I'm not one for costume changes. While I'm not a traditionalist by default, I just don't like artists moving around the furniture and changing the wallpaper when they move into a title. Plant your flag with style and storytelling, I say, not by altering the properties. Neal Adams had been at DC Comics for two years before he got to redesign Green Arrow's duds. Ollie Queen had been the Emerald-and-Ruby Archer before that. With BRAVE AND BOLD #85, G.A. got a makeover much like what we've seen recently with Aquaman, X-Men, Iron Man and practically every other character, even temporarily: he became serious. The red was gone, the costume showed off the body, and Ollie's now-standard facial hair gave him flair. Visually, it was a complete attitude change. Ollie's character paralleled that shift. He became socially conscious and eager to tussle.

BRAVE AND BOLD #85 was set-up to reflect those changes. Ollie Queen's business is competing with Argonaut Unlimited for control of a development project to salvage the state from the infestation of crime. When a prominent senator is shot, Queen looks for clues to link Argonuat's owner, Minotaur, with the assassination attempt and Argonaut itself with criminal activities. Queen is doggedly determined to flush out Minotaur, flashing righteous anger and deadly accuracy with his weaponry. At one point Green Arrow kills a bear, a puma and a boar within seconds. In his civilian identity he decks the bad guy after informing him of his arrest. It's the Arrow we're familiar with, but this was new to him at the time.

Someone who may be unfamiliar to you is Batman, a character closer to his original incarnation here than Arrow is to his. There's no Robin, for instance. He bears none of the brooding intensity of today's Caped Crusader. But remember, comic creators were still dragging Batman away from any semblance of the ABC live-action TV show, which had last been canceled only a year before. This Batman is quintessential Adams - chiseled face, lean-toned body and dramatic poses. But in this comic, Bruce Wayne is a more prominent figure. With the senator healing, Wayne is tapped by the governor to fill his seat in Congress, allowing him to fight crime in both identities. In fact the climax of the comic is Wayne's dramatic last-second entrance to the Senate to cast his vote. Placing such an action at the crux of the comic foreshadows Arrow's later socially-themed exploits with Green Lantern in Denny O'Neil/Adams' comics.

This is a fun stand-alone tale to read. Batman stuns a sniper behind the Washington Monument and leads G.A. out of a cave by tracking a bat. Both heroes reveal their alter-egos to a mutual trusted friend who protects the secret by hypnotizing himself at the book's conclusion. The comic has an economic sincerity that reminds me of the current adaptations of the Timm/Dini cartoons. And, lest we forget, this is Neal Adams at the time when he was earning his eventual legendary status.

As you peruse the Kevin Smith run on the new Green Arrow series, keep this book in mind, as it serves to mark the emergence of the Ollie that Smith is resurrecting. As for Batman, well, I can't see Wayne settling for senator when corporate nemesis Lex Luthor is in the White House.

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