Some of Green Arrow's Arrows are Dumb, All of Arrowette's Arrows are Obnoxious

In 1956, DC comics set a weird sort of precedent with the debut of The Batwoman. That precedent was this: When a woman turns to fighting crime, no matter what her costumed persona or crime-fighting theme, all of her gadgets will have to do with being a woman.

Miss Arrowette is a steadfast example of this philosophy. An archer of the first order, and a spunky young woman who wants to fight crime and help her hero- Green Arrow, she has a quiver of ingenious, homemade trick arrows. All of which have to do with cosmetics.

Is she a beautician in her alter-ego of Bonnie King? A cosmetologist? We don't know. But what we do know is, when you let a girl fight crime, she inevitably invents things like a hairpin arrow, a hair tint arrow, a hairnet arrow (a lot of hair things), and a lotion arrow.

Of course, the plot revolves around Miss Arrowette trying to help the Battling Bowmen, who feel that "This isn't a game for girls!" (because only full-grown men should dress up like Robin Hood and prance around the streets lobbing phallic symbols at baddies). Of course, GA and Speedy get captured by some crooks (after slipping on one of Miss Arrowette's lotion arrows) and have to be rescued by the girl. But don't worry, once Miss Arrowette finds the heroes, it's Green Arrow who does the rescuing, taking away Miss Arrowette's bow and arrows and using them himself. Wouldn't want to leave that sort of thing to a girl.

Miss Arrowette agrees to retire, but she returns at least once.

Green Arrow- Is a clown that dresses like your favorite superhero really THAT big a draw?? World's Finest Comics #100 and #138

They say great minds think alike. Well, I don't know about that, but two different writers of Green Arrow scripts, four years apart, both thought that a script where a circus clown dresses up like Green Arrow was a really keen idea.

Admittedly, I have only been to the circus once in my life, but I don't remember the clown acts being so topical. In our first clown outing "The case of the Green Error Clown", Green Arrow and Speedy accidentally switch quivers with a circus clown who calls himself, you guessed it, "Green Error". Amazingly , the Twins of the twanging bowstring (really? they're like 10 years and two feet apart. AND Speedy wears a red suit. "Twins"??)manage to defeat a gang of crooks with the clown's goofy trick arrows. Say, on a side note, who are these crooks who always rob the "gate receipts" from traveling circuses in comic books? Was there a crime wave of circus robberies in the 1950's I'm unaware of?

Next up, Green Arrow and Speedy go to another circus (I know they have a TV, I've seen it.) to see "Funny Arrow" a circus clown who's such a huge fan of the Green Arrow, he based his whole act on his favorite hero's exploits. Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery. Being lampooned by a circus clown may be the lowest form of the sincerest form of flattery. Anyway, it begins to look like Funny Arrow is helping a gang of crooks rob Star City. But never fear, Green Arrow and Speedy are on the case.

Usually, G.A. and Speedy deliver a few more thrills in their 7 pages of comics, but stories like this may be the reason Green Arrow stayed a back-up feature AND got picked late to be in the Justice League. When Martian Manhunter and Aquaman got their applications to the JLA accepted a full 2 years before you did, you have to reevaluate your career choice.

Like most of the Green Arrow stories of the late 1950's and early 1960's, These two tales were drawn by the more-than-capable Lee Elias, of EC comics fame.