World's Finest Comics #113(November 1960)
Summary: We open things here with Bonnie King winning the Miss Arrowette competition... Which must have been a thing back in the day. Anyway, the Miss Arrowette competition is, for those of you who are dying to know, an archery competition for women in which the winner wins a little crown and a sash... Wooo! After winning, Bonnie decides it was time to fight crime, because really, what else is left after accomplishing your dream of winning an archery competition between yourself and three other women? A few days later, Green Arrow and his trusty sidekick, Speedy, are alerted to a daylight jewel robbery by the Arrow-signal, which isn't at all like the Bat-signal. From there, they hop into the Arrowcar(huh, writers back in the 50's weren't very creative, were they?) and head to the scene of the crime. Upon arriving, they spot the crooks' getaway car and hop out of the Arrowcar to... I'm not really sure why they hopped out of the Arrowcar, actually... But here we are. The two archers decide to rush the getaway car(wait, why would anybody do that?!), and end up tripping on a partially open manhole cover... Yes, that most definitely deserves a HA!! Before the two end up in Arrow-heaven, they are saved when a... And I shit you not, a powder-puff arrow sails by the getaway car's window, causing the crooks to swerve into a post. It turns out the arrow was fired by Miss Arrowette herself(I know, shocking), who didn't bother to change her clothes from the Miss Arrowette competition, or, you know, put a mask on. The groggy crooks get out of their wrecked car, which leads to Miss Arrowette firing a hairpin arrow at them, which pins two crooks to the wall. GA and Speedy take care of the other two crooks with good ol' boxing glove arrows. But by this time, Miss Arrowette has run off. GA is disappointed because he wanted to tell Miss Arrowette that crimefighting isn't a game for girls... Wow, sexist much? The next day, GA and Speedy head to the scene of another burglary, as does Miss Arrowette. GA and Speedy decide to charge the crooks(they do realize they have arrows, right?), just as Miss Arrowette fires the multi-purpose lotion arrow(my favorite arrow!) at the crooks. But wait, disaster occurs when GA and Speedy are struck by the lotion coated shaft... Eww... Our two heroes end up sliding INTO the back of the robbers' truck, which leads to the robbers locking GA and Speedy inside... Again, HA!! The crooks hop into the truck and drive off, figuring they were scot-free, never realizing that Miss Arrowette had fired a hair-tint arrow at the back of their truck and managed to follow it back to their hideout. Once they reach their destination, the crooks take GA and Speedy's arrows and force them into a huge empty oil tank, as opposed to killing them, or selling them out to the mob or something that would have made sense. Miss Arrowette sees all of this go down at a safe distance thanks to her mirror arrow... After the crooks have left, Miss Arrowette climbs up to the top of the oil tank and tells the two guys she'd save them. However, she falls into the oil tank instead... Clumsy woman! She does avoid injury thanks to her kerchief arrow, which serves as a parachute... What the hell is a "kerchief"!? Moving on, Miss Arrowette is depressed that she was now stuck in the oil tank, while GA figures that he can use her arrows to free them. Thanks to a needle-and-thread arrow, GA ends up escaping the oil tank with his two allies. The crooks somehow get wise to GA's escape and come at him guns blazing(if they wanted to shoot him, why not do that from the start?!), but are captured in a hairnet arrow. With the crooks captured and the heroes safe, Miss Arrowette decides to stop fighting crime because, "Crime-fighting is not for girls like me!" Yep...
Thoughts: Wow, that was one hell of a sexist comic! I love that the moral of it was, "If you're a girl, stay in the kitchen, where it's safe!" The irony of Green Arrow stating that a woman like Miss Arrowette shouldn't be fighting crime, while standing next to his teenage sidekick, who was nearly run over by a car, wasn't lost on me! I especially loved the fact that Miss Arrowette couldn't even be trusted to save the heroes! She fell INTO the frigging oil tank! That naturally led to Speedy making some snide comments about Miss Arrowette, because that's how we roll in 1960! Plus, Green Arrow saves the day by using Miss Arrowette's arrows! She couldn't even be help GA and Speedy escape with her own arrows! Ugh... However, on the plus side, I got to work "lotion coated shaft" into a post, and that, my friends, is a win for me!
Pages in this story: 6
# of trick arrows used: 9
# of times we were told crime-fighting wasn't for girls: 2
"But wait, disaster occurs when GA and Speedy are struck by the lotion coated shaft... Eww..." That was the point where this post became classic. That made me laugh SO hard. Also, the very sexist message of this comic is especially funny since Ollie is such a Liberal now and was married to Dinah, who is the complete opposite of everything Ollie preached here. Oh and a kerchief is short for handkerchief. That's my guess anyway, too lazy to google that crap. I know what an Aggie is though.
ReplyDeleteThank ya, Mr. JT. Great point about Ollie! While I was reading this comic I kept hoping Wonder Woman would stop by and slap the hell out of Ollie... Miss Arrowette let women everywhere down with her antics here. At least she kind of made up for it later on in YJ as the stage mom from hell!
DeleteYeah, I kind of figured that's what a kerchief was too. I don't get why they didn't just say, "handkerchief" though. That bugged me so much... And I don't know why!!
Yes, thanks to you, we ALL know what an aggie is. How I wish I didn't though! Heh... "lotion coated shaft"...