It's Not Exactly My GA, But It's A Valid GA And I Like It

Arrow tpb Vol. 1
DC Comics
Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and others, writers
Mike Grell and others, artists

I think I've mentioned before that I tend not to like licensed comics based solely on movies or television programs. Quite often the comics seem like inferior versions of the properties' first medium. I don't like inferior versions of original things I've liked, and I don't care for comics that make the comics medium seem inferior.

A fairly recent example would be the Heroes trades based on the television series from a few years ago. These were short online-first strips that told further adventures of characters from the show or fleshed out events only hinted at in episodes that DC later collected. There were some genuinely good stories in those trades, but by and large, most of them were just -- meh. It didn't help that most of the stories had little real impact on the actual series. You can't have major revelations or critical events about a television show occur in another medium that not all viewers of the show will follow.

Every now and then, however, a licensed comic will fire on all cylinders. This is one of those comics. And I'm very glad that the promise of the Mike Grell artwork spurred me to take a chance on it. His art, as usual, does not disappoint. And neither does the storytelling in this trade.

Once again, these were short, online-first glimpses into the world of the CW's "Arrow," the series based loosely on DC Comics' Green Arrow character. Each chapter collected in this print version is a 10-page glimpse at events in that world. Early chapters are vague as not much was yet revealed to viewers about the series. But as time goes on, these vignettes provide some nice, but non-critical background. For example, during season one of the series, we learn that Moira Queen has a warehouse where the wreckage of her husband's boat, the Queen's Gambit, is stored. This is the sabotaged boat that Oliver and his father were on before Oliver ended up on the island for five years. One of the chapters in this collection shows how the wreckage was found and salvaged and how those remains of the ship ended up in that warehouse. Other chapters show defining events from the past in the lives of China White and John Diggle, two characters important to the show.

I would say you'd have to be a fan of the show to enjoy this trade collection. Not a lot of effort is made to explain who people are in the stories or how they relate to the overall narrative of the series; this collection is not new-reader friendly in that regard. But if you watch the show, you already know who the characters are and what roles they play.

For those of you who don't know, the show is pretty different from the Green Arrow/Oliver Queen depicted in the comics for the past seven decades. There are many familiar names and characters, and the basic origin story is pretty faithful, but the similarities end there. I am not one of those fans who is close-minded about different interpretations of characters; I think this incarnation of Green Arrow/Oliver Queen is just as legitimate, if done well, as the original one from the comics. And this television program is done well.

In fact, as a bit of a digression, I'm rather liking the CW version of Green Arrow better than I am the comic version of late. The first story arc in the life of The New 52! version of Oliver Queen was a good one, but then the title began to wander and start a downhill slide that continued until recent issues when Jeff Lemire took over the writing chores. I'm still unsure what I think of Lemire's run on the title; it's much better than what came immediately before it, but I'm still not quite sure where Lemire is headed or how I feel about his new direction. He is introducing characters and concepts from the television show, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I hope he is not trying to imitate the show too much. It is a different medium and a different, albeit very similar character, but I think it would be a mistake to make the regular DC comic too similar to the show. But that's just my two-cent's worth.