Friday, December 06, 2019

Why am I surprised it took multiple issues for Ollie to quit?


Yeah, like I've never tried to milk another story from a plot! From 1980, Justice League of America #182, "Reprise" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Frank McLaughlin.

Green Arrow thinks he has teleported down from the JLA's satellite for the last time, as he's just quit, on the grounds that the team spent "too much time fighting super-crooks" and apparently not enough busting kids for petty crime. Lost in his thoughts, Ollie barely notices a generic multiracial street gang stripping a car, and does miss an old foe passing by: the reformed Felix Faust! Still, even if he had seen him, Ollie may not have been able to do anything, as he's beamed back up to the satellite by Green Lantern and the League, who want more of an explanation why he resigned. (Shades of the Prisoner! Possibly because I've been watching a ton of that.) Perhaps rightly, he feels like he doesn't have to explain squat, but sine he's not an active member the teleport tubes won't send him back! This is somewhere between a totalitarian abuse of power and friendly ribbing of a friend; possibly more of the latter because the madder Ollie gets the funnier it is.

Busting Ollie's chops--ugh, that's a turn of phrase I hate, but it applies--is put on hold when Faust sends out a mystic SOS. He found the secret diary of ancient wizard Nostromus, and was possessed by it. If Nostromus's soul returned to his body, he could tear up the planet, so the JLA leaps into action; with Black Canary practically having to drag the stubborn Arrow. And lucky they did, since the team has a remarkably poor showing. Ollie puts an arrow through Nostromus's diary, and that's that. It's still not enough to get him back on the team, even with Canary opting to stay. Ollie's a cold bastard, if he can walk away from a crying Dinah--she was not quite as hardass as she would become, sure. Also, Ollie walks away from the team...in the Alps. I don't know if any of his solo tales followed up on how he got back to the states, since I don't think he would've had a passport-arrow or anything.

Also this issue: an Elongated Man back-up, with the unfortunate title "the Sun Queen Snatch!" Written by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Rodin Rodreguez, inks by Vince Colletta. The Dibnys are on vacation with the Halls, Hawkman and Hawkgirl! Hawkman's swimsuit...well, he's got the ass for it, I have to give him that.


1 comment:

H said...

Not the first time he's quit either. He's like a loose cannon cop- doesn't think much of regulations, but when the going gets tough you can count on him.

Also, I think that whole "you can't teleport back because you're not an active member" thing is more of a security measure against enemies than anything.