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Oliver & Dinah: Justice League of America #112

Since I went back in time for Roy, it seems only fitting that we find out what Oliver was up to in the 70s after GL/GA. This issue takes place long before the 1980s miniseries, and is his next appearance after “Young Man With A Drum”. JLA #112 is a story called “War With The One-Man Justice League”, released August 1974. Since this is a JLA story, we get to see Dinah too!

Here’s Batman, with a summary of events so far.

Oliver tries to cheer his teammates up. Dinah and the rest are not amused.

Dinah calls Ollie out for his insensitivity in the face of his friends’ distress (aw, he was just trying to cheer them up), and the Atom arrives with a plan, interrupting their argument.

Unfortunately, his plan is to release Amazo and use him as a magnet to summon their lost abilities back from space (I don’t know). Even more unfortunately, the rest of the JLA agrees to redesign Amazo to help them. Dinah redesigns his uniform, which, while hilarious, is kind of a bad look considering she’s the only woman in the group.

Flash, Canary, and Elongated Man lead Amazo to the jungle, where they plan to trick him into reabsorbing their missing power molecules (presumably they have a plan to get those back from him later) by fighting him.

Next we join Green Arrow, Superman, and Aquaman in the Arctic, ready for their turn to fight Amazo and trick him into absorbing more of their lost powers. 

“Guess we were just brought up wrong”

Trick Arrows: I (A duplicate making arrow?)

In the end, Amazo is defeated (thanks to Batman), and the team regains the rest of their powers. 

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Roy: Teen Titans #46

Roy and the rest of the Titans next appear in “The Fiddler’s Concert of Crime”. We open with Roy and Mal fighting the Fiddler’s mind control music, and apparently getting along much better these days. 

The amount of noise they make drowns out the Fiddler, but he regroups and sends dancing minions to trample the boys while he makes his escape. They return to Titans headquarters, where the other Titans have now been joined by the Joker’s Daughter, who wants to join them. Wally asks if Roy and Mal have been trampled by groupies. 

Roy is less than thrilled by the Duela’s appearance in the hideout, but Robin and Wonder Girl want to give her a chance to prove herself before the team votes on her membership.

She’ll soon have her chance...the Fiddler has kidnapped some young musicians! Robin takes the opportunity to tease Roy and Mal about their band. 

At the Long Island Coliseum, the Fiddler summons all sorts of rats and bugs to torment the audience for some reason. Roy and Wally team up to catch the critters, but Roy ends up with a bit of an ant problem. 

P.S. Wally, what is “body english”??

With the other Titans down, Mal fights and wins a musical duel with the Fiddler, who retreats. Meanwhile, Robin, Aqualad, and Duela investigate the kidnapping of the McCarthy musical duo, but they’re interrupted when Mal summons them with his horn. Roy takes the opportunity to question Robin’s priorities as leader.

As it turns out, Roy is in the right this time, as the problem Mal summoned the other Titans to deal with is the Fiddler holding the musically entranced McCarthys hostage on top of the Coliseum. The Titans climb to the roof, where the Fiddler makes them dance...and then has Kid Flash and Aqualad fling Mal and Duela off the edge. Luckily, Robin and Wondergirl are handy with ropes, and Roy and Robin are back to best buddies. 

The Fiddler summons his “Fiddlecopter”, which is no match for Roy and Donna.

Meanwhile, Duela takes out the Fiddler, and it’s revealed that the McCarthys staged their own kidnapping to avoid having to admit that they’ve been playing shows as two separate alter egos (seems dramatic, but okay). Somehow, they didn’t expect the Fiddler to actually kidnap them.

The Titans regroup, and Robin reveals his plans for their new headquarters...

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Roy: Teen Titans #45

Jumping right back in, Roy’s next appears in December 1976 in Teen Titans #45, in a story called “You Can’t Say No To The Angel Of Death (Or Can You?)”.

...Which he starts off by being a bit of an asshole to new teammate Mal, who was basically the reason they were able to defeat Dr. Light last issue.  

Roy claims he was only kidding, but it’s no use. Mal punches him and storms out. “Aw, spit” is my new favorite saying. 

Mal calls his girlfriend, Karen Beecher, to complain about how the Titans treat him. We’ll see her again later, of course.

Mal storms out of the phone booth and straight into an explosion caused by the Wreckers...and an encounter with Azrael, the Angel of Death. He proceeds to beat Azrael in a fistfight, thereby winning his life. Azrael tells Mal that if he loses even one battle in his life, he will die. The angel Gabriel, who refereed the match, warns him that Azrael will try to make future fights unfair, and gives him a horn that will even the odds of any fight when blown. 

Meanwhile, Roy regrets his actions and storms out of Titans’ Headquarters, declaring that he quits the team.

But Mal blows his new horn to summon help fighting the Wreckers, and the Titans, including a still angry Roy and a very confused Garth (who hadn’t actually returned to the team yet), appear beside him. Mal and Roy make up, and Mal explains the situation. 

Roy still tries to escape from being teamed up with Mal by sticking with Robin though, either because he still feels bad or because he thinks Mal won;t be much help in a fight. 

Mal proceeds to save Roy’s life when Roy triggers an ambush. Roy still seems  surprised by his new teammate’s ability to help. Also, I don’t think Mal meant it that way, but “We all make mistakes” is a downright hilarious response to “you saved my life”.

Roy gets to show off his archery skill!

Meanwhile, in a Wayne Enterprises building targeted by the Wreckers, Kid Flash tries to dispose of a bomb in a fountain and instead gets thrown into Aqualad and Robin, knocking all three of them unconscious...until Mal blows his horn and summons them, miraculously fighting fit. Roy calls Aqualad fish-face. It’s cute. 

And the fight is on! With a boxing glove arrow!

And Wally carrying Roy!

Finally the Wreckers are defeated, with a lot of help from Mal. Roy and Mal make up for real, with Roy declaring the he isn’t quitting the team, and Mal isn’t either. Roy, who is apparently still playing with Great Frog, invites Mal to join the band, and Bruce Wayne offers to build the Titans a new headquarters in thanks for defeating the Wreckers and saving his building. 

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ArrowFam History Revival!

I really need a project, so even though I’m basically screaming into the void I’m going back to trying to read and document all of my favorite comic family’s appearances! Cheers, and join me if you want 70s and 80s comic nonsense!

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Roy: Teen Titans #44

After his Action Comics appearance, Roy disappeared from DC’s lineup for two years, until the Teen Titans returned in November 1976.

We start with the Teen Titans (including their “janitor”, Mal) receiving an emergency signal after two years of being disbanded. Comics chronology is always confusing, but for now I’m going to assume two years ago was also approximately when “They Say It’ll Kill Me But They Won’t Say When” and “Young Man With A Drum” happened. 

Apparently the Titans haven’t really kept in touch in the past two years.

Roy makes a dramatic entrance (back in costume!) to greet his friends, who apparently haven’t seen or heard from him in two years, and only know that he’s been having “troubles” from Ollie. Again it feels like the writers are kind of brushing over what really happened with Roy, possibly because Teen Titans was meant for a younger audience. They do reference GLGA as if it’s still canon, which is unfortunate to say the least.

Also, Donna, you’re cute but you’re not fooling anyone.

Wally and Roy get set up as romantic rivals-ish, which is also unfortunate (seriously Wally, you could at least act like you’re happy to see Roy after 2 years). Robin assumes Roy sent the emergency alert to get everyone back together, but it was really a trap by Dr. Light!

(Personal side note: This is the first time I’ve ever read anything pre-Identity Crisis featuring Dr. Light so that’s...something...)

There’s a lot going on in these panels. Robin’s face, Roy nicknaming, Dr. Light “Bright Boy”, that arrow that really shouldn’t even fly, Dr. Light getting punched in the stomach by a mirror... I don’t think that’s how mirrors or arrows are supposed to work, Roy...

Absurd Nicknames by Roy Harper: I

Trick Arrows Used: I

The battle continues, and Roy accidentally shoots Wally in the leg. Does that arrow have a bowling ball on the end???

Trick Arrows Used: II

Speedy and Mal are out cold, and Dr. Light kidnaps Wonder Girl and escapes. Robin runs after them and gets kidnapped as well, and Kid Flash chases them (to try and get Donna to notice him) but his leg is too injured to run.

Roy decided this situation is all Wally’s fault, and they yell at each other for a bit instead of realizing that Dr. Light only got away (with two of their teammates) because none of the Titans could work together. Mal tries to convince Roy and Wally to work together, but Roy tells him stuff it and announces that he’s had enough and the Teen Titans are over. So...are we just leaving Donna and Dick with Dr. Light then, Roy??

Roy’s Temper Causes Problems: II

Meanwhile, Dr. Light tortures Dick and Donna for the coordinates to the JLA satellite. They pledge their silence, but the second one (1) beam of light touches Donna, Dick gives in. Apparently, Dr. Light is planning to use a giant orbital magnifying glass to focus the sun’s light on the satellite and destroy it along with the JLA. Seems legit. 

Dr. Light flies off to round up the rest of the Titans to witness his evil plan (of course). Despite declaring the Teen Titans disbanded, Roy has apparently been hanging out at HQ with Mal. They’re easily defeated, but Light doesn’t consider Mal a real Titan, and only takes Speedy with him. This gives Mal time to suit up as The Guardian, using some equipment they have in storage at Titans’ HQ.

Mal follows Dr. Light to the JLA satellite and sets his friends free, and this time they’re ready to work together. 

Mal/Guardian is officially a Teen Titan now, and it looks like they’ve decided not to disband after all. The Flash wakes up from being knocked out by Dr. Light in time to try and teach the kids something, but Roy isn’t having it. Looks like they’ve decided not to disband after all...

Absurd Nicknames by Roy Harper: I

Trick Arrows Used: II

Roy’s Temper Causes Problems: II

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Young Man With A Drum

It’s time to find out what exactly has been going on Roy for the past 10 years, and for that I decided to go all the way back to the 70s, to his appearances immediately after his “addiction arc” (which was really only one issue). “They Say It’ll Kill Me But They Won’t Say When” was released in October/November 1971, after which Roy had exactly 0 appearances until almost three years later. In June 1974, he finally appeared in Action Comics #436, in the Green Arrow story “Young Man With A Drum”.

Green Arrow and Black Canary have been on the trail of a crime ring, and the clues led them to this band. This is our first sight of Roy Harper in three years, and he’s playing a drum set that says “Great Frog”. Because of course he is. Note the Editor’s Note that says Roy “went out on his own” instead of “was thrown out”...I’m not sure if they’re trying to cover it up or retcon it or what but...hmm. Also apparently only a few months have passed since Oliver last saw Roy in universe, though it’s been three years since his last comic appearance.

Ollie finds stolen goods hidden in the band’s dressing room and assumes Roy must be undercover and about to close his case. He basically decides to wait around to meet Roy instead of taking the evidence and trying to make the case his, so good for him I guess? But he’s still standing around awkwardly in Roy’s dressing room which is maybe less of a good idea.

Especially if we’re assuming that Oliver kicking Roy out is still canon at this point, that’s not a very good look, Ollie... (Note: There still haven’t been any direct references to that, even though it was definitely part of canon at this time. As far as I know though, the writers for this issue had nothing to do with the GL/GA arc, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the discrepancies are a case of one set of writers doing something weird and shitty and other DC writers looking at it and saying “so we’re just gonna pretend that didn’t happen”). Unsurprisingly, Roy tells Green Arrow to butt out of his case.

Roy’s band manager/agent guy comes in to check on him before they Roy and Oliver can have any sort of conversation that would indicate what sort of relationship they’re supposed to have here. It would be kind of nice if we either got an acknowledgement of what Ollie did or a solid retcon of why they split (it’s not like they’ve never done that before, Dick quitting as Robin has been retconned several different ways).

Roy knocks Ollie out, which impresses his shady manager enough that he decides to take Roy to meet the boss of their “operation”. On the way out, Roy tosses something to Oliver, which turns out to be a radio tracking device.

Some goons come to “dispose” of Oliver and wonder who it was that managed to knock out “a genuine card-carryin’ super hero”. Ollie gets in another offhanded compliment about Roy (which only seems to happen when Roy isn’t around, of course).

Meanwhile, Archie the manager and “Mr. Aubrey” offer Roy a job in their organization, giving Roy the proof he needed to take them down.

Oliver, who has escaped and followed Roy’s signal to the office building, swings in to help and we get to see the old team fighting together for the first time in a very, very long time (since before GL/GA, I think). Note: Google says a “bunkie” is either slang for a roommate or cellmate.

After some friendly banter, boxing glove arrows, and a chance for Roy to show that he doesn’t need his costume or bow to be a formidable opponent, the crime boss is ready to give Roy and Green Arrow whatever information they want.

Back in the GLGA drug trafficking arc, there was a lot of talk about drug dealers taking advantage of kids who were hurting, including Roy. There still hasn’t been a single mention of Roy’s addiction, so I’m not sure if this is an intentional callback to that or not. Roy's desire to help and protect other disenfranchised kids is pretty consistent, and it’s nice to see it start so early here.

The issue ends on Ollie and Roy having a conversation in which Oliver tells Roy he doesn’t have to do everything alone, and Roy calls Ollie out for his ego and headstrong behavior. It’s not the friendliest interaction, but it’s not really unfriendly either and it gives us a few parallels between the two. It also ends on a very pointed use of the word “son”, in contrast to Ollie consistently thinking of/referring to Roy as his “ward” in GLGA. Also, Roy is going to keep playing drums for “Great Frog” and shows no intention of getting back into costume.

In the end this was a pretty decent issue that seems like it mostly served to bring Roy back into DC canon after his 3 year absence (although they still proceed to not use him again for another 2 years after this). I’m really unclear on what exactly is going on with timeline and continuity here. The way I see it the Action Comics writers are either:

1. being gross and weird about brushing off the fact that in their last appearance together, Oliver hit Roy and threw him out on the street or

2. trying to pull a soft retcon and change what happened between Ollie and Roy because they didn’t like how it was done previously.

It’s not exactly uncommon for comic book writers to rewrite each other’s canon storylines, but it’s also not uncommon for them to be terrible and gross, so I really can’t tell. I’m personally pulling for the second option though,  I still maintain that GLGA’s “addiction arc” was trash that needed to be retconned/redone in a better way. I love Roy’s later arcs that deal with his recovery and talking about drug addiction and think they’re very important, but the original source was very poorly done.

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Anyway, where’s my Roy Harper solo series where he’s disabled, indigenous, and a single dad?

He would help recovering addicts and have cute Lian antics. He would try to balance fatherhood and heroism. He would break up drug rings and walk his daughter to school the next day. He would team up with the Titans and then have them babysit when he’s pulled off for a mission with someone else. He would deal with the issues that come with sharing custody and take out pedophiles.

It would romanticize his recovery, not his addiction.

That’s what I’m waiting for. Guess I’ll sit here waiting till I die.

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Where’s Roy?

Roy wasn’t mentioned at all in the Green Arrow miniseries, and although I haven’t covered it here yet I also noticed that in Longbow Hunters the actual incident where Oliver threw him out isn’t mentioned at all, and Ollie and Roy seem to be on good terms. So I decided to go back even farther to figure out what my oldest son has been up to since the end of Green Lantern/Green Arrow.

I don’t have a complete post ready yet, but I’ve learned a few things...

1. Roy had absolutely 0 appearances anywhere between November 1971 (the addiction issue) and June 1974, where he appears out of costume in an Action Comics mini story called “Young Man With A Drum”. He then disappears again until November 1976 where he returns as Speedy along with the rest of the Teen Titans.

2. After having no appearances at all for almost 3 years, Roy is already on speaking terms with Oliver in “Young Man With A Drum”. There is a (really vague) reference to the events of the GL/GA issue and a note of the issue numbers, but nothing specific to tell me whether my suspicions that they were trying to retcon Oliver kicking Roy out are true.

3. Apparently while he was absent from crime fighting, Roy joined a band

I’ve always been of the opinion that the entire GLGA issue that “dealt” with Roy’s addiction was well-intentioned but badly written out of character nonsense. It only happened because the writers had a very specific PSA that they wanted to make and they didn’t actually care about the characters they were using to make it. It’s interesting to see how much it was largely ignored by other writers at the time too. I still suspect that someone at DC realized that having one of their heroes hit a child was completely inappropriate and wanted to get rid of it pretty quickly...

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Getting Up: Impressions

Continuity

There have still been absolutely 0 mentions of Roy or what happened with him, although this storyline doesn’t have much in the way of overarching Arrow family mythology. It presumably takes place after the miniseries, but there’s really nothing to tell us for sure.

Characterization

Oliver is the only Arrow present in this particular story, which is pretty light on characterization anyway. We have more of Ollie’s hotheadedness, bad jokes, and disdain for the rich. He actively dislikes schmoozing and partying and there’s still no sign of the millionaire playboy or his infamous womanizing ways.

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Getting Up

Next up for Ollie, we have a very small and anticlimactic storyline from Detective Comics, which pits Green Arrow against a graffiti-artist-turned-supervillain named Ozone.

But first we see Ollie in his day job as a newspaper columnist, struggling with spelling. We also meet his young friend Rick, formerly known as supervillain Hi-Tek, who looks suspiciously like a certain absent former sidekick.

Rick wants to show Ollie the police scanner he built, which tips Ollie off to a robbery in progress at an “adult magazine” office building. Here we meet Ozone for the first time.

Ozone hits poor Ollie with a compressed air cylinder, which knocks him straight back out the 30th story window he was just complaining about having to climb up to, and gives us a great example of 80s comic book art.

The next issue opens with Ollie falling in this lovely pose, at least until he figures out how to use Ozone’s compressed air cylinder to boost himself back up.

Still, Ozone escapes and is attacked by a suspicious character. It turns out Ozone and the mysterious man crashed into each other in a subway earlier, and some of their possessions got mixed up. Mystery Guy has been chasing Ozone to get his canister back, but Ollie interferes before he can get it and Ozone escapes again.

Ollie continues his habit of getting information from suspects by trying to shoot things off of their heads.

This time, he learns that the mysterious man is a government operative who was planning to release an airborne botulin toxin sample into the subway as a test to see how far it would spread, but he and Ozone crashed into each other and Ozone ended up with the sample. Ollie is not thrilled about letting someone who wanted to release toxins into the air go, but prioritizes finding the sample before Ozone accidentally releases it.

Meanwhile, Ollie’s friend Rick hears Mr. Government Operative reporting in on his radio scanner and tries to warn Ollie about it, but Ollie brushes him off. Since he already knows that what Rick is telling him is true, I have to assume he just doesn’t want the kid involved. Unfortunately, it looks like Rick is already involved...

Ollie sets a trap for Ozone in the form of an art gallery opening showcasing Ozone’s own street art, which he knows Ozone won’t be able to resist robbing. Oliver demonstrates once again that he doesn’t care for rich people or parties anymore, and can’t wait to leave and get into costume.

Before he can get into costume, Ozone attacks and succeeds in gluing everyone to the floor, including Oliver. Fortunately, Rick arrives with paint thinner and frees everyone. Ollie laments how old he is getting and marvels at how young supervillains these days are.

The mysterious government operative also arrives, and Rick’s connection to the case is revealed. It turns out the man isn’t a government operative at all, he’s a former weapons developer for the CIA. He now believes in a fantasy secret society called ZZZ, whose orders he thinks he is acting under.

Rick tells Ollie he’ll deal with his father now, and Ollie gets into costume and chases Ozone (who still has the toxin canister) into what appears to be an incinerator. Ollie continues to make jokes with his internal monologue.

The incinerator is on First Avenue, the ruined neighborhood where Ozone grew up. Here we have a little bit of the political commentary that is common in Green Arrow comics, with Ollie musing about how it’s no surprise that Ozone fell into a life of crime considering how few options he must have had.

Ozone and Green Arrow face off, and Ozone thinks he has succeeded in burning Ollie alive. He comments that now he can move on to fighting an adversary worthy of his talents - like Batman! Oliver takes offense, but he still has to fight carefully, because puncturing the toxin canister would kill them both.

The story ends abruptly with all of Ozone’s canisters except for the toxin (which is the only one that doesn’t contain compressed air) rupturing due to the heat, and the revelation that the heat has killed the toxin. All in all, a pretty forgettable story,

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1983 MiniSeries: Impressions

I actually really liked this little series. It was Oliver’s first appearance in his very own title, and it did well by him.

Chronology Notes

Based on the issues before and after the miniseries chronologically, Oliver should still be an active JLA member. Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern are mentioned and Dinah has several cameos. Speaking of Dinah, I believe this is now Dinah Laurel Lance, but I’m not sure.

There are no mentions of Roy or what happened between him and Oliver in the miniseries. Whether this is because the writers are already looking to retcon it  or if they just didn’t want to include it isn’t clear.

Characterization Notes

Oliver: Ollie is the only character to have any solid characterization in the miniseries, but what he has is enjoyable and fitting. He’s shown to be hotheaded and impulsive in his personal life as Oliver and his costumed life as Green Arrow. In his day time life as Oliver, his temper finds an inappropriate mark in his assistant, but he has some self-awareness about it and apologizes for it (“I have to yell at...something!”). As Green Arrow, his temper is more violent with villains who disregard human life, especially his friend Abbie’s life (essentially tortures Vertigo into talking by shooting fruit off of his head, and continues to do so even after he has the information he wants). He also repeatedly refers to himself as having no head for business, though he has enough scientific knowledge and mechanical skill to make all of his own trick arrows He describes himself as a “brawler” who dives into problems headfirst rather than thinking about them methodically and deliberately puts himself into dangerous situations to further his plans.

Like most comic book heroes, he’s very devoted to justice, and already shows the beginnings of a “by any means necessary” approach to bringing Abbie’s killers to justice. He also appears fairly single-minded and focused more on individuals than the big picture, expressing pretty much no disappointment that the oil substitute is gone and instead being glad to have found out the truth behind Abbie’s death. He also shows absolutely no remorse over the death of the culprits, even though one was his ex-girlfriend.

Then there’s my favorite part of his characterization in this miniseries: his he’s absolutely nothing like the rich playboy womanizer version of Oliver that appears later. Ollies spends the entire series only concerned about justice and answers for Abbie’s death. The few instances of him acting like a playboy millionaire are clearly stated to be 100% an act and he states repeatedly that acting that way exhausts him and isn’t who he really is. Over the course of the miniseries, he has two romantic relationships: Cynthia and Dinah. They do not overlap, and his relationship with Dinah is pretty cute and healthy. Also, his entire reason for being on the cruise that ended with him being stranded on the island was that he was devastated over his break-up with Cynthia.

Dinah: She doesn’t have much development here, but she’s a strong and capable fighter and appears to have a mutually loving and respectful relationship with Oliver.

TLDR

There is absolutely no sign of the infamous rich playboy womanizer Oliver Queen. This Ollie is snarky, impulsive, quick-tempered, intelligent, and loyal to his friends and the concept of justice.

Ollie and Dinah have a cute relationship, and there has been as yet no mention of Roy.

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1983 Miniseries pt 3

Picking up where we left off last time, Ollie realizes that he can’t beat the Horton Chemicals businessmen at their own game on the business front…so he decides to stop trying. He then busts into a board meeting to inform them of this decision, lighting some money on fire to make his point I guess??

He acts like That for a few more panels…

…before finally revealing that it was all an act to get the corrupt board of directors to let down their guard and stop seeing him as a threat. That’s right, the first reference to Oliver’s infamous and later blown way out of proportion (*cough* Chuck Dixon *cough*) “playboy persona” is just as fake as Bruce Wayne’s. Speaking of Bruce Wayne, Ollie directly references him in his internal monologue about how pretending to be a rich playboy tires him out and goes against his real personality.

Keep reading

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Green Arrow 1983 pt 2

So far I haven’t really talked about the plot of this mini series, but basically Oliver’s dear friend, an older woman named Abbie, has died unexpectedly and left Oliver a controlling interest in her chemical company. Her family, including her daughter and Ollie’s ex-girlfriend, Cynthia, is not thrilled. Oliver is pretty sure that Abbie was murdered, and that the people involved with her company are up to something shady. He’s determined to find out who killed Abbie and why.

His methods are…unique. I support him.

Keep reading

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Green Arrow 1983

So I finished the miniseries today and I have Some Thoughts. Mostly it’s…super, super different from how Ollie tended to be portrayed in late post crisis.

This is very Oliver of him. I do notice that while they talk about Ollie being a bit shallow before he got stranded on the island, there’s nothing at this point to really indicate that he was a bad person. His conversations with Abbie actually make it clear that he wanted to help people even back then, and he definitely was no womanizer. He had one girlfriend who he broke up with because she wouldn’t watch boxing matches or listen to jazz with him and then he got depressed about it, went on a cruise, and got marooned by pirates.

Keep reading

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I’m reading the very first Green Arrow mini series and… There’s so much weirdness…

Ollie was a journalist??? (”It” = Justice, in case you were wondering)

Here he is stopping some jerks from beating up a shopkeeper (er, I guess that’s pretty boisterous?)  and using a lot of unnecessary words. Nice hat though. Very pointy.

His super power is having too many limbs.

Despite the weirdness, we see some themes and character traits that will come up again later…

Like Oliver’s desire to help the people the law ignores…

…and a belief that people can change.  

Oliver arrives home in his rundown apartment (he was apparently not a billionaire at this point??) to find a lawyer waiting for him.

Oh, that explains it. This is after he lost his fortune. I guess I’m about to find out how that originally happened…