The Thoughts of Nicholas Cooper I

I’m rereading old issues of Green Lantern/Green Arrow written by Dennis O’Neal and drawn by Neal Adams, and these issues are just as relevant, if not even more relevant, today than they were when they were written in 1971. Unlike most superhero comics of the age, there were no real supervillians during this stint (a few sci-fi gimmicks and an issue with Sinestro, but thats it). The real villains during this was society, and these issues took on heavy topics: drugs, race relations, pollution, overpopulation (just to name a few). When I first read these stories a few years ago, I didn’t get the point these stories were trying to get across. Now that I’m older and wiser, I realize what brilliance was in the writing, and what perspective and deep thinking was invoked by these stories. During DC in 1971, most superhero stories, including Batman, were laughable at best (“Holy toledo, Batman! The Joker just robbed a kid’s school money!). But with the GL/GA stint, superhero comics became that much more mature. These aren’t superhero stories; they’re sociological treatises…and that’s why they’re a must read.