I was reading my Teen Titan’s Archive again and I came across another of my favorite comic book devises. The boxing glove arrow. It was in every comic book archer’s quiver for decades. Most people make fun of the boxing glove arrow because not only would it never fit in an archer’s quiver but aerodynamics say it would never fly. This are both true and worthy of a good laugh. But what I find most amazing is that it is a boxing glove.

These are super-heros. Even the ones with no super powers spend all of their time punching one and other. With bare fists. Batman doesn’t wear boxing gloves when he goes up against the Joker. Why would an archer put one on the end of an arrow? Because it’s sporting? To be nice to the bad guy? To make it non-lethal couldn’t he just put a rubber ball or some such to blunt it? Nope. A boxing glove is chosen.

I’ve never seen it but I can picture an archer pulling the boxing glove arrow out of his quiver and saying, “Time to get serious” or “Time to take the gloves off”. Then he would pull the boxing glove off of the arrow revealing a bare fisted arrow. No more Mr. Nice guy. That would show ’em. But nobody ever has a bare fisted arrow. Just a gloved one.

Please, no fisting jokes John. This is serious business.