Arrow #27 (Web Comic) - A Review

It's become something of a joke among Arrow fans that the Starling City Police Department doesn't have any other detectives in it besides Quentin Lance, his partner (whose name I don't recall ever being mentioned on the show) and - until recently - McKenna Hall.  Arrow #27 rectifies this somewhat by introducing us to Detective Rivera - no first name given.  Rivera is a Starling City native who grew up in The Glades and seems to hate The Hood nearly as much as Detective Lance.  This leads to him suggesting a new strategy for capturing the vigilante - going undercover with the gang that seems to be The Hood's current target.


This issue reminded me of the series Criminal (by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips) in several respects.  Emilio Aldrich's script focuses upon the realities of the shady side of Starling City, barely featuring The Starling City Vigilante until the very end of the issue!  The artwork by Eric Nguyen is gritty and uncompromising, reminiscent in several spots of Jock's work on Green Arrow: Year One.  


Your enjoyment of Arrow #27 may best be determined by your enjoyment of police procedural stories.  There's very little of our hero in this issue and none of the character-based drama one usually sees on the show.  Still, this issue is enjoyable for what it is - a good cop story - and well worth the $1.00 download.

Arrow #10 (Web Comic) - A Review

'Caged' marks a first for the Arrow comic, as this story is told entirely from the perspective of John Diggle.  Our story focuses upon Ollie as he enters into a secret biannual cage fight.  One of the people on The List, who fights under the unlikely nickname of Deathride, lives in total seclusion and only comes out twice a year to defend his champion title.  The only shot Ollie has at getting close to the man is to fight in the tournament himself - a move which Diggle recognizes as patently idiotic until he realizes that Ollie's desire to fight is not entirely due to his father's dying wish.


Sadly, the plot of this issue is strictly by-the-numbers.  If you've seen any movie based around an important martial arts tournament, you've seen this one.  Ben Sokolowski and Moira Kirland just make the story readable by showing us the action from Diggle's point of view, but only just.  We can only assume that this story takes place sometime before Muse of Fire because Diggle's astonishment that Ollie would rather fight it out in the arena rather than pay off Deathride's manager for his address seems somewhat naive of the man who saw through Ollie's motivations in wanting to "save" Helena Bertinelli.  


Thankfully, the artwork by Eric Nguyen makes up for the lackluster plot.  Smooth and stylized, Nguyen captures the essence of the characters from the show and does a fine job of depicting the martial arts action.  Indeed, many panels look as if they might have been stills taken from a modern fighting Anime.

Bottom Line: You can skip this issue of Arrow if you're not into martial arts. But if you can stomach a lackluster story for some good artwork or are enough of a Digg fan to want to see a story told from his POV, give this one a shot.

Arrow #4 (Web Comic) - A Review

Arrow #4 offers us a look at the past of Oliver Queen's bodyguard, John Diggle.  Despite being one of the more interesting supporting characters in the series so far, we don't know much about the background of "Digg".  In fact, beyond his being a soldier and having a brother who was in the security business as well, we don't know anything about the man save that he takes his job very seriously.




The story presented here by series executive producers Andrew Kreisberg & Marc Guggenheimn offers us a dual insight into both Diggle's past and personality.  The action centers upon Diggle and his men being ambushed  after Diggle - against orders - stops their convoy to check on a young girl who appears to be injured and distressed.  Diggle proves to be an true soldier - a man of ideals who sees his uniform as a symbol of honor and acts accordingly.  He follows the spirit of the law, not the word itself.  I'm not much for military-style comics in general, but the script here is engaging and the action well-paced.
 



The art by Eric Nguyen manages to excite, despite being rendered in the dull greys and browns appropriate to the setting.  Nguyen dodges the trap many modern war comic artists fall into, avoiding excessive posing in his figures.  Everything here has a sense of motion to it, even the scenes that are clearly meant to be still and quiet.