So, we have finally made it. Like Mike Grell’s titanic run on Green Arrow (vol 2), you’ll find that Chuck Dixon’s is nearly just as long. While there is still a miniseries to go after the core series, this is where the title ends and is cancelled. It’s a shame, but I guess 137 issues is a strong number of issues for a title during the 1990s. Regardless, this is where Connor Hawke has to face his greatest threat yet, that being a group of angry ninja-trained monkeys. In all seriousness, The Brotherhood of the Fist is the story which Dixon has been building up to and just to prove that, Dixon presents it to us in his four monthly titles, those being Green Arrow, Detective Comics, Robin, and Nightwing. Yes, Chuck Dixon had to write at least four comics a month for several years in the late 1990s, and that’s excluding any annuals, miniseries, or graphic novels at the same time. You have to respect the guy. Anyway, The Brotherhood of the Fist is a surprising story which features some surprising characters and some surprising plot choices. But the most prominent aspect of this story and the remaining issue of the run is Green Arrow himself, for these stories will mark the end of Connor Hawke’s Green Arrow… for a while anyway…
Green Arrow (vol 2) 134-137, 1000000, Detective Comics 723, Robin (vol 4) 55, Nightwing (vol 2) 23, and Green Lantern (vol 3) 104 was published from July to November 1998, the run’s conclusion. All stories were written by Chuck Dixon (with the Green Lantern issue by Ron Marz) with various artists, most prominently Doug
Braithwaite and Robin Riggs. I’ve read these stories in their original issues.
Brotherhood of the Fist --- Written by Chuck Dixon with art by Doug Braithwaite, Robin Riggs, Alex Maleev, Bill Reinhold, William Rosado, Stan Woch, Scott McDaniel, and Karl Story
Unlike most other stories that crossover with multiple titles, Brotherhood of the Fist has the pleasure of all issues actually being written by one person. Normally during this period with a vast number of crossovers, there would usually be three or more writers on one story. Take most of the Batman stories from the 1990s, particularly something as gigantic as Knightfall which features four different titles with four different writers. Here however, all five issues (four titles) are written by Chuck Dixon, but that’s only because he was usually writing these four titles every month to begin with. Anyway, it begins with the enemy, The Silver Monkey, or should I say enemies. Beaten by Connor Hawke (in previous Green Arrow issues), the Silver Monkey reports back to his disappointed Sensei, who orders his cult of silver monkeys to find and execute Connor Hawke by spreading across the world and executing other superheroes. Then, on a quiet evening in San Francisco, Eddie Fyers and Master Jansen are attacked by… Bronze Monkeys? Yes, the cult just keeps on growing. Of course, Jansen and Fyers and takes them out in a matter of panels, but the latter decides that they must find Connor before it’s too late. Meanwhile in upstate Gotham in the snowy fields, Green Arrow finds and monitors a shack which a group of villains (with links to Milo Armitage, his evil stepfather) he has been following have arriving at. When he investigates however, he is confronted by none other than the Dark Knight himself. Very much the amateur in his presence, Connor follows Batman and the two discover that the shack is a trap! Following a secret hatch inside, the two heroes find a secret base of Kobra, the international crime cartel, with all of its members dead. Suddenly, monkeys appear from the darkness and Green Arrow fights back against the cultists and takes them out, with the Dark Knights help. However, in his final moments, one of the cultists activates Kobra’s self-destruct system and in a matter of seconds, the whole base explodes. Do Batman and Green Arrow survive? Of course, they do, but it’s a great way to end the first part. Now, to Detective Comics with its glossy and cheap paper! Although Batman and Green Arrow escape the blast, so too do the monkey cultists. Meanwhile in Gotham, Nightwing and Robin are left patrolling the city when they find a group of nun-chuk wielding grey monkeys. While they fight the grey monkeys, Batman and Green Arrow take on their monkeys, but they retreat due to the harsh and vision-impairing blizzard. Suddenly, avalanche! Back in Gotham, Eddie Fyers arrives and helps Robin and Nightwing take out the monkeys and tells them about how he has been travelling and learning about the monkeys and how they have been attacking groups such as the Outsiders. Nightwing being Nightwing however, doesn’t believe his story and Eddie decides to look for Connor. With that, Nightwing speaks to Oracle, and she learns that Black Canary is also dealing with a group of monkey cultists but runs into some help in the form of the Bronze Tiger. Meanwhile, the Cult of the Monkey Fist celebrates Connor’s apparent death in the avalanche, but the imprisoned and failed Silver Monkey (the same one tried to kill Connor before) knows the truth. On the Monkey cults, so far this doesn’t prove to be much of a problem, but as the story progresses, not only do more cults appear and more monkeys appear, but they seem to just completely turn on each other and some have a complete irrational hatred of the other. I don’t really know why, and it just makes the story confusing. Also, I’m surprised that DC didn’t make this into a universe-wide crossover, as it seems like most heroes are being attacked by these monkeys. But, from seeing that nobody has really heard of the cultists before, why don’t they just stealthily take out Green Arrow and continue to operate underground. So many questions, most of which are never answered. Anyway, after the avalanche, Batman manages to find Connor and without the cultists, the two of them head back to Gotham City. So far, with two parts done, the story is very good in being action-packed, quick and genuinely gripping. But that seems to change as things become more complex. With Batman and Green Arrow on their way to Gotham City, elsewhere in a temple, the monkey cult Sensei hires Deathstroke to take out Eddie Fyers, seeing him as an obstacle in his plans. Later, Green Arrow teams up with Robin to take out some costumed villains, while they are watched from afar by black monkey cultists. As Oracle learns that the monkey cult has spread across the world, Black Canary and the Bronze Tiger arrive in a jungle where their main base seemingly is. At the same time, Eddie Fyers is confronted by Batman, Nightwing and Green Arrow, who tells them of the hierarchy system in the monkey cult. Alternatively, cultists like the Silver Monkey are the higher-ups and often belong in their own cult and the main difference between them all is that they learn from different schools and disciplines. Now, this all sounds fine, but it creates more problems later. With his knowledge, Eddie decides that he must act, and he leaves Gotham. Meanwhile, a new mysterious Sensei arrives and manages to convert cultists to her new “school” with the goal of restoring honour to the brotherhood. But not all cults agree, such as the black monkeys. The new Sensei easily deals with them by standing over their defeated bodies after they decline her offer. With the third part over, it’s also the best time to mention that one of the best aspects of the Robin issue is the scenes between him and Green Arrow. Like their previous meeting in Green Arrow (vol 2) 105, the two heroes actually get on more genuinely than Kyle and Connor appear to and there are some great moments here that shows that. But now, we move on to the penultimately part and the awful art of Scott McDaniel, but more on that later. As Nightwing, Green Arrow, and Robin find the group of dead cultists, they are soon confronted by the Bamboo monkey, another high-up in the monkey cult. As, Black Canary and Bronze Tiger find the monkey cult’s base, the heroes take on the Bamboo monkey and an enraged Connor easily takes him out. Then, the heroes speak to Oracle and learn (continued)
that Black Canary is in the jungles of Burma surrounded by monkey cultists of all schools. Green Arrow knows that they will not stop until he is dead and buried. On a somewhat lighter note, Eddie arrives in Burma and begins his search for the monkey cultists, while nearby in the temple, Black Canary and Bronze Tiger are captured by them and Deathstroke. Although Fyers arrives just in time to find them, he is confronted by Deathstroke, who has found the target he was hired to silence. Back in Gotham, Green Arrow, Batman, Robin, and Nightwing find a large group of monkeys from different cultists, all turning on each other because of the new Sensei. When Nightwing and Green Arrow find the Sensei, it is revealed to be none other than Lady Shiva. This is a greatest cliff-hanger ending to the fourth part, mainly just for the shock factor of it because naturally, as a Green Arrow reader, you’d think it would be Shado. But, when it’s revealed not to be, I think works really well. Also, here is where the different monkey cultists become confusing because it is never clear which ones are working with Shiva and which ones aren’t. For the finale, we return to Green Arrow in what should deservedly be a double-length issue, but since the 1990s DC have been running on a “more for less” basis. Anyway. It begins with Nightwing getting absolutely destroyed by Lady Shiva in a matter of seconds (not literally, but you know what I mean) and Green Arrow fighting back. Shiva reveals that it has always been her plan to rise to the top of the monkey cult and now that she has done that, she challenges Connor and if he beats her, then he will become the new leader of the cult. Although Connor naturally declines, the two fight anyway. Meanwhile, halfway across the world, Eddie confronts Deathstroke and the two battle in a gun fight, which ends when a planted explosive causes the temple roof to collapse on Deathstroke and as Eddie rescues Black Canary, and Bronze Tiger, the Sensei holds Deathstroke as a prisoner for his failure. Back in Gotham, while the other heroes defend Connor from the cultists, Green Arrow battles against Shiva and it concludes with Shiva retreating upon Robin telling her that he will fight him. Before she vanishes however, Shiva tells Robin that she will soon return and when she does, it will be Robin’s last day alive. Against Lady Shiva, Green Arrow managed to win the best: a draw. But Batman sternly warns him that what happened will spread through the underworld and anybody that wants to take out Shiva will go for Connor first. Back in Burma, the Silver Monkey laughs in his cell at the thought of Connor dead and defeated. That ends the monolithic Brotherhood of the Fist story and overall, it’s not great, but it’s very strong and good story. I think as a plot idea, with Connor being hunted by the cultists, it works very well, but the more it seems to expand to other heroes, the more confusing and overly-complex it becomes. While I like the huge cast of characters like the Batman Family turning up, I question why some of them are even in the story in the first place. Bronze Tiger is a prime example as while I think he’s a good character, I just don’t think he’s necessary here. Batman himself is the most important of the Batman family, but there are times here when I don’t think he needs to be in it. For example, while the early scenes in the Kobra hideout are great, that didn’t have much impact on the overall story and he and Green Arrow just spent most of it freezing to death in northern Gotham. Then, there is the cult problem. As I said earlier, I like the Shiva takeover plot as it adds an element of surprise and mystery to the story, but it becomes harder to differentiate cultists from each other and ultimately, the cult itself takes a backseat once Shiva is revealed to be the main villain. This also reminds me of Deathstroke, another character who I love, but I think he’s somewhat wasted here as his role could have simply been taken by another Silver Monkey-like character. But, ignoring these flaws, Brotherhood of the Fist is a very Chuck Dixon story. It is never slow or dull, which therefore instantly makes the story enjoyable in some form. If it was dull, then this story would be a huge challenge to transverse through. Thankfully however, it’s not and Dixon includes several character-focused scenes to take us away from the core story every once in a while. Overall, Brotherhood of the Fist may have problems (some of which may be considered alarming), but because it’s just a good old fun read that rarely slows down and never fails to be exciting, it’s a good read and one of the most defining stories from the Dixon era.
With four different titles, you are going to have several different artists, and, in this case, they are all very different. As usual for Green Arrow, Doug Braithwaite and Robin Riggs do a great job with the art, particularly with its somewhat-realistic appearance and its terrific sense of action and drama. For Detective Comics, we have Alex Maleev and Bill Reinhold, which isn’t too bad to be honest. It’s a bit “modern” for my liking in the sense that everything just appears far too dark and moody, but I’ve seen far worse. Before we get to that far worse art, we have Robin with the very good William Rosado and Stan Woch. Rosado had done numerous Green Arrow stories before this, and he’d already done something similar to Robin with his work on the final years of Marv Wolfman’s New Titans run. His style is very smooth and works with characters like Robin and Green Arrow as we’ve seen before. Lastly and certainly least is Scott McDaniel and Karl Story. Perhaps the inker here cannot be blamed for McDaniel’s terrible art in which everybody looks like they’ve crashed into a brick wall at high speed, or they have had plastic surgery in the dark. Simply in the most unpretentious terms, it’s a turd and one that really turns me off reading Dennis O’Neil’s and Chuck Dixon’s Nightwing run. Overall, the art would have been great if it weren’t for Scott McDaniel’s amateur and childish art. Christ know how he got work, let alone get paid for it.
Story: 8.5/10
Art: 6/10
Greener Pastures --- Written by Chuck Dixon and Ron Marz with art by Doug Braithwaite, Robin Riggs, Paul Pelletier, and Terry Austin
With Brotherhood of the Fist out of the way, we near the homestretch where the title ends. But, before then, there’s one last Green Arrow/Green Lantern crossover to tackle, and this one is very different from the others. Being his friend, Connor Hawke arrives on the JLA in search of Green Lantern, learning from Martian Manhunter that “the past few days have been a trial for him”. It is then that Connor realises that he has met the wrong Green Lantern, specifically Hal Jordan from the past. I haven’t got much clue why a past version of Hal Jordan appears here because I’m not exactly an avid reader of Ron Marz’s run, but it seems that Hal Jordan has come from the past for… some reason. I don’t really know that much, but it doesn’t help how the Green Lantern half of the story is addressed also as Emerald Knights Chapter Four of Six. Anyway, the real great twist here is that Hal Jordan isn’t just from the past, but some time before he met Green Arrow and they had their life-changing adventures together (Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams). Therefore, while surprised to learn of Oliver Queen’s death, he isn’t too emotionally distraught by it. I really like this touch as this is still Green Lantern from the 1960s and the world is completely different. Anyway, Green Arrow seeks his help as the Eden Corps (who were responsible for Green Arrow’s death in issue 101) have returned under a new leader. Together, with the help of Eddie Fyers in interrogating a member of the corps, they learn that the villains have shipped explosives to an air force base and that their leader is named Bengal (the brother of Hyrax (also Green Arrow: Where Angels Fear to Tread). Using Green Lantern’s ring to find the explosives, when he and Green Arrow do, they are confronted by Bengal and his men. But, then another blast from the past as the real villain is found to be… a man I’ve never heard of. Hardy worked with Hal Jordan in the past and got him kicked out of the air force, but now Hardy’s plan is to activate a huge volcano to destroy all life on the continent. Perhaps if I knew who this Hardy character was, then perhaps this would mean more, but I do like the return of the Eden Corps to round off the run nicely. But what I don’t like is the slow and dull storytelling of Ron Marz which commences here. Held captive, Marz writes a wordy background story about how Hardy betrayed his country by nearly selling an aircraft to a dangerous country, if it weren’t for Hal Jordan stopping him. But, back in the present, Green Lantern and Green Arrow are strapped to a nuke and on the journey (continued)
to the volcano, the heroes inevitably break free. However, Hardy and Bengal argue about what their real goal is (as Hardy believes only in being rich) and the heroes use this opportunity to take out Hardy, who himself turns on Bengal randomly. With that, the nuke is neutralised, and Hardy is captured. Yes, I am condensing the story hugely because of Ron Marz. The story does have a nice ending however, with Hal and Connor visiting Oliver’s grave. Although gone, the days of Connor and Hal meeting him will begin once again soon for both of them. As the main villain from the end of the first part onwards, I do think that Hardy is a pretty dull and empty villain. There was far more to be done about the Eden Corps as they could have had a far greater prominence in the story if it weren’t for Hardy. The story falls apart with the second half as the focus shifts to a random feud Hal and some villain that is written as if we should know who he is. Plus, there isn’t much to go off in the second part as it’s pretty much a huge fight scene (which somehow succeeds in being overly wordy). I think the bland villain really drags the story down and the story effectively going on pause for the second part certainly doesn’t help. Overall, it’s about average. It could have been much better if it weren’t for Ron Marz’s unimaginative storytelling, but oh well. It’s good to see Hal Jordan once again, even if he continues to have the character of a cardboard box.
As ever, Braithwaite and Riggs are very good and compared to Paul Pelletier and Terry Austin, I think their style of art works better with a story like this. Sure, Pelletier and Austin would fit perfectly in a very science fiction Green Lantern story, but it doesn’t so much work in a pretty dull second half in which most of it takes place either in a shoddy warehouse or a very grey aircraft. Still, Austin does well with the finishes and smooths it out nicely.
Story: 6/10
Art: 7/10
Full Circle --- Written by Chuck Dixon with art by Rodolfo Demaggio, Doug Braithwaite, William Rosado, Robert Campanella, Klaus Janson, Robin Riggs
Technically, this is the final story. Sure, there’s the one-million issue, but that’s something of a novelty item. Unfortunately, once again, it’s not a double-length story, but it totally should be. Some time after asking to see him (Green Arrow (vol 2) 109), Connor finally meets Superman and the two have a nice scene about their memories of Oliver Queen and his final moments. Superman tells him that you don’t know how (continued)
important something is until you lose it, causing Connor to deal with something that he has been putting off for a long time. He heads back to Jansen and Eddie, telling them that they are moving back to the monastery. Now at his strongest, Connor confronts Mueller, who is continuing to run the place as a sham. But now that the Silver Monkey is gone, Connor’s new challenge is Seljuk, a villain who I completely forgot about until I had to look him up on DC Database. He’s one of the main villains from Green Arrow (vol 2) 107, you know, the terrible one featuring Elvis and Bruce Lee. Although stronger, Seljuk is beaten by Connor in a dramatic fight and honouring his deal, Mueller gives the monastery back to Jansen. With that, Connor decides that it is time to retire as Green Arrow for a bit and he stays behind at the monastery. Eddie reluctantly does the same, deciding that it is high time to give up smoking. Then, Green Arrow says his final farewell to his father at his grave. Six months prior, standing over Oliver’s grave too, was Parallax, once Oliver Queen’s best friend. He stands over the grave, knowing what we don’t yet: the real fate of Oliver Queen. As the title suggests, Dixon ends the run here full circle, back at the monastery with Connor, Jansen, and Oliver in spirit. It’s a really nice way to end the run as the monastery plot is concluded and it vindicates the friendship between Connor and Eddie as genuine. They really do become friends and that is a nice way to conclude things. I guess the only negative is the forced relationship between Connor and a girl living in the next room, a relationship I didn’t know existed until the middle of the story. Other than that, there really isn’t much else to say. It does what the best endings usually do: it ties things up and leaves us somewhat sad that it’s over, but happy that it was a good journey.
With this conclusion, some of the old favourites are brought back, like Demaggio, Campanella, and Rosado. Not sure about Janson though, especially since he wasn’t a regular inker. Regardless, the variety in the artists presents the celebratory feel in the issue and it’s nice to see them back working on Green Arrow. That being said, I’ve only just realised now that when you see their art together in one issue, they all look very similar actually and I guess that’s why I’ve never classed any of the artists here as either great or terrible. At least they’re consistent, but as I said, it’s great to see them all one last time…
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 8/10
All Down the Years --- Written by Chuck Dixon with art by Frank Teran and John Stanisci
With the run over, I guess I’ve got to do this now. DC One Million was a universe-wide miniseries in 1998 in which the Justice Legion from the 853rd Century return to the
late 20th Century to meet the Justice League of America, but some of them are under the control of Solaris, a giant evil intergalactic being. Yes, it’s by Grant Morrison and yes, it’s crap. I reviewed it a very very long time ago as part of Morrison’s JLA run, and it was awful. I’ve read a few of the crossovers and none of them have been great either. So, how is the Green Arrow going to be. Well, in the present, Connor Hawke meditates and dreams an event from the 853rd Century, in which there is a cult of Green Arrow worshippers who look up to Oliver Queen and Connor Hawke like gods as guardians of the planet, fighting against a group of technological gorillas led by Gorilla Grodd, still alive and up to his old tricks. The protagonist is a Green Arrow named Hawk who is being hunted by the gorillas for his astral shift weapon and they take him and his partner, Canara, prisoner. However, the two of them manage to break free and Connor learns from the gorilla’s underneath a nearby field is a portal to the Fortress of Solitude as their target is the Superman of our time, who has arrived from the 20th Century. However, Green Arrow takes out Grodd seconds before he attempts to kill Superman when he learns that Canara has freed herself. Superman thanks Hawk and tells him of his memories of fighting alongside Oliver Queen and Connor Hawke. Suddenly, Connor Hawke wakes up in the present after the dream and seeing the Green Arrow cult. He comes to the conclusion that Oliver Queen is still alive. Despite a good ending, the story itself is alright to put it in the blandest terms possible. It’s not as bad as I was expecting to be, partly because the core One Million storyline is just utter trash, but it’s a story that doesn’t really work with Green Arrow, past, present, or future. You can tell that science fiction (if that’s what you want to call it) is something of an alien and unexplored territory for Dixon as the story is very simplistic as it is essentially a group of gorillas blackmailing Hawk to help him by kidnapping his girlfriend. Yes, it’s a ridiculous story that doesn’t take itself seriously in the way that other One Million stories do, but it’s still related to that awful story and there merits only a pass. That said, I’ve got no idea why a cult in the future would worship two guys with a bow.
I’d never heard of Frank Teran and John Stanisci, but their art is very Vertigo in the sense that it is scratchy, grim, and a bit ugly. I suppose it works in a dark futuristic story like this that only takes place in a jungle, but it’s far from great and the expressions on people’s faces look very exaggerated. It’s one of two typical styles of art from the 1990s. You either have the overly muscular and shiny of Image, or you have the scratchy Vertigo appearance which attempts to be edgy, but just makes you question why that particularly artist was chosen to draw the story. The latter of the two applies here.
Story: 5/10
Art: 4/10
VERDICT
Overall, Green Arrow: The Brotherhood of the Fist works very well as the final set of stories for Dixon’s run and rounds things off nicely. The main five-parter does have its problems in terms of characters that appear in it that perhaps shouldn’t (along with other problems), but I’d be lying if I said that it was a dull disappointment. It might not live up to expectation, but there is a real sense of action with it. Greener Pastures begins excellently, but unfortunately ends rather dimly and becomes rather unnoteworthy. Full Circle does exactly what it says on the tin and rounds off the run nicely, while All Down the Years is a moderately readable story that is linked to a god-awful crossover. Bear in mind however that none of these stories are ever terrible. In fact, that applies to the run as a whole, but I’ll be looking back at the whole run next time…
Stories: 7.5/10
Art: 6/10
Next Week: Connor Hawke: Dragon’s Blood (Connor Hawke Dragon’s Blood 1-6). Written by Chuck Dixon with art by Derec Donovan.
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