Green Arrow #36 - A Review

Saved from a watery grave by Black Canary, Oliver Queen must confront his treacherous mother and The Ninth Circle in order to save his city. Little does he know that the assassins Malcolm Merlyn and Shado are coming to join the party as well, as Kate Spencer struggles to clear Oliver's name of murder charges as The Trial of The Century begins in Star City!


Click On The Picture Above For A Full-Screen Scan.
There is very little I can say about this issue without spoiling it. Suffice it to say, Benjamin Percy managed something impossible after several issues of doubting the direction of the story and the point in resurrecting Moira Queen only to turn her into an even more treacherous figure than she was on the TV Series Arrow. For that, if nothing else, he has my respect. For his perfect encapsulation of the Green Arrow and Black Canary romance in this issue, he has my gratitude.

I regret that I can't show you every wonderful two-page spread that Juan Ferreyra has put together for this issue. The layouts for this issue are fantastic and Ferreyra's use of color throughout is amazing.This is rightly applauded as one of DC Comics best-looking books.

The Final Analysis: 10/10.

Green Arrow #33 - A Review

Fresh off of his victory over The Ninth Circle and the battle to save Gotham City from an invasion from The Dark Multiverse, Oliver Queen has come home. Seattle hardly feels like home, however, still being called Star City and still being ruled by a corrupt elite.

Despite this, Green Arrow's spirits are high, though his alter ego is about to go on trial for murder and the discovery of the alleged victim, alive and well among the slaves of The Ninth Circle, isn't quite the game-changer he'd hoped for. He still has the love of a good woman, Dinah Lance, who moved Heaven and Earth to help save his city in his absence. Yet bad women are moving against Oliver Queen as well, with the assassin Shado having been hired to bring down Green Arrow and another unexpected woman from Oliver's past about to reenter his life...



Green Arrow #33 is about as perfect an entry-point into the world of Oliver Queen as one could hope for. Benjamin Percy's script primarily concerns itself with reestablishing the status quo after Green Arrow's extended road-trip and setting the stage for the battle to come. Though light on action, this issue is full of gripping drama and great character moments. The best involve Oliver Queen's reunion with Dinah Lance and further cement Percy's status as one of the few Green Arrow writers in decades who truly understand how both characters should be written.

This issue marks Jamal Campbell's premiere on Green Arrow and it is an impressive one. Since the beginning of Rebirth, this series has benefited from some amazing artists who handled every aspect of the artwork - pencils, inks and colors. Campbell proves his worth to stand among them with every fantastic page of this issue.

The Final Analysis: 10 out of 10.

Green Arrow #6 - A Review

I was not looking forward to Green Arrow #6. Indeed, I was prepared to outright loathe this issue. And the reason for that can be summed up in two words: Emiko Queen. I've made no secret of my antipathy for Emiko Queen since her first appearance during Jeff Lemire's run on Green Arrow. I don't like her for who she is as a character, being a cliche brat sidekick. More, I don't appreciate what she represents.

Emiko Queen is a living "Exhibit A" to everyone who has ever argued that Green Arrow is nothing more than a half-hearted Batman rip-off without an ounce of originality. For as Batman suddenly acquired a sidekick who was raised by a secretive order of assassins and trained from birth to destroy him, so too did Oliver Queen suddenly acquire a sidekick who was raised by a secretive order of assassins and trained from birth to destroy him. The only effective difference between Damian Wayne and Emiko Queen is their genders and the exact blood relationship between themselves and their mentors.

As such, after the cliffhanger ending of last month's issue of Green Arrow, I was ill-pleased that the fate of Green Arrow and Black Canary was going to be ignored in favor of a story focusing om Emiko. I couldn't think of anything I'd rather read less than a comic focused on Emiko Queen, with the possible exception of a sequel to Red Sonja: The Dark Tower. Imagine my surprise then, to find that Green Arrow #6 is not that bad.

In fact, it's pretty good.

In fact, it's almost as if Benjamin Percy had been reading my complaints about the character and said, "The dude has a point. I should do something to fix that." Because not only does Green Arrow #6 take steps to give Emiko an actual personality beyond "bratty assassin princess" - it also rectifies the various missteps Jeff Lemire made in handling both Shado and The Clock King!


I won't spoil the steps Percy takes with Shado and The Clock King in this issue beyond saying this. Those Mike Grell fans who complained about Shado's seemingly out-of-character behavior in the series so far will be gratified at some of the revelations contained in this issue. And Percy transforms Lemire's new take on The Clock King into a truly menacing criminal mastermind.

This is accomplished through two separate flashback tales, as Emiko tells her own story and of her desire to become her own person and quit being a tool of the various forces that have manipulated her since birth. The first tale shows Emiko's actions following the end of the events of last issue.  The second tale, set one year in the past, focuses on Emiko's attempt to investigate a series of strange robberies on her own, shortly after moving in with Oliver and officially becoming his sidekick. It's a credit to Percy's skills as a writer that both these stories are suspenseful, despite our logically knowing that Emiko must emerge from these stories unharmed.


The artwork by Steven Byrne is astonishing. Byrne has a tremendous sense of visual storytelling and the action of the issue flows easily from panel to panel. There are a variety of colors at play in the various palettes Byrne utilizes and the variety keeps the reader guessing as well as focused on the interplay and contrast between pages. My only quibble with the art is a minor continuity point - that the Oliver Queen of One Year Ago is depicted with his famous goatee, when he was shown to have only recently started styling his beard in that fashion.

That minor wrong, however, I am willing to forgive given how much has been done right. If you haven't given Green Arrow a chance yet, this is a fine time to start. I don't think you'll regret it.

Green Arrow #3 - A Review

Framed for a murder he didn't commit and presumed dead, Oliver Queen is out for revenge. As he storms the fortress that is Queen Industries in a bid for answers, Black Canary begins her own hunt for justice. Yet neither of them can begin to imagine the scope of the evil they face...


Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra are nailing it on this book. The action sequences are fantastic and both Green Arrow and Black Canary are being written the way they should be. I particularly liked Percy's take on Canary in this issue, which remembers a fact that most writers forget - ever since the days of Dennis O'Neil, Ollie was the nice one and Dinah was the one with a vicious streak. And the artwork by Juan Ferreyra reminds me of Mike Grell's work on The Longbow Hunters, particularly in how the colors are utilized. This is the book Green Arrow and Black Canary fans have been dying to read for years!

Green Arrow #27 - A Review

With Green Arrow #27, Jeff Lemire continues to expand the mythos of the New 52 in unexpected and enjoyable directions.  Perhaps the biggest surprise in this issue is a brief interlude where the mysterious Magus who has been manipulating things around Oliver Queen pays a visit to the hero Katana.  It spoils little to guess that she too has connections to Lemire's Outsiders - a mysterious cabal of warriors with connections to Oliver's family - but what this has to do with the ongoing story is still a mystery.


Fans of the show Arrow will find themselves on familiar territory, as this issue makes use of a number of flashbacks to depict Oliver's time shipwrecked on the island.  And yet things are completely different, for it seems that the accident that left Oliver Queen stranded in this reality was no accident.  Everyone - be they long-time Arrowhead or Green-horn - will be kept guessing by the issue's ending.


As uusal, Andrea Sorrentino's artwork astounds.  This issue features a number of two-page spreads reminiscent of Osamu Tesuka's early action manga in how the action is depicted through a number of framed close-ups.  The effect is rather like looking at still shots on a roll of movie film, yet much more dynamic.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 9 - Three Ghosts

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

 

Plot

With Ollie still recovering from his injuries at the hands of Brother Cyrus and an accidental injection of blood thickener, he might be forgiven for forgetting that it's almost Christmas.  As Roy Harper searches for answers in the mysterious murder of a local artist and Ollie continues his hunt for the people building an army of super-strong soldiers, The Arrow will be visited by three spirits - ghosts from his past with messages about his future.  Is Ollie going mad?  Or merely taking his first difficult steps out of the darkness and into a brighter future?

On the island, Oliver, Sara and Shado are at the mercy of Professor Ivo and Ollie will be forced to make a sadistic choice between both of the women he's loved.


Influences

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (the appearance of three ghosts inspire a man to change his ways at Christmas time), Green Arrow: Year One (The Island sequences), Green Arrow: Quiver (Slade's line about Oliver looking like he saw a ghost is virtually identical to a running gag line about various people seeing a back-from-the-dead Oliver Queen), Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest (Barry Allen makes Oliver Queen - and the rest of the Justice League - costumes made of compressed fabric) and The Flash: Rebirth (more references to the Geoff Johns revamp of Barry Allen's origin story).


Goofs

Barry seems to forget about his boss's threats regarding his job from last episode, staying in Starling City for at least two more days to help out around the Arrow Cave.


Performances

We've seen Stephen Amell and Caity Lotz show their acting chops playing three or four variants of the same person on this show.  Manu Bennett can now be added to the list of  actors on this show who have accomplished this feat.  This episode sees him playing the tough-guy mask Slade Wilson wears on the island, the vulnerable man who fell in love with Shado, the ghost of Oliver's memories of Slade and - finally - the modern Slade, still alive and well and holding a grudge.


Artistry

The whole of the scene with Ollie fighting Slade's ghost in the Arrowcave.  Writing .  Music.  Performances.  Cinematography.  Lighting.  Everything is perfect.

While I generally like Geoff Johns' writing, I haven't always liked how he's portrayed Oliver Queen in the comics.  And yet this episode - co-written by Johns and series writer Ben Sokolowski  - prefectly captures three essential points to Oliver's character in the lessons he is taught by his ghosts.  Shado tells Oliver that he should fight to protect the living - not to honor the fallen.  Slade tells Oliver that the real reason he fights is to atone for his own sins.  Finally, Tommy reminds Oliver that sometimes you fight because someone has to fight back.


Trivia

Barry suggests Oliver wear a mask made of compressible micro-fabric.  This is the same material in the comics that Barry eventually uses to create his costume as The Flash, folding it up inside a ring to be easily retrieved when he needs to change.

In the story Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest, it is revealed that Barry made costumes of the same compressible micro-fabric material for his teammates in The Justice League before it was pointed out that only a person with super-speed could effectively utilize such a ring.

Cyrus Gold was the name of the man who - in the Golden Age Green Lantern comics - became the zombie villain Solomon Grundy.  Though the exact details of what sort of man he was differ from retelling to retelling, most of them agree Cyrus Gold was not a nice man.  The best story refers to him as a gentleman of ill repute and the worst of them identify him as a miser and a pedophile!  Rising form the dead as a zombie with no memory of who he was, Gold was dubbed Solomon Grundy after the nursery rhyme character since the only thing he could recall of his past was being born on a Monday

The founder of STAR Labs is identified as Harrison Wells.  In the comics, the founder of STAR Labs was named Garrison Slate.

Quentin Lance's former partner is named Lucas Hilton.  This is also the name of a cop character created by Arrow Executive Producer and comics writer Andrew Kreisberg , during his run on the Green Arrow/Black Canary comic.

Slade's line about Ollie seeing a ghost is very similar to a line repeated in Green Arrow: Quiver.  In that story,  Oliver Queen comes back from the dead and says that line to people who are astonished to see him.

The Asian reporter covering the particle accelerator story in Central City is named Linda Park.  This is a reference to a reporter from The Flash comics, who eventually married Wally West - a.k.a. The original Kid Flash and Barry Allen's successor as The Flash.

In the original The Flash comic, Barry Allen gained super-speed powers after being thrown through a shelf full of chemicals while being struck by lightning.  It is unknown what role the multifunctional particle accelerator has, if any in his origin in the Arrow universe.  However, it did appear that Barry was already moving faster than his surroundings immediately before the lightning strike. 


Technobabble

Barry determines that Ollie was injected with a coagulate which causes his blood to become unnaturally thick.  He treats this by injecting Ollie with rat poison.  Most rat poisons are anti-coagulates that kill rodents by thinning their blood over an extended period.  While the same base chemicals are used in drugs to treat overly-thick blood, it should be noted that most doctors do not recommend taking rat poison as an alternative to prescribed medication.

Barry is able to recreate a fingerprint by adding a gel-based polymer to the residual oils from Brother Cyrus' skin from where he grabbed Ollie's neck and cut the skin.

Oliver says the reason he doesn't wear a mask is that it won't conform perfectly to his face and would hinder his ability to aim while on the run.

Barry suggests Oliver look into a mask made of compressible micro-fabric to hide his identity, saying that green grease-paint isn't very effective at hiding his identity.  By episode's end, he has made such a mask for Oliver. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Looking at the arrow in Roy's leg)
Ollie: (gripping the arrow with both hands) Roy?  This is going to hurt.
Roy: My anger's dulling the pain.

(As Ollie is working out and trying to shoot a bouncing tennis ball, his arrow is caught by Slade)
Slade: What's the matter, kid?  You look like you've seen a ghost.

Slade: You're not a hero. Or a friend. Or a brother. You are nothing. 
(Ollie turns away from him)
Slade: Do not turn your back on me!  Not again!
Ollie: You're gone.
Slade: Wherever I am... it's time you joined me!

Tommy: I know I called you a murderer but you are not.  You are a hero.  You beat the island.  You beat my father.  So fight, Oliver.  Get up and fight back! 

(When explaining to Brother Blood why he does not want The Arrow killed)
Deathstroke: Death would be a release from this life and his sentence has yet to be carried out.  I'm going to tear everything he cares about away from him.  Destroy those who choose to follow him.  Corrupt those he loves. Once he has lost everyone and everything he values, I will drive an arrow through his eye.


Continuity

Shado is confirmed to be dead.

Slade is confirmed to be alive and holding a grudge against Oliver.

Felicity refers to when Moira shot Oliver and he turned to her for help (114) and when he revealed his identity to Diggle in order to save his life (103), while arguing with Oliver about her revealing his secret identity to Barry Allen.

Moira decorates the house for Christmas alone, saying she won't be throwing a big party this year, referring to the disappointing turn out for the party in 208.

Ollie hallucinates Shado twice - once while he's on the table being treated by Barry and later as he's walking down the halls of Queen Manor alone.  She asks him to give up being The Arrow before everyone around him dies.

Diggle confirms that Ollie prefers to be called The Arrow now.

Barry mentions The Arrow's battles with The Dollmaker (203), Count Vertigo (207), Dodger (115) and The Huntress (117).

Blood sends Laurel flowers and asks her to go Christmas shopping with him.

Oliver still addresses Quentin Lance as 'Detective' as The Arrow.

Ivo kills Shado after Oliver throws himself between Ivo and Sara, after Ivo trains his gun on her.

Laurel discovers that all the blood donors at Blood's drives were required to take a psychological evaluation by the Langford Institute.

Felicity is Jewish.

Felicity and Barry go out to eat together at the Big Belly Burger - not seen since last season.

Ollie hallucinates Slade twice - once on the rooftop of SCPD headquarters while talking to Quentin Lance - the other in the Arrowcave.  Slade tells Oliver that he became The Arrow to atone for his own sins - not make up for his father's mistakes.

Oliver finally tells Diggle and Felicity about Shado.  He tells Diggle about Slade Wilson. 

Diggle admits to seeing the ghosts of soldier friends who he outlived. 

Roy discovers that Max's file photo is stamped with the word Mirakuru - the Japanese name for the Miracle/Miraclo drug. This name will be used henceforth.

Oliver kills Cyrus Gold after triggering an explosion, which sprays more Mirakuru on Gold while collapsing a ceiling on him.  The smart money is we have not seen the last of him.

Ollie hallucinates Tommy during his fight with Brother Blood and Cyrus Gold.  Tommy tells Oliver that Tommy was wrong to call him a murderer and that he is a hero.

Oliver is able to save Roy's life by performing CPR on him after he apparently dies from taking Mirakuru.  He then returns Roy to Thea's room at Queen Manor.  Roy's memory of the event is fuzzy and there's no indication he knows Ollie is The Arrow.

Blood formally announces his run for mayor.

The "friend" who gave Blood the Mirakuru sample is revealed to be Slade Wilson.

Thanks to the Mirakuru, Roy's injuries from last week have healed completely.  It remains to be seen if Roy has gained enhanced strength and reflexes from the injection as well.

Sara lies to protect Ollie when Slade discovers Shado's death.  Slade asks who killed her.  Ollie is about to say "I did" when Sara cuts him off and says "Ivo".

Barry has a bulletin board filled with materials regarding his mother's murder.

Barry Allen is struck by lightning and thrown through a rack of chemicals.

Barry makes Oliver a green mask that Felicity says makes him look like a hero.

 
The Fridge Factor

Pretty much the entire female cast is sidelined for this episode.  Shado and Sara are girl hostages, with Shado being fridged to give Ollie and Slade angst.  Thea and Sin are mostly there to fuss over Roy when he's wounded.  Moira is decorating the Queen household for Christmas in solitude.  Laurel is only there to cry over her father and to further advance Roy's mission.  You know things are bad when lab-rat Felicity proactive female character in the episode and even she spends most of the episode fawning over how awesome Barry and Ollie are.


The Winick Factor

Ollie's defending The Arrow's shooting Roy as a means of keeping him safe is lame even by Ollie's low standards for unbelievable lies.


The Bottom Line

Ignoring the shabby treatment of the female cast, it's a damn good episode, a fitting set-up for The Flash TV series and a fine way to mark the midway point of the season.

Green Arrow #26 - A Review

Dubbed The Outsiders War - Book One: Return To The Island, Green Arrow #26 is a perfect entry point for new readers, despite its intimidating subtitle.  Those who only know Oliver Queen from the TV series Arrow may be confused that Oliver's support team consists of two computer nerds named Fyff and Naomi or by the revelation that Shado is older than Oliver and the mother of his half-sister.  Thankfully, the opening pages bring the reader up to speed on recent events with great efficiency before moving on to the action.  


Author Jeff Lemire has taken Green Arrow in directions not seen since the days of Mike Grell in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  There is a mystic quality to the character now, as we find Oliver is the last scion of a warrior clan bound to the power of The Arrow, pitted against other clans devoted to other weapons.  The presentation is reminiscent of Frank Miller's work on Daredevil and proves a welcome and unique change to this series after several false-starts following The New 52 revamp. 



The art by Andrea Sorrentino is, in a word, astonishing.  Sorrentino crams an amazing amount of detail into every single panel, without things becoming muddied or overshadowed.  Praise must also be paid to colorist Marcelo Maiolo, who alternates the color palettes between panels, using muted hues throughout for atmosphere, save for the action shots which are given brighter, more vibrant colors.

Bottom Line?  This is a great book and if you're any kind of comics fan, you should be reading it.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 7 - State v. Queen

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Moira Queen's trial begins and is expected to be the story of the week in Starling City.  That's before a mysterious malady begins afflicting random people around the city, including John Diggle and Adam Donner.  With Donner ill, Laurel must take over the city's case against Moira and finds herself privy to the terrible secret Moira wished to hide from her children.

It turns out the mysterious "plague" is the after-effects of a new version of Vertigo.  The Count is back in Starling City and he's found a new way to hook the entire city and create a demand for his new Vertigo formula, which he claims is the only thing to stop the withdrawal pains now afflicting Diggle and hundreds of other citizens.  Both Starling City and his family need him but can Oliver Queen see to them both?


Influences

Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow (Vertigo's plan to create demand for a drug by poisoning random people resembles the plot of this classic story) Green Arrow: Year One (The island sequences)


Goofs

The trial scene is a bit of a shambles all around.  Ignoring the obvious conflict of interest in having a family friend of the defendant act as prosecutor, Jean Loring doesn't come off as a particularly competent lawyer.  One wonders why Ollie wasn't called as a character witness as Thea was.  It might make sense given that it's a matter of public record that Ollie left town for several months but you'd think if Loring was worried enough about that to not call Ollie as a character witness, she'd be equally worried about Thea's refusal to talk to her mom for that long.  Finally, one wonders what evidence the D.A's office had that proved Malcolm Merlyn and Moira had an affair and - more importantly - how it could have destroyed her case that she was being blackmailed/threatened by Merlyn.  Surely the idea of someone blackmailing someone with evidence of an affair is not unheard of in Starling City?

Ollie says he developed an antidote for Vertigo.  Maybe this is short for "I had someone in our Applied Sciences department at Queen Consolidated develop an antidote for Vertigo" because magical healing herbs aside, Ollie has never been portrayed as being that kind of chemical genius.  Particularly given that he needed Felicity's help to analyze the drug back in 112.  


Trivia

Felicity notes that a The Count used a STAR Labs satellite to bounce his broadcast signal and that he could have been broadcasting from Markovia.  Markovia is a fictional European nation in the DC Comics universe, located in between France, Belgium and Luxembourg.  It is the home of the earth-manipulating heroes Geo-Force and Terra.  A reference to Vlatava - the small European nation ruled by Count Vertigo - would have been more appropriate.

Kate Spencer is once again identified as one of the lawyers in the Starling City District Attorney's office.  In the comics, Kate Spencer is a lawyer who later adopts the identity of The Manhunter to fight crime.

Roy gives Mia a pair of red boxing gloves in order to allow her to relieve some stress.  Red, naturally, is Roy's color in the comics and The Boxing Glove Arrow is one of his and Ollie's most infamous trick arrows in the comics.   

The numbers on the back of the Arrowhead - 30 31 75 12 - do translate to a real-world map coordinate when converted into  Degrees and Minutes.  The location is in Northern India, near the border with Pakistan.  Apparently that Japanese ship went VERY far inland.

Transposed for the Western Hemisphere, the numbers point to a location in the Bermuda Triangle. These are the exact same as the coordinates Percy Jackson is given in the novel The Sea of Monsters, which turn out to be the coordinates of Polyphemus's island. Arrow show-runner Marc Guggenheim was also the screenplay writer for the film adaptation of Sea of Monsters. (Thanks to Mythless for that information.)

With the right half of his face blackened from the burns, Slade's face now resembles Deathstroke's mask in the comics.




Dialogue Triumphs

Shado: They have Oliver.  I'm going after them.
Slade: Not alone.
Shado: You can barely walk!
Slade: All the more reason not to stay here.  I'm not giving them another chance of blowing me up.

(Regarding The Count being free)
Felicity: I know what you're thinking...
Ollie: No you don't.  I made a choice not to put an arrow in this guy and it was the right choice.  There's no more killing.

Ollie: What do you want?!
The Count: World peace and personal satisfaction, though not necessarily in that order.

Felicity: Oliver?  I just want to say thank you -
Ollie: Yeah.
Felicty: And I'm sorry.
Ollie: For what?
Felicity: I got myself into trouble again and you killed him.  You killed again and I'm sorry that I put you in a position where you had to make that kind of choice.
Ollie: Felicity... he had you and he was going to hurt you.  There was no choice to make.


Dialogue Disasters

(After Laurel exposed his mom's affair in court)
Ollie: Hey!
Laurel: If you want to attack me, go right ahead.  But you should know you're not going to say anything that I haven't already said to myself.
Ollie: Woah!  I know that was difficult for you and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.
(Ollie takes a step towards her and she backs away)
Laurel: No!  No!  I don't understand how you can forgive me after what I just did in there!  I don't understand how anyone could!


Continuity

We see Moira's press conference from 123 as The Count escapes from Iron Heights.  We find out that he was transferred there after recovering from the effects of his Vertigo-induced madness as depicted in 119.  During his escape, he hands the keys to the cells to The Dollmaker from 203.

As in the case of The Dollmaker in 203, SCPD covered up The Count's escape.

The STAR Labs particle accelerator is mentioned once again. 

Bethany Snow is once again the featured news anchor on Channel 52 news.

Kate Spencer, last seen in 105, appears again as one of the lawyers in the Starling City District Attorney's office.

It's revealed that Moira's allegations that Robert Queen cheated on her in 111 were true, as was Thea's guess that Moira had an affair with Malcolm Merlyn.

Count Vertigo figures out that Ollie is The Arrow after going through Felicity's belongings.

Count Vertigo says his new lab was funded by a man he met in prison who also has a grudge against Arrow.  A "man of means".  It is revealed at the end of the episode he was referring to Brother Blood

Ollie kills The Count after a confrontation at Ollie's office

The news media is now calling The Starling City Vigilante by the name 'The Arrow"

Moira Queen is found innocent of all charges but it's revealed this was due to the influence of a not-yet-dead Malcolm Merlyn.

Malcolm Merlyn is Thea's biological father.

Shado is seen wearing a green hood whens he first confronts Ivo, just as Sara said in 205.

The information on Miracle is revealed to be hidden in the arrowhead Ollie took from the Japanese grave.

The information turns out to be a map coordinate - 30 31 75 12. 


The Fridge Factor

Felicity - showing the intelligence one would expect of the heroine in a horror movie - goes into an unlocked ambulance in a dark alley by herself.  You'd think in the absence of Diggle she'd call Detective Lance (who is curiously absent from this episode) to go along as back-up or - better yet - tip him off as to the location of a suspicious abandoned vehicle.


The Bottom Line

Easily the worst episode of Season Two so far.  The focus is shifted to the season's most minor subplot and we're reminded of how horrible all the court scenes from Season One were.  Thea and Roy's romantic scene seems oddly out of place, even if you ignore Roy's suggestion that Thea should beat on him instead of a heavy bag or some other piece of appropriate equipment... which suggests things about Roy best left to fan fiction.  Laurel continues to be annoying and Felicity is dumbed down to give Ollie someone to rescue.  All this and the return of Count Vertigo - everyone's least-favorite villain from Season One.  Even the title is bland and unimaginative.  The only thing that saves it apart from the island sequences is the last ten minutes, in which we see just how far Oliver has grown as a character this season as he shows more concern for his friends than himself at a personally trying time and the revelation that Malcolm Merlyn is still alive. 

Green Arrow #23 - A Review

The plot thickens in Green Arrow #23 as we discover more about the mysterious group known as The Outsiders who have apparently been manipulating Ollie since birth and his family for generations.  We also learn the full story of the mysterious assassin Shado and her relationship with Ollie's father.  We even get another check-in on the crime bosses of Seattle, where it seems another classic figure from the martial arts world of the old DC Comics universe has finally made an appearance in The New 52.


It's odd how Jeff Lemire has taken a number of the trappings of classic Green Arrow and used them to forge something that is entirely new yet feels like the the classic Mike Grell comics of old.  This version of Oliver Queen may not a perpetually pissed-off aging hippie and his relationship with Shado may be complicated in an entirely different way, yet the complication is still there.  Shado is much the same as she was under Grell's pen, even if the son she would risk all for is now a daughter. 


Andrea Sorrentino's artwork also reminds me of Mike Grell's work, yet Sorrentino has an aesthetic all his own.  Like Grell, Sorrentino is a master at fitting the maximum amount of detail into some surprisingly small panels.  Both artists are also skilled anatomists.  Yet Sorrentino separates himself from Grell through some clever coloring choices that throw the realism of his character designs into sharp relief one panel at a time. 

Green Arrow #22 - A Review

The cover of Green Arrow #22 boasts the premiere of "The All New Count Vertigo" and it does deliver on that promise.  Yet there is much more here that will please classic Green Arrow fans.  Things like brand new trick arrows - like the Mapping Arrow that allows Ollie to scan an entire area and give his tech support team another eye as they watch his back from afar.


The new Count Vertigo isn't the only somewhat familiar figure that Jeff Lemire has brought back from comic book limbo to torment Oliver Queen.  This issue also brings about the return of a familiar female assassin, whose approach had already been heavily hinted at.  Though her relationship to Oliver this time around proves quite different, it is just as complicated as before.  More surprising is the first appearance of a Seattle crime boss named Billy Tockman - a name Arrowheads will recognize as that of the original Clock King. 


As always, Andrea Sorrentino's artwork is excellent.  Indeed, it would be reason enough to buy this book even if Jeff Lemire's scripts weren't equally amazing.  This is one of the best books on the market today and a must-read for all fans of low-powered superheroics as well as The Emerald Archer himself.  Green Arrow hasn't been this good in years!

Arrow #29 (Web Comic) - A Review

Arrow #29 is an enjoyable issue that fills in the blanks of what happened off-camera in a previous episode of the Arrow TV series.  If Shado Of The Past has a flaw past  its' pun-ishing title, it is that a little under half of its' pages are devoted toward specifically depicting events that fans of the show have already seen.  While some recapping is necessary to establish setting for those who might wander into this issue having not watched the show (Remember the Stan Lee rule - write every comic like it's someone's first comic), this does seem a bit excessive.  Particularly since this only delays the main attraction of this issue - learning how Shado came to the island of Lian Yu.


Once the action of the issue starts, it is incredible.  Marc Guggenheim's script is action-packed and well-paced.  And do I really need to explain the beauty of Mike Grell's artwork when I can just show you a scan and let you see for yourselves?  I think not, but I will anyway.  It's always a joy to see Grell at work but there's a special resonance to this issue, seeing him draw this new version of Shado - a character that he created for the Green Arrow comics.  I'm still curious as to why she has a Japanese name when she's Chinese in this universe but I'm hoping this point will be explained at some point in the future.

EDIT NOTE: Marc Guggenheim himself contacted me on Twitter and said that Shado's mother is Japanese.  So there you go.


You're not likely to find a better bargain this week for $1.00.  With artwork by one of the greatest artists in comics history and a script by one of the most prolific writers of superhero stories in Hollywood, you know this is going to be a quality product.  I declare this book a must read for all Arrow fans!

Arrow: Sizzle Trailer For End of Season One

Lots of interesting things here.  The two most interesting, long term, are Ollie and Shado kissing (which brings up some interesting questions as to just how far the show plans to emulate the Mike Grell run given the time-span involved) and the bit with Roy declaring that he has to help The Hood.  So it looks like Roy may become Ollie's first official field sidekick after all.  Maybe.