerous guest appearances in her boyfriend's strip, sometimes in her costumed identity, and sometimes as civilian florist, Dinah Lance.

Action Comics #421 is cover dated February 1973 but came out December 28, 1972, according to Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics.  The lead Superman story is written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson and a cover by Nick Cardy.

The Green Arrow strip entitled "The Headline Maker" is written by Elliot S. Maggin with pencils by Sal Amendola and inks by Dick Giordano.

Swinging onto the burning theater, Green Arrow kicks open the door to the upper balcony to free the patrons trapped inside.  They're still stuck on the upper floor, however, so Ollie fires off some trick arrows that create a safety net on the street below.  He sets an example for the less than enthusiastic civilians by leaping out the window and landing safely on the net below.

After ensuring the theater-goers are safe, Green Arrow makes his exit, dodging the show's press agent.  He ducks away and changes into his private citizen garb as Oliver Queen.  Then he heads out to meet Dinah the day before she opens her store called Pretty Bird Flower Shoppe.

Ollie takes off to find someone to advertise her story, leaving Dinah behind to clean up the mess he made by knocking over the potted plant.  Dinah watches Ollie leave, wondering why she loves him, or if she does, since she can't bring herself to form the L-word.

On his way across town, Ollie recognizes a mob hit-man named Lucas Branson.  Ollie follows Branson down into the subway and spies on the assassin.  Branson uncovers a tape in a phone booth, plays the recording, and hears the details of his next target.  As Branson goes back upstairs to the street, though, Ollie uses a siren-arrow to spook the hit-man and send him running back to the subway train.

Ollie calls the Star City Herald and tells them Green Arrow will capture Lucas Branson in front of the Pretty Bird Flower Shoppe.  He follows Branson on the train and tips off a beat cop as to the hood's identity, but Branson gets away from the cop and goes up to the street.  Ollie changes into his Green Arrow outfit and confronts Branson on the street in front of Dinah's store.

Green Arrow fires an arrow at Branson's gun, disarming the man.  As Dinah, the cops, and the Herald photographer converge on the street, Green Arrow takes out the mob enforcer.

So no Black Canary action in this issue of Action, but at least Dinah got to put Ollie in his place at times with a few well-placed smart-ass comments.  Plus, she looks gorgeous and foxy rendered by Amendola and Giordano.

The real weird part of the story, though, is when Ollie points out the mobster to the police officer in the subway.  Ollie says he's giving the cops the chance to make the arrest and get the glory, but that seems counter to his agenda, and also dangerous.  What if Branson panicked at the sight of the cop like he did at the sound of police sirens?  What if Branson killed the subway cop because Ollie pointed him out?  I don't think that would make Ollie culpable of the death of a police officer, but it would be a little ethically smudgy.

Come back next Monday for another tale of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Action Comics...

Team-Up: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #100 (March 1972)

Happy Batman Day!

Yes, today marks the 75th Anniversary of the Dark Knight's debut in Detective Comics #27.  To honor this landmark in comics publishing, I couldn't think of a better topic for today's post than one of the Blonde Bombshell's team-ups with Batman in the pages of The Brave and the Bold.  And, thinking one big anniversary deserves another, what better issue to cover than The Brave and the Bold #100 starring Batman and Robin, as well as the Hard Travelin' heroes, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary?

"The Warrior in a Wheel-Chair" is written by Zany Bob Haney with art by the legendary Jim Aparo and a cover by the equally legendary Nick Cardy.  The Brave and the Bold #100 is cover dated March 1972 but hit the streets in December of '71.

The issue begins with an unseen sniper spying potential targets on the steps of Gotham City Hall.  When Batman comes down the steps, though, the sniper zeroes-in and fires, cutting down the Dark Knight Detective.  Commissioner Jim Gordon rides in the ambulance with Batman, cursing the drug dealers he believes responsible for this attempt on Batman's life.

The hospital's chief-of-staff tells Gordon the bullet penetrated Batman's chest and stopped perilously close to his heart.  There is only one surgeon who might be able to save the Caped Crusader, according to the chief-of-staff; unfortunately, Dr. Hellstrom is in Zurich and can't arrive in Gotham for three days.  That means Batman has to stay safely on the sidelines for three days while the biggest drug shipment in history is set to go down.

Batman stubbornly tries to rise out of the wheelchair but his body betrays him.  Alfred pleads with him to stay in the chair while Batman agonizes over his newfound uselessness in the war on crime.

While sulking, Batman observes a spider catching a fly in its web and has a sudden epiphany.  "The bat must turn into a spider," he says, and tells his faithful butler to summon Robin.

Later that night, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Green Lantern arrive in Gotham City wondering if Batman's condition is as serious as it sounded when he beckoned them.  And naturally, it doesn't take long for the Emerald Archer and the Ringslinger to start shouting at each other about drugs and other societal problems.

Unseen by the trio of Justice Leaguers, Robin makes contact with his boss, using code names for both of them.

Huh... Robin can't understand what value Black Canary brings to Batman's scheme?  Is this naiveté of youth?  Ignorant sexism?  Or just another Bob Haney-ism that we roll our eyes at and press on with this wacky adventure?  Let's go!

Commissioner Gordon contacts Batman and tells him he can't combat the drug trade by himself while recuperating from his gunshot.  Batman tells him not to worry, that he's brought in his ward and three members of the Justice League of America to help his operation.  Then, inexplicably, Gordon complains that this war on drugs is police business.  Is he objecting to more costumed crime fighters lending a hand in an unofficial capacity?  He knows he's talking to Batman, right?  Haney!!!  Anyway, Batman asks for Gordon's trust and a little bit more time to put his plan into motion, then he hangs up and fights back the pain of his life-threatening injury.

Across the world in Switzerland, Mr. Belknap, the head of the international drug cartel is nervous about the security of his drug shipments to Gotham, so he sets up a test run.  Back in Gotham, we learn that Batman has a coded set of delivery routes and dates.  If he cracked the code, he ought to be able to anticipate the location of every one of Belknap's shipments.

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the Bat-Spider sends the Ace-Archer into action.  Green Arrow slips into the Gotham City Post Office and observes the drug traffickers disguising drugs into mail packages.

Green Arrow sends a shaft through the chest of one of the drug runners, killing him; the other punk gets away.  Green Arrow checks the packages full of drugs but discovers that it's only fine sugar.  After reporting in to Batman, the Dark Knight realizes that Belknap sent in a test shipment.  Now they are aware of each other and the operations will get even more dangerous.

Batman gets word that another shipment is coming in through the docks.  Green Lantern watches the ship come into port and unload a foreign car.  He suspects the drugs might be hidden in the car, but when he goes to investigate, hidden gunmen from the ship and the docks open fire.  Green Lantern uses the power of his ring to protect himself and thwart the shooters.  Then he uses the ring to deconstruct the car, only to find no drugs hidden inside.  Once again, Belknap has foiled Batman's plan by sending a false shipment.

Of course it's the woman who nearly ruins Batman's carefully constructed scheme!  And of course Robin thinks Black Canary's an idiot, though he is able to recognize her legs from across the street in the rain.

Wait, Black Canary had to get out of the rain because it was ruining her hair?  She wears a wig!!!

Batman wallows in despair that he couldn't catch Belknap's drug deliveries.  Three chances, three misses, and now the Dark Knight has run out of time.  He collapses under the strain and needs to be prepared for surgery.

Back in Switzerland, Belknap learns that Batman will be operated on by Dr. Hellstrom from the same country.  That night, "Hellstrom" oversees the loading of some equipment onto the plane sending him across the ocean.  In Gotham, Robin and Commissioner Gordon watch as Batman is wheeled into the operating room.  Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Green Lantern fume over their inability to stop the drug shipments and head to the hospital to be close to Batman during his surgery.

In the operating room, Dr. Hellstrom points out his elaborate machine that will keep Batman's condition stable during the procedure.  The Dark Knight begins to feel the effects of anesthesia which causes him to hallucinate images of a giant spider web and Belknap at the center.  The vision of Belknap transforms into the vision of a surgeon and Batman feels himself ensnared by webs.

The Caped Crusader snaps out of his sleep and begins to resist the doctors about to cut him open.  He struggles while they try to increase his anesthesia.  In desperation, he signals Robin in the waiting room.

Before Belknap can slice Batman's throat, Green Arrow fires an arrow that knocks the scalpel out of the drug kingpin's hand.  The heroes take down Belknap.  Gordon gets word to Switzerland where they discover that the real Dr. Hellstrom was captured by Belknap's goons.  It will take six hours for him to fly to Gotham, and Batman doesn't have that much time.  So Green Arrow uses his green power ring to collect the surgeon and bring him to Gotham in a much speedier time.

When the real Hellstrom begins to operate on Batman, he realizes that his specialized machine isn't working correctly.  Upon inspection, the heroes realize that the machine is filled with Belknap's drug shipment.

After the operation, the heroes gather around Batman and explain how Belknap planned to usurp Dr. Hellstrom, kill Batman during the surgery, and then take his machine out of the hospital to flood the city with his product.  They wonder how Batman figured out Belknap had taken the doctor's place, and the Dark Knight tells them he felt needle marks on the doctor's wrist and remembered that Belknap was a junkie.  Hmm... that seems like information we should have had earlier.

What to say about this issue?  It's fun and hilarious in all the usual Bob Haney ways.  The story is too complicated by half for its own good.  Why all this ridiculous spider imagery and emphasis on Batman spinning complex webs like a spider?  This doesn't amount to anything profound and the metaphor doesn't even hold up.  The characters are exaggerated and slightly wonky, and sexist in Robin's case, but that's just natural fun.

In any event, the true star of this book isn't Batman or Black Canary or Robin... it's Jim Aparo!