Siskoid and Chris Franklin’s coverage of The Brave and the Bold continues with issue #71 (May 1967) by Bob Haney and George Papp, starring Batman and pre-beard Green Arrow! It’s “Wrath of the Thunderbird”!
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Relevant images and further credits at: FW Team-Up Supplemental
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Huh. 1967 eh? I guess comics were 12 cents during my lifetime – when I was in my first year and a half, anyway. I can’t recall seeing them under 20 cents since I became sapient.
“Holy White Savior, Batman!”
It’s a little off putting that you have Whitebird essentially saying, “Can you teach me to be a native, Batman?” but I can see the value of the training montage.
The Thunderbird being a vulture is an interesting choice as well. I’ve always seen it pictured more like an eagle, but it’s also something from the northwest, not the northeast, so that doesn’t match up with Lenape* (aka Delaware) beliefs anyway. There is something similar in the Lenape belief system, which is the Pethakhuweyok (no, I don’t know how to pronounce it). These are beings that have the bodies of birds with human heads, and create the sound of thunder with their wings.
* I mention the Lenape because their traditional homeland included New Jersey, where Gotham is supposed to be. The name of my home town, Manahawkin, is a Lenape word meaning “fertile land sloping into the water”.
This sounds like a crazy comic, as you say split into three almost distinct parts.
J. Jay Jaye?? That is hilarious. But it would be great if he had returned as a full-blown super-villain and embrace ‘The Promoter’ persona.
As for perfect team-ups, I’d love for Green Arrow and The Huntress to team up in a bow vs. crossbow story, a sort of ‘Legolas vs. Gimli’ playful contest of accuracy and efficiency?
When I heard Chris’s team-up, I first thought he was going further into the F&W Network Universe: Green Arrow and Hawkeye Pierce! An adventure in Korea could trigger GA’s liberalism, but the Silver Age one wouldn’t work for the timeline, it would have to be the Golden Ager — or, as Bob Haney would say, don’t worry about it!
Here’s my green arrow team up it’s set on earth 2
And features two pro wrestlers who on earth 2 are
Also vigilantes or mystery men . Glacier wcw wrestlings sub zero nock off in this world he has the same powers as his mentor Subzero.
And his trusty side kick Kamala .Glacier and Kamala
The green arrow team up from triple threat of justice nod to ECW. As green arrow goes undercover in wcw wrestling with glacier and Kamala , and find the evil promoter who is mind controlling several wcw wrestlers in to super villains. They discover it’s a tag team of the dummy and scar face under the control Promotor from the Batman and green arrow team up or they controlling him ?
Random pro wrestling fact there have bin a pro wrestler who fought as the Batman in the ring .
Great discussion. I like these older team-up stories. Interesting to hear how Green Arrow sort of started the team-up genre. I’m always fascinated that Green Arrow and Aquaman were the only heroes aside from the Big Three to remain in print continuously through the interim period between the Golden and Silver Ages.
Chris your Adam West voice is always fantastic. Loved the reference to Thunderbird Repellant Bat-Spray.
I agree Chris has great Adam west voice .
It be great to hear him read a Batman pros novel in that style but which novel would work best for Adam west ?
I appreciate you guys taking time to address the nuances of this subject, and you bring up some interesting points. I understand why indigenous people might not appreciate that the trope of the white Outsider was often the only representation, and that works often portrayed their cultures innaccurately. It’s well documented that Edgar Rice Burrows intended Tarazan to demonstrate the superiority of the white man, for example. I remember an episode of I Dream of Jeannie in which Jeannie teleported herself and Tony to Arabia to participate in some nonsensical ritual by rattling off gibrish. I found it more annoying than humorous.
What a bonkers issue. An interesting snapshot of time in DC’s silver age, with the bronze rapidly approaching. I did a full read of JLA volume 1 in 2022, so the tone here is familiar to those first 70-ish issues. Quite a hoot.
It also surprised me that I’d forgotten how *short* Batman’s cape was in this era! It only comes to mid-thigh! But it has to because it was common to show Bats running in profile, and naturally his cape would be straight behind him in a horizontal line, and you couldn’t have that taking up the whole panel back then. It’s just funny that this specific detail jumped out to me.
Oh geez, a Green Arrow team up. Nothing came to me while listening, but out of nowhere, I want to see him face off against Bullseye. Which leads to a delightful match of Daredevil versus Count Vertigo. Hee-hee, it’d be so fun.
Thanks, chums!
Topsy-Turvy Team-Ups Present…
This issue sounds a bit mad. Good.
Talking of confusing hair colours, blond vs brown, did you ever see the way a Green Arrow meets Superboy story was reprinted in Teen Titans#37, with teenage Ollie coloured as Speedy – bizarre.