Arrowcar, Arrowplane, Arrowcave, Arrow Signal. For every “Bat-This,” Green Arrow had an “Arrow-That.”
Copybat though he was, Green Arrow was capable of introducing some improvements. For example, the Arrowcar could launch Green Arrow and Speedy into the air spectacularly with its ejector seats. I used to wonder why the Batmobile wasn’t similarly equipped with Batapults.
“Green Arrow is certainly in the tradition of Batman, a costumed crime fighter with no super-powers, but with a lot of technological gimmicks,” observed comics historian Michael E. Grost. “Unlike Batman, Green Arrow’s world is not grotesque or bizarre, and Green Arrow is not an alienated figure.”
“Public attitudes to Green Arrow and Speedy are a little different than those to Batman. Green Arrow and Speedy are above all viewed as great archers. This is something of an objective fact. Green Arrow does not need to create a mystique about himself; he simply shoots great, and gets all the recognition he needs. The same goes for Speedy. The fact that he is a kid makes little difference. If he can shoot, say, a television arrow over a building and take pictures, it doesn’t matter if he is 12 or 40.”
Green Arrow and Batman were, however, similar enough that they could easily trade villains. Take the Clock King, for example.
Introduced by writer Ed Herron and artist Lee Elias in The Crimes of the Clock King (World’s Finest 111, Aug. 1960), the super criminal traps Green Arrow and Speedy in the top half of a giant hourglass, with the shifting sands pouring onto deadly spikes below. But the superheroes are able to escape with the aid of a suction-cup arrow attached to a climbing rope.
Six years later, TV’s Clock King robs Batman and Robin of their utility belts and traps them in the bottom half of an hourglass, under sands that threaten to suffocate them. In Bill Finger and Charles Sinclair’s screenplay, the Dynamic Duo is able to topple the hourglass and roll it out into the street — the Clock King having followed the “time-honored” villainous tradition of leaving the heroes alone so they can escape from his trap.
The teleplay’s climax takes place in that venerable melodramatic setting, the clock tower.
The Clock King was played with gleeful scenery-chewing gusto by Viennese character actor Walter Slezak, decked out in a showy black cape and a top hat with a clock on it. I vaguely remember wishing he’d worn the even more ridiculous comic-book outfit — a vivid blue and green caped costume covered in timepieces, with a round clock face for a mask — but then actors are understandably unenthusiastic about covering up their faces.
The Clock King shared his shtick with Chronos the Time Bandit, the Atom’s archenemy. He returned to battle the Justice League of America in their fifth issue (June-July 1961), teamed up with Captain Cold, Professor Menace, Electric Man, the Getaway Mastermind and the Puppet Master.
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