Green Lantern/Green Arrow #77

June 1970
"Journey to Desolation!"
Danny O'Neil (writer), Neal Adams (pencils and inks), Cory Adams (colors), John Costanza (letters), Julie Schwartz (editor)

Driving through the Rockies, Hal, Green Arrow, and Appa come across a tiny mining town named "Desolation." As soon as they pass the sign, men with rifles fire on their vehicle. After effortlessly subduing the men, they reluctantly explain that they thought Hal and the others were working for Slapper Soames, the corrupt owner of the local mine who, with the help of his private army, has started treating the town like his own private fiefdom. The men also mention that Johnny Walden, a folk singer, was arrested by Soames' goons for stirring up discontent with his songs and that Soames is planning to lynch him soon. After a little reluctance, Hal agrees with Green Arrow and Appa to help the men confront Soames.

In the Desolation prison, Soames tells Johnny that the real reason he's been marked to death is that he is afraid Johnny would eventually become famous, which would lead the media to learning about the situation in Desolation. Meanwhile Green Arrow and Hal join in an uprising against Soames, only for Hal, at the worst possible moment, to learn telepathically from Appa that the Guardians reduced the potency of the power ring because Hal is on "leave of absence." Still, in spite of help from a turncoat in the town who nearly kills Green Arrow, Soames is eventually overthrown and arrested, although many of the men in Desolation have been left wounded or dead.

It's the 70s

It's fairly obvious that Johnny Walden is based on Bob Dylan, something that even Soames notices in his dialogue.

Yes, Green Arrow Deserves A Section

"Because Soames muscled his way into authority, he's a good guy, huh? Pal, Hitler was the 'boss' of Germany, remember? And there was Genghis Khan, Nero...Throughout history, cheap punks have made themselves leaders!"

Hi, sorry, GA, but Hitler was democratically elected while Genghis Khan and Nero were the legitimate, designated heirs to their respective monarchies. So maybe they're not the best people to compare to Soames. Well...maybe you should just stay away from the historical allegories, at least for five or six more issues.

And really what is it with Green Arrow's fixation on Hitler? If only Godwin's Law had been around in 1970...

Comments

One of the main problems with the last issue -the political commentary being dulled by the antagonist turning out to be a bona fide criminal - is magnified by the hundreds here. Any genuine exploration of workers' rights issues as well as the abuses that can go unnoticed in isolated rural communities is overshadowed by the ostentatious portrayal of Soames, whose actions are completely and obviously illegal. I know this is a comic from the early Bronze Age and so the standards of depth and realism and audience expectations are very different from what they generally are in 2009, but still...Soames even hires ex-Nazis as his henchmen!

The most distracting part is that Hal is portrayed here as such a blind follower of authority that he's willing to consider that it might be wrong to depose Soames even after he hears that Soames has an army of Nazi mercenaries and that he's going to lynch an innocent man! It's depressing to imagine how this interpretation of Hal did with his work as a Green Lantern: "Pardon me, but do you and your intergalactic armada have a permit to carry out this genocide of an entire world? You do? Well, carry on, then."