This issue features the book-length "Ulysses Star Is Still Alive" by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dan Adkins. This is the first word Adkins did for DC. Green Lantern and Green Arrow are resting by their campfire when they hear a noise. They rush to investigate and discover two men ready to execute a native American. The two heroes disarm the men and asses the situation. They learn that the two would be assassins, Theodore Pudd and Pierre O'Rourke, claim to own the local land and trees. However, the native American states that his tribe's ancient chief brokered a deal with the government for exclusive rights to the lumber a hundred years prior. But, the government and local records all conveniently disappeared.
Feeling that there is not much case with out the contract, the two heroes learn that one more copy is reputed to exist and it resides with a man no one has seen for twenty years: Abraham Star.
Green Arrow decides that they must stay and fight, but Green Lantern does not feel that breaking the law is the right thing, so he decides to help by trying to find Abraham Star. Hal heads to Evergreen City, where he used to work as an insurance investigator, and searches records until he finds a lead to Abraham's location. Hal arrives on the scene to find the building burning. He rushes in to save Abe and the two escape just in time. Abe, a victim of smoke-inhalation, is taken off to the hospital, but not before he reveals to Green Lantern that all the legal records he had just went up in flames. Hal does not give up and flies off, trying to think of another way to help the tribe and decides to go to Washington D.C.
Meanwhile, Green Arrow has headed back to the nearby native American town where he finds Black Canary trying to help the local townspeople. Black Canary tells Ollie that she has noticed the townspeople are very dejected. A few hours later, a couple of white-men try to steal some food from the reservation. They are scared off by the spirit of Ulysses Star, a yellow figure with a bow. The two men rush to a nearby lumberjack bar and report their story. No one believes it until the spirit shows up in person, with arrows flying!
Theodore Pudd convinces the lumberjacks that it is just a hoax though, and the men agree to continue cutting down trees. Back in town, Ulysses appears to the tribes-people and convinces them that they must fight to protect what is theirs.
A few hours later, dawn breaks and the lumberjacks arrive. The tribes-men stand ready to fight though, alongside Black Canary. A fight breaks out, and the spirit of Ulysses joins in as well, but it is quickly ended when Green Lantern arrives with U.S. Representative Sullivan. Sullivan has promised to look into the matter, so Lantern suggests that everyone goes home until then.
The spirit of Ulysses takes offense to this suggestion of inaction and calls-out Green Lantern. Ulysses, now clearly Green Arrow, points out that his costume is yellow and that they should duke it out without ring or bow. The two fight until an errant log hits them and knocks them both out cold. Later, at the reservation café, they discuss their opposing tactics, as do the locals, who have lost hope. Luckily, Sullivan arrives just in time to break the news that a man has confessed to the arson in Evergreen City and has implicated Pudd and O'Rourke.
Later, at a campfire, the two reflect on their dispute and its lack of a resolution. The guardian points out that although it was not resolved, they at least learned that hitting and killing leads to bloodshed and humanity must stop doing this before it is too late. This story was reprinted in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #2, Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection Vol. 1 TPB, Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection HC, Green Lantern/Green Arrow Vol. 1 TPB, Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 5 TPB, Green Lantern/Green Arrow TPB and Absolute Green Lantern/Green Arrow HC.
Adkins recalled in Alter Ego how his work on his fanzine turned into a career in comics:
"I met him (Wally Wood) through Bill Pearson. I saw a letter of Pearson's in Amazing Stories [sf magazine]. His address was Phoenix, Arizona, and I was stationed at Luke Field outside Phoenix, so I thought he might know some girls there! I was nineteen at the time. He didn't really want to meet anybody; he was sort of a shy guy. But I went out and talked to him that night, and showed him my collection of fanzines.Later, up in New York, I was doing art for the science-fiction magazines, but I couldn't make enough money at it, so I worked in advertising while I was also drawing for Amazing and Fantastic and Infinity and Science-Fiction Adventures. Half of these were put out by Larry Shaw, who also published one of the first monster magazines, Monster Parade, 'way before Famous Monsters of Filmland. Part of Monster Parade was stories, for which we did illustrations. While I was doing all this, Pearson had moved to New York, too, and I guess he wanted to get into writing. He had this big apartment in the '70s over near the river, and he got to meet Wally through (Roy) Krenkel or somebody.I went up to Wally's with Pearson to get a full-page drawing from Wally for my fanzine Outlet. But Wally was too busy to do a drawing for me, unless-[laughs] Well, he offered me work to help him out! I had drawn nine pages of a war story, but I didn't show him my science-fiction illustrations. Later on, I showed him my sf drawings, and he said that if I'd shown him those, he wouldn't have hired me, because they weren't as good as the war story, which was my latest work! [laughs] So anyway, I started working as Wally's assistant, helping him on the first "Iron Maiden" story in the first issue of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. That was around June or July of 1965."
He joined Marvel Comics in 1967. working primarily as an inker but also penciling several stories for Doctor Strange and other titles. Adkins additionally worked for a variety of comics publishers, including Charlton Comics, DC Comics (Aquaman, Batman), Dell Comics/Western Publishing, Eclipse Comics, Harvey Comics, Marvel, and Pacific Comics.
In addition to penciling and inking, Adkins also did cover paintings, including for Amazing Stories, Eerie (issue 12) and Famous Monsters of Filmland (issues 42, 44). His magazine illustrations were published in Argosy (with Wood), Amazing Stories, Fantastic, Galaxy Science Fiction, Infinity, Monster Parade, Science-Fiction Adventures, Spectrum, Worlds of If and other magazines.
In the 2000s, he illustrated Parker Brothers products, and his artwork for Xero was reprinted in the hardback The Best of Xero. Dan died on May 3, 2013 at the age of 76.
Edited by Julius Schwartz.
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