Blog Archives

Did Someone from Arrow Read My Blog?

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I’ve been enjoying the TV show Arrow these past few months. It’s not great, but it’s a good, solid superhero show. There are now four episodes left until the end of the season, and showrunner Marc Guggenheim tweeted something last night that hints towards an upcoming guest star.

And that potential guest star appears on my list of 6 DC cameos I’d like to see on Arrow!

Is Mark Guggenheim reading my blog? I can only assume that yes, yes he is. Join me after the jump to see the tease!

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/6/13

This week we explore the dichotomy of Brian Michael Bendis. He is one of the most popular comic book writers of our time, and has helped shaped the modern Marvel Universe in ways we can’t grasp now. He is a living legend in the comic book world. But sometimes he can be a really bad writer. I think I know now why Age of Ultron wasn’t given the hype or push of Civil War or Avengers vs. X-Men. It’s a terrible Big Event comic. If Age of Ultron really does rewrite any part of the Marvel Universe beyond just adding a Spawn character to the comics, I will be very disappointed. This may be Bendis’ worst Big Event comic.

But at the same time, Bendis has turned the X-Men franchise into one of the best comics being published today! His work on All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men is some of the best he’s ever written. Almost all of the characters involved are more dynamic than they’ve been in years, and the story itself is one for the history books. It just keeps getting better and better! All-New X-Men #10 easily wins Comic Book of the Week, and I eagerly await the next chapter next week.

Ptui!

Maybe Bendis just drinks a different kind of coffee on the days he’s writing X-Men vs. the days he’s writing Ultron.

Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #4, All-New X-Men #10, Green Arrow #19, Green Lantern #19, Indestructible Hulk #6 and Superior Spider-Man #7.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/9/13

This week kicks off Marvel’s new Big Event comic the Age of Ultron…but it’s kind of a slow build so far. We’ll have to see if it picks up in the second issue, which comes out next week. Talk about accelerated shipping. Beyond the big stuff, we’ve got a good collection of quality comics. I think I liked every single issue I read this week, everything from the important titles like Avengers and All-New X-Men down to the smaller stuff like Green Arrow and Winter Soldier. Though now that I think about it, I need to buy more independent titles. Seriously, can anyone recommend any good comics that aren’t Marvel or DC?

But until then, I’m going to stick with the big guns, and it actually surprises me to say that Comic Book of the Week goes to Avengers #7! Where did that come from? I have really had it in for this series since issue #1, but Jonathan Hickman really knocked it out of the park this week. He actually made me interested in the New Universe.

They look just as surprised as I am

Let’s hope he can finally write a solid superhero story.

Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #1, All-New X-Men #8, Avengers #7, Green Arrow #18, Green Lantern #18, Superior Spider-Man #5, Winter Soldier #16.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/9/13

Welcome to a week of interesting firsts! We’ve got the first issue of Fearless Defenders, Marvel’s new all-girl team of heroes. We’ve got the first issue of Winter Soldier written by incoming writer Jason Latour, who’s taking over for the legendary Ed Brubaker, the man who resurrected Bucky in the first place. Those are some mighty big shoes to fill. Brubaker wrote a nice letter at the end of his final issue of the series, about how humbling it was to go from trying to convince his editor that resurrecting Bucky would be a good idea to finding out that the ‘Winter Soldier’ would be the title of the second Captain America film. I hope that happens to me someday.

We’ll also see the first issue of Jeff Lemire’s take on Green Arrow. As well as the first times I’m actually happy with Avengers and New Avengers. In fact, New Avengers #3 wins Comic Book of the Week!

Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #7, Avengers #5, Fearless Defenders #1, Green Arrow #17, New Avengers #3, Superior Spider-Man #3 and Winter Soldier #15.

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Roy Harper is Coming to Arrow After All!

Awesome bit of casting news has hit TV Guide: actor Colton Haynes has been cast as Roy Harper in the hit TV show Arrow!

Ladies?

Now that is one studly guy. He comes from Mtv’s Teen Wolf show, which I’ve never seen, so I have no idea if he’s a good actor or not. But that hardly matters to me. The CW and Arrow aren’t exactly filled with Oscar winners. But who cares? The show is awesome so far, and this is fantastically awesome news! Clearly somebody at The CW saw my list of DC Comics characters that I want to see in Arrow.

Because if you don’t know, Roy Harper is really Arsenal, the sidekick of Green Arrow! He’s the Robin to Green Arrow’s Batman!

Super ladies?

Arsenal started out as Speedy, your typical plucky young sidekick, but he eventually grew up to be a more badass fighter who changed his name to Arsenal. When he then later joined the Justice League, he took on more of the Green Arrow’s mantle by changing his name to Red Arrow. I thought that was pretty awesome, because I love stories where the sidekick grows up and becomes his own hero. Things got a little murky after that, and now he’s back to being Arsenal in the New 52 reboot.

According to the TV Guide article, Roy Harper on Arrow is going to be a street-smart kid who grew up on the wrong side of town. And he’s going to be a love interest for Oliver Queen’s sister, Thea (whose childhood nickname as ‘Speedy’). The producers are keeping their lips sealed about any superheroics for their version of Roy Harper, but I have to hope that he’s going to suit up and be a real sidekick one of these days. Why else have him on the show?

I think Arrow could get a lot of mileage out of a sidekick storyline. They’ve already got the one character, Diggle, aiding Ollie in his vigilante quest. But Diggle isn’t suiting up in costume or firing bows and arrows. Roy Harper could join the crusade as well and be a real sidekick, trained in archery by Ollie. Like how he tried to do with Huntress in the past few episodes. I very much want this to happen. Don’t let me down, Arrow. Don’t break my heart.