Starkville’s House of El Podcast

Well here we are with a new episode and a new character to discover their origin and backstory that was the basis for Vortigan on Smallville. The show only gave us snippets of what this character was all about, and I wish we could have seen a flashback scene or two explaining more about him. But at any rate lets see where the Smallville writers got their basis for Vortigan.

If you google “The Dark Archer” you will not find very much information about this character other than what we know from Smallville. Vortigan is bases on the DC Comics character Merlyn who was a mentor of Oliver Queen in his formative days of becoming Green Arrow.  Merlyn was created by Mike Friedrich, Dick Dillin, and comics legend Neal Adams and first appeared in Justice League of America #94 in 1971.

Merlyn “the Magician” was an accomplished archer who would often put on public displays for his skills. Olliver Queen was enamored by the archer and was his inspiration for his own archery skills.  When Oliver’s skills began to develop into a top-notch archer, Merlyn challenged him to a public archery contest and beat him.  Feeling good about his victory , Merlyn disappeared for many years, only to show up later acting under contract to kill Batman. Green Arrow was able to shoot his own arrow and deflect the one intended to kill Batman.  It is explained that Merlyn had become a part of the League of Assassins , which id the basis for the “League of Shadows” from the Batman Begins film.  Unable to compete his task in killing Batman and fearful that the league would hunt him down for failing, Merlyn goes on the run and does freelance assassin work.It is believed that Merlyn was with the League when David Cain’s daughter Cassandra was born and raised by the league to be a assassin. Cassandra eventually grows up to turn her back on the league and becomes Batgirl. (sidenote: The stories about Cassandra becoming and dealing with being Batgirl are some really fantastic stories)

Meryn’s appearances over the years have been spotty, usually popping up when a mystery assassin’s role is needed for the story.Ifd you haven’t noticed yet, there are many characters who are just “dark” versions of the hero. Merlyn is no exception and personally I find him very interesting.  One such story is that he appeared in Action Comics as a member of the “Injustice Gang” who were the arch enemies of the JLA.  He reappears as a member of the crime syndicate “The 100” who operates out of Metropolis. In one particular story, Merlyn squares off against Black Lighting and ultimately looses the battles to the hero.

Merlyn has another notable story in a crossover event called Underworld Unleashed that occured during the mid 1990’s. He joined a group called The Killer Elite with a group of villians, notably this included Deadshot who has connections to Checkmate. Checkmate is the title of an Smallville episode later this season and while I doubt Deadshot will get any kind of mention i think it was worth making the connection for you. This was a story where the group makes a deal with a demon to defeat the JLA. Thier plans fall through and the JLA end up successful in thwarting the groups plans.

The story that I most know Merlyn from is immensely popular “Identity Crisis”.  A hero’s wife is murdered and the villians go on the run as the JLA is thirsty for justice. If you like a good murder mystery and a ton of pivotal action involving the Justice League then I suggest you pick this story up or try and borrow it from your local library. Merlyn plays a rather strong role in this story and his look is really awesome.

In a recent story with Green Arrow, Merlyn was severly injured in a fight with another villian and is no longer able to speak.

All in all Merlyn is an interesting character, like I said before I like villians that are dopplegangers for their arch enemy. However I think the book is closed for The Dark Archer in Smallville. But wouldn’t this provide some good background for a Green Arrow spin-off series? I think so.

Leave a comment below and tell us what you thought of Vortigan or if you were already a fan of the Merlyn character.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 11:38 am and is filed under Character History, News. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.