Cover of Green Lantern #22 (October-November 1946). Art by Paul Reinman. © DC Comics Inc. Posted by the Web-Ed on 10/29/2010.
If being turned OTK by a tree(!) doesn't qualify as a Weird Spanking, we don't know what does. What Green Lantern's friend Doiby Dickles might have done to deserve this spanking is something we neither know nor care to know. We also do not know if this arboreal discipline was repeated inside this issue's "The Adventure of the Walking Trees" (which possibly should have been re-titled as "The Adventure of the Spanking Trees".
Prior to seeing this, we always thought having a spanking take place on a comic-book cover was a sure way to increase sales - now we're not so sure. Of course, we don't like M/M scenes (we're assuming the tree is male, even though we know that's botanically impossible) and we doubt they induce anyone to buy the book. Although if someone has to be spanked by this plant-man punisher, it might as well be Doiby Dickles, an obvious copy of Plastic Man's Woozy Winks. Where Woozy was an integral part of Plastic Man's madcap adventures, Doiby only served as misplaced comic relief (if you'll pardon the expression) in GL's.
As for Green Lantern himself, he seems to be enjoying a chuckle here, and certainly isn't straining any muscles rushing to the rescue. We should probably bear in mind, however, that this is the Golden Age GL, so his ring has no power over anything made of wood, including (we suppose) a spanking tree.
