Arrow #9 (Web Comic) - A Review

Subtitled Falling, Arrow #9 gives us an detailed look at just how Helena Bertinelli came to turn against her crime-boss father and the chain of events that led to the death of her fiancee.


The script by Beth Schwarz and Katherine Walczak features a lot of nods to the Modern Age Helena Bertinelli from the original comics.  We learn that while she isn't a teacher herself, her fiancee was a teacher and she does love children.  It's this love that turns her against her father, who shows indifference as she tells him about how one of his underlings is selling drugs to children and one of her fiance's students died as a result.  At first, she's content to try and operate with the law in order to get the life she wants, free of her criminal family.  But when her information-gathering activities lead to her fiancee's death, Helena decides to take more extreme measures to see justice done.


The artwork by Mico Suayan is perfectly appropriate to the story.  The general look is dark but not overly so.  The use of inks to shadow and highlight the original pencils is particularly fine, though the caricatures of the actors from the show is a little off-kilter in some panels.

Overall, this is a fine comic and well worth the one-dollar download fee.  Though it doesn't present any new information, Falling is still an enjoyable read on it's own merits and the artwork is some of the best we've seen on this title.  Highly recommended. 

Arrow #7 (Web Comic) - A Review

Arrow #7 continues the show's recent trend of highlighting how Oliver's double-life is hurting his normal relationships.  This time, however, the focus is on Oliver's relationship with best bud Tommy Merlyn.  Currently focused on bringing down a gang of jewel thieves, Oliver has been neglecting his duties as a wing-man.  This leads Tommy to propose a Boys Night Out so the two can catch-up.  Can Oliver find a way to balance his bromance with clearing his name?.


Beth Schwartz' script deals with some of the potential complications with this story in subtly clever ways.  The first question some fans might ask is "Why doesn't Ollie just get Diggle go fight the jewel thieves?"  Shwartz provides us with an answer and it is a satisfactory one.  Schwartz also refuses to dumb down any of the characters for the sake of the story and there is some implication at the story's end that Tommy may be starting to put two and two together regarding what Ollie is spending his evenings doing.


As usual, Jorge Jimenez's artwork is appropriately atmospheric.  The inks are heavy this time around, subtly reflecting the shadow-world that Oliver Queen now inhabits and the deception that is now second-nature to him.  The color palette is well chosen, using darker, paler shades in the scenes where Ollie is Ollie - again reflecting how unreal those moments seem to Oliver now, who only comes alive - visually speaking - when he is fighting as The Hood. 

Arrow #3 (Web Comic) - A Review

Arrow #3 represents a serious step-down in quality from the previous two issues.  Written by Beth Schwartz, it tells us the back-story of Chien Na Wei  a.k.a. China White - the Triad assassin we saw pitted against Ollie in the second episode of the Arrow TV series.  Sadly, this tale does little to develop her beyond being a stereotypical Dragon Lady.


The hardened drug-dealer created by Andy Diggle for Green Arrow: Year One is nowhere to be found.  Instead we have an abused girl, who was spared by the assassin who killed her parents and then watched for several years.  He then offers to train her as an assassin after young Na Wei injures the hand of one of the girls who bullies her.  The script is packed full of cliches and if I never read another story where an Asian female protagonist is abused by her parents and recruited to join an assassin's guild, I'll be a happy fanboy.


The art by Jorge Jimenez is somewhat better than the script, continuing Arrow's tradition of using Grell-like artists with heavy shadows and dark color palettes.  Appropriately, most of his character designs and style reflect an Eastern-influence but some of the details being obscured by the inks do cause some confusion.  It is hard to tell in the above scan, for instance, whether China White has abandoned her Barbie Doll or whether she killed the blonde mean girl who made fun of her.