Last year I was searching for something new to watch and decided to search the internets for recommendations. I started hearing buzz about Arrow and decided to give it a try. I loved the pilot episode and decided to stick with it as the show searched a firmer footing. I have my favourite characters like Felicity Smoak who keep me interested even when the main plot flounders with the clichéd romantic plot.

 

Arrow Vol. 1 offers a collections of scenes from the editing room floor in a graphic novel form, which explains its episodic nature. There’s the quick recap almost beat for beat from the pilot, but after that show creators show glimpses of things that were only alluded in the show like Helena’s trip abroad and how China White got that white hair of hers.

Last year I was searching for something new to watch and decided to search the internets for recommendations. I started hearing buzz about Arrow and decided to give it a try. I loved the pilot episode and decided to stick with it as the show searched a firmer footing. I have my favourite characters like Felicity Smoak who keep me interested even when the main plot flounders with the clichéd romantic plot.

 

Arrow Vol. 1 offers a collections of scenes from the editing room floor in a graphic novel form, which explains its episodic nature. There’s the quick recap almost beat for beat from the pilot, but after that show creators show glimpses of things that were only alluded in the show like Helena’s trip abroad and how China White got that white hair of hers.

 

I’ve never read the classic comics about Green Arrow or any other comic superhero. I might have glanced at an occasional graphic novel, but I was always more interested in the written word only—I’m trying to learn better now.

 

This is why Arrow Vol. 1 works for me. I’m reading it just to learn more about the world the show writers have created and its characters. Reading this I got to see what had happened to Diggle before he was discharged and on what kind of tightrope Moira was balancing on. I especially appreciated the absence of detailed island scenes. Those flashbacks are my least favourite part of the show.

 

Mostly I liked the graphics. The characters resembled—even if only distantly—the actors of the show and even the fight scenes had the familiar choreographic feel to them. The panels were clear and detailed if somewhat grainy on my ARC copy. One thing I didn’t like was the neverending quest for Diggle’s skin tone. David Ramsey who plays Oliver’s bodyguard John Diggle on the show is black, but I couldn’t have known that from looking at most of the panels. At first he was depicted like a barely tanned white person—in Afghanistan—then he was noticeably black on the plane and Russian scenes, but soon went back to lighter shade of brown. The changes in colour couldn’t even be explained by differences in ambient lighting and colouring. It was simply sloppy work.

 

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

The artwork wowed me, the writing did the opposite. Good basic story is here though..

Spoilerish. Finally getting around to finishing this after it sat sadly neglected during the holidays. This was my second choice reading since I couldn't get my hands on what I really wanted at the time, which was Captain America: The Chosen (but I have it now).

I liked how the story opened with the hunters versus prey analogy, painting the city as an urban jungle of sorts, but I wasn't immediately drawn into the story. It wasn't a bad story, but it wasn't doing much for me. Moments of it like the talk that Oliver and Dinah had after sex where she says she won't make orphans with Oliver were really poignant and touching, magnified by the art that manage to capture so much of the sorrow surrounding that moment. And Oliver's feelings about his mortality and his place in the world was expressed well, too. I had to chuckle a little when he referred to himself as grandfatherly at 40 since in this modern era, that age is when life truly begins for many people these days.

But despite all these elements that I usually adore in a story, it was slow to pull me in. It wasn't until Dinah's rescue that I found myself gripped and unable to put this down until I finished. That's when it stopped being a typical 80s midlife crisis comic. The imagery and words from that point on really gripped the horror of what was happening. My heart started pounding fast at the distress on Oliver's face when he found Dinah being tortured. The panels manage to catch the desperation he felt at witnessing that scene, and finally learning about Shado who asked Oliver why his struggle with the men who hurt Dinah was more valid than the honor, and consequently her life, that she lost because of them.

It became much more than a story of good and evil where killing is wrong and due justice is the only right answer. It seems to convey that sometimes you have to cross the line, but it doesn't come without its cost.

Still happy to see Claremont writing X stuff, but also getting confused, what with the clones and all...I guess I have to read X-Men Forever, which I understand is this book's title, but they added the 2 because....who the hell knows. Marvel can be goofy...

Still Claremont's writing makes me feel like a kid again. Now I wanna dig into the junk room and pull out all my old X-Men comics and read them.

I was a little disappointed by Mike Grell's art in this one, though. He didn't ink his pencils, but he probably should have.