Arrow Season 2.5 - #7 Review


You're Gonna Need Backup.
After the focus on the Suicide Squad last week, we return to Oliver's war against the Church of Blood. Once again there are two stories; in 'Assault' the Arrow and Arsenal go on the hunt for Felicity, whilst in 'Assurances' Roy turns to Lyla for backup when the Arrow takes on Brother Blood and the Renegades single-handed. We also get an epilogue to the 'Crisis in Khandaq' story-line.
In 'Assault', we get out first proper team-up mission for the Arrow and Arsenal, as they track Felicity. Brother Blood tries to blow the pair up, before taking Oliver hostage. It's straight-forward plotting and merely serves to bring us back to Starling and its problems following the detour to Khandaq.
The next chapter is much more eventful, as in 'Assurances' we learn that it was Oliver's plan to get captured and he wanted Roy to get backup, which he does in the dramatic ACTUAL return of the Huntress! A few issues ago, I hoped she would get the chance to be awesome in comic form and do justice to the character and now it seems that she finally will be able to in the next issue! Also, we learn that Brother Blood is working with the Renegades, an evil group made up of Lyle Bolton (a.k.a. Lock-Up), Cyrus Vanch, Bartek Kuranski and Winnick Norton (a.k.a. The Dodger)! I loved how they brought back some of the smaller characters from season 1 here as it really makes the comic feel more integrated to the Arrowverse. Whilst the group received few pages in this issue, I hope we get to see more of them moving forwards in the series.
Finally, we get some closure on the Crisis in Khandaq story-line. We see the sombre funeral of Ben Turner, to which only Diggle and Lawton attend. Also, we get the reveal that Mesi has been taken to Nanda Parbat and meets Ra's himself!! It's a huge moment and particularly exciting is the "to be continued in Season 3" note at the end!
Overall, #7 is a great inclusion in the comic series and although 'Assault' was slow, 'Assurances' packed the punch necessary to elevate this issue from mediocre to brilliant.

 STARRING: Arsenal, Brother Blood II, Church of Blood, The Huntress, Cyrus Vanch, The Dodger, Lock-Up, Bartek Kuranski, The Canary, Nyssa Al-Ghul, Ra's Al-Ghul

 RATING: 8.8/10

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