Arrow Comic Series #7 Review


Welcome to Lian Yu.
The seventh issue of Arrow's comic series is an excellent entry in the series made up of 'Wintergreen', 'Make it Rain' and 'Detour'; 'Wintergreen' fleshes out Slade and Billy's backstory and how Wintergreen turned on his lifelong friend; 'Make it Rain' explores how Oliver would react to a Robin Hood copycat; and 'Detour' is a fun jaunt around Starling City which sees Oliver and Dig get carjacked at gunpoint.
'Wintergreen' is by far the best story in this issue, benefiting from the great characters of Slade Wilson and Billy Wintergreen. This is the only time we get to see Billy's face and admittedly I was disappointed how similar he looked to Slade, so much so that I struggled to tell who was who throughout the comic. However, the backstory is emotional and brutal, and helps fill in the blanks that the TV show didn't fully cover. A great story with a heart wrenching ending, this story was one of the best of the entire series so far.
'Make it Rain' takes a lighter approach following its predecessor. Oliver takes down a Robin Hood lookalike, the only problem is he has very little motivation to do so. All the guy is doing is chucking cash out from a plane, helping the poorest of the city so it's hard to understand why Oliver feels the need to put a stop to this. That aside, the story is fun and its always cool seeing the Hood swing around on a plane. It was also nice to see Felicity crop up in the comic series.
Finally, 'Detour' is a small scale adventure in which Diggle and Oliver are carjacked, leading them on a path to wrongdoers who need arrows in them. The plot is basic and a bit dull, but Diggle has some great lines and a bad-ass fight scene at the end to make up for it. It's a shame we didn't get to see more of the striking Nina, who was criminally underdeveloped throughout, but the plot twist involving her and her boyfriend was appreciated.
Overall, #7 is a decent edition in the series, carried largely by the 'Wintergreen' comic and its connection to the flashback story-line in series one. 

 STARRING: Billy Wintergreen

 RATING: 7.7/10

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