The Underwater Archer

This picture, put up by Suspension of Disbelief got me to thinking about a nice old tale of the Silver Age that I enjoyed...

A rare Silver Age crossover happened in Adventure Comics #267 (Dec-59) when Aquaman and Green Arrow, who had been sharing space in the book for almost fourteen years and before that were two stalwarts in More Fun Comics for four years, finally teamed up. Sort of.

It all started in the Aquaman story "Manhunt on Land" when two villains switch hunting grounds. "Shark" Norton is tired of being caught by Aquaman, and Horace "The Wizard" Kates is sick of being caught by Green Arrow. So when they escape, Shark goes to work on the land, and The Wizard in the sea.

Naturally, the superheroes, rather than sharing information, go after the villains they know best despite the requirement to work in a hostile territory. Aquaman puts a bowl on his head and drives around with a truck full of fish.

He succeeds, of course, with a little help from Topo Arrow.

The final showdown happens in the Aquarium, and Aquaman captures Shark again. Meanwhile, the Green Arrow and Speedy are working on capturing the newly sea-bound Wizard by preparing for underwater archery in "The Underwater Archers".

While battling The Wizard, GA and Speedy run across a fire-breathing monster. Hey, stuff like that happened in the Silver Age. And who should come to the duo's rescue? None other than TOPO!!! Using his never-before-seen telepathy, Green Arrow contacts Topo and says "We're Aquaman friends!" Amazingly, Topo obeys. Maybe this is when he gets some archery tips for his adventures in the Aquaman story as well, who knows?

After capturing The Wizard, Green Arrow returns to land, where Aquaman greets him and they all have a good laugh about switching domains.

Which all goes to show that Topo is the real hero of these comics...