Ok, I know the real-world explaination for my question is “Because Mike Grell thought it would be more ‘realistic’ and it was during the grim’n’gritty '80s.” I understand that.
What I want to know is from the internal, inside the story perspective, was there ever a reason given that Green Arrow gave up his trick arrows and went for just plain ol’ pointy ones?
I mean, he’s used his trick arrows to take out Despero, Starro the Conquerer and “The Doom of the Star Diamond”. All he can do with regular pointy arrows is maim people.
And really…why’s the Justice League letting him maim people. Putting an arrow through someone’s calf or bicep or between their shoulder and arm joint or through their kneecap would permanatly cripple them. For all that Batman’s supposed to be brutal, he doesn’t actually hurt people. (Don’t forget that in a comic-book universe, knocking people out NEVER leads to “real” damage.)
The first time GA killed someone predated Mike Grell; it was in a Denny O’Neill/Neal Adams Batman/GA crossover. Don’t recall the title (though I probably have it), but Batman required heart surgery and GA was helping to get some equipment he needed.
GA sent an arrow through the heart of a drug dealer. No explanation was given, but then, you didn’t need one to kill a drug dealer.
From what I recall, when the new series started up about 12 years ago, GA had gotten too far from his roots and felt that he was bastardizing his skills and talent, and wanted to see if he could still cut it as a crime fighter without all the trick arrows and gadgets. So, he took to the streets of Seattle in a Robin Hood outfit with a longbow and broadheads.
It was getting kinda silly, after all. “Okay, Speedy, we can escape our underwater jail cell with the acetelyne-torch arrow and them swim to the surface with our aqua-lung tip arrow and then destroy the octopus robot with our firecracker arrows.”
Seriously, these arrows were used in one of Green Arrow’s stories.
Have you ever seen the entries for Green Arrow, Batman (in the Who’s Who in the DC Universe series) and Hawkeye (in the Marvel Universe handbooks)? They give a detailed list of the contents of GA’s and Hawkeye’s quivers of trick arrows, as well as Bats’ utility belt, but include the warning that these represent only samples and that the hero constantly revises and restocks his supply. This is clearly so the Deus Ex Machina device can be pulled out when the story requires it, as well as discourages obsessive fanboys from pointing out that Batman drew his tear gas pellets with his left hand in issue #345, but with his right in issue #376.
I think my favorite was the nuclear warhead arrow that GA used on a reanimated Starro the Conqueror during one of the JSA-JLA crossovers. I want to say it was issue #63, but I long sold that book and I don’t know.
I think he went back to just regular arrows in The Longbow Hunters by Grell. It was a 3 issue prestige format story that took GA and Black Canary to Seattle. And it includes the second time that GA killed someone, but this time it was on purpose.
If repeated blunt head trauma and loss of consciousness doesn’t eventually lead to brain damage, then I have no problem with a clothyard arrow through the kneecap not leading to a life on crutches or in a wheelchair. It’s the comics; whatever doesn’t kill you will be healed by the next issue. If it does kill you, then you have to wait at least six issues.
I know this is veering away from the OP, but can someone tell me how GA lost his arm? In The Dark Night Returns, he’s pulling the bowstring with his teeth.
Um…that’s bullshit! There’s one storyline involving Ras Au Guold (I don’t read Batman comics often, so forgive the bastardisation of his name); the key points of the story are Batman and Ras daughter get pregnant, and the big villain is some military guy that likes to pop peoples ribcages out with his bear hands. Anyway, in the opening, Bats is fighting some terrorists, and he throws a batarang at a canister right by a guy, busting it open, and causing the stuff inside to spray the guy and melt his face!!!
Like most, depending on who’s writing him, Batman will either make sure he doesn’t hurt someone perminantly, or make sure they never walk again. Just because current writters have him on a “live and let live, just with a few broken ribs” attitude, doesn’t mean he’s always had it.
Re-read Dark Knight. It is implied that, since Oliver wouldn’t quit ‘adventuring’, the government sent Superman to deal with im - and that Supes ‘removed’ his arm. Never stated just HOW he did this.
Was it me, or did the missing arm switch from the original Dark Knight to DK2?
It’s an old storyline, from the mid to late 80’s I think (could be early 90’s), and no, he wasn’t a super-villain, just some crazed whack job that liked to crush people with his bare hands. He crushes some guys skull earlier on in the story as well.
But yeah, did anyone else catch the part where I said Batman Melted a guys FACE!!!
It’s actually from a graphic novel called Son Of The Demon. In it, Batman impregnated Rahs Al Gul’s daughter, but she told Batman that she lost the baby, but the kid turned up at an orphanage at the end of the story. Now it’s considered to be an Elseworld’s story.
I dunno that it’s officially considered an Elseworlds story - I think DC just decided to ignore it. OTOH, it was pre-Zero Hour, so DC is quite free to have removed it officially.
This synopsis gives a pretty good rundown of what was wrong with the story.
