Today marks the final issue of the Rebirth Green Arrow at issue #50. The run has been a spectacular follow up to the New 52 volume and we are hoping to see more from this latest creative team of writers Lanzing and Kelly on writing duties.
Count Vertigo is back and he’s made Seattle an Inception level distortion field for Green Arrow and Black Canary to fight through. He’s on the heels of Roy Harper, whom he doesn’t realize has been killed in the events of Heroes in Crisis.
Julie and Shawna Benson conclude the Citizen’s Arrest story arc in Green Arrow #47 with German Peralta on art duties and one of our favorites Alex Maleev makes a sweet cover. The cover depicts Oliver mid jump taking on the latest addition to Green Arrow’s rogue gallery, the anonymous Citizen.
With CW’sArrowgoing into it’s fifth season and 100 episodes (how did that happen?) spawning a superhero revolution on TV with the Arrowverse, a new spike has been given to the Emerald Archer’s popularity.
DC’s Comics recentRebirthinitiative made comic stores great again and writer Benjamin Percy was able to give Ollie back his goatee and reunites castaway with Black Canary along with selling a ton ofGreen Arrow Rebirth#1s.
We talked pre-Rebirthand post-Rebirthwith Ben andRebirth#1 cover artist and co-writer Juan Ferreyra at the DC Comics booth at New York Comic Con last week as Mr. Queen and Black Canary face the Island Of Scars.
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FOG!: Hey guys, it’s an honor to talk with you, I’m a big Green Arrow fan, and I’ve been reading what you’ve been doing since beforeRebirth. My first question is, did you feel likeRebirthwas a good opportunity to revisit some things, or did you feel like you weren’t done telling part of your (New 52) story?
Ben Percy:When I jumped into the New 52, and first pitchedGreen Arrow, I wanted to write Black Canary into it, I was told, “You can’t do that”. I said, “He’s gotta have a goatee,” and I couldn’t do that.
I was also trying to do the novelist thing, which is playing the long game, which you should never do in comics! Because, I could have been kicked out after a few issues. But early on, I was keeping Ollie away from his costume, away from his bow and arrow in an effort to really get to know him as a person. It felt kid of schizophrenic prior to that in the New 52.
I really wanted to build up the character, and I had in my mind aRebirthrevitalization of the character, anyway. I was going to move towards that moment when he truly became Green Arrow. It just got sped up a bit for me.
I did have another storyline involving The Outsiders that I was working towards. There were a lot of hints in there, about that, but its fine. We got rid of that, we just jumped right into the new era.
Comics picks of the week, Post- New York Comic Con Edition! We’re talking today over at Forces of Geek with Team Green Arrow! Green Arrow #9 has Ollie and Black Canary on Island of Scars. Want to know more, check out the video interview! … Gerard Way’s Young Animal Vertigo ‘popup imprint’ continues with Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye #1. We’re hoping the title is enough to get you intrigued. … Trinity #2 with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman from one of our favorite Flash creators in recent years, Francis Manapul puts the team’s friendship in Jeopardy. Suck it, Trebek! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.
Our old friend Clay N. Ferno was able to grab some time with Deathstroke‘s new writer and artist, Tony S. Daniel, at NYCC for this MIGHTY Q&A. Issue #1 is out 10/22, from DC.
Clay N. Ferno: I’ve been a huge fan of yours since Battle for The Cowl,how did you become one of the rare writer/artists as opposed to just drawing?
Tony S. Daniel: Going back to the ’90s actually, I was doing a creator-owned book called The Tenth. That’s where I started getting my desire to start writing. I didn’t set out to write the book to begin with. I was working with Beau Smith as the writer. As the series went on, I wanted to get more and more involved with the story itself. Eventually, I just flew with it. I learned that I really enjoy writing. After that, I wrote a few other series (such) as the creator-owned Image series,Silke, Adrenaline, F-5.
When I came to DC in the early 2000s, 2004, they asked me if I was interested in writing anything. At the time I said “No, I really just want to focus on the art right now,” and it didn’t really come into play until years l later when the opportunity for Battle for the Cowl came in. Then I decided, “Hey, think that’s something I might want to do.”
OK, have you watched ARROW tonight? Holeeeeeee … As promised, here’s CAITY LOTZ with her take on everything that happened!
Yesterday, Lotz spoke to our Clay N. Ferno (I spoke to Stephen Amell last week) about her thoughts ahead of tonight’s “Heir to the Demon.” Now, here’s her take on the aftermath … and Sara’s big smooch with Ollie!
Uh, oh Olicity ‘shippers … Team Sara is in the lead!
Caity Lotz as Canary — Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW
Clay N. Ferno:This season, fans have been debating who Ollie should be with: Sara, Laurel or Felicity. Now we see Sara and Ollie in a passionate embrace. What effect will that have on all of these relationships going into the second half of the season. How will Felicity and Laurel take this?
Caity Lotz: There’s some fun stuff planned with Felicity’s character. I think it is a bit of a transition for Felicity to have Sara being in Ollie’s life and Ollie having “this girl.” It changes the dynamic between Oliver and Sara because they finally have someone that really understands what they’ve been through together. But there is still a lot of external things that make that difficult.
With Laurel, it is a little messed up — you can only imagine how difficult that would be to see that happen. And I understand how she would be not so happy about it.
At the same time, for Oliver and Sara, they have been denied so much happiness in their life and have given up so much for everyone else. They’ve never really been able to have love. I think for them to get this kind of chance, both characters really do deserve it. Even with all the drama it might bring.
No spoilers, but the actress who plays Sara Lance has a lot to say about her character’s future in anticipation of Wednesday night’s major episode of “Arrow.”
Caity Lotz as Canary in “Heir to the Demon” Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW
Last week, we gave you Stephen Amell, this week it’s Caity Lotz, who plays “Arrow’s” version of Black Canary. Tomorrow night’s episode (the last new one for several weeks because of the Olympics) promises a major turning point for the troubled heroine, and Lotz was very candid when talking with our Clay N. Ferno today about Sara’s place in Starling City — and Oliver’s personal life.
But that’s not all! We’ll have a post-mortem with Lotz right after the credits roll on “Heir to the Demon,” so bookmark13thDimension.com and make sure you see what she has to say then. Because you dare not miss it!
Katrina Law as Nyssa al Ghul and Caity Lotz as Canary. Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW
Clay N. Ferno: There’s a lot of buzz that tomorrow night’s episode will have some major developments for the show. Without giving anything specific away, what can viewers expect?
Caity Lotz: They can expect that Sara’s past is going to come back again. This time it is the real depth of it, the emotional core of her past is coming back. She’s going to have to come to a place where she feels like she has no options. I think it’s really about this big, gray area. It’s not figuring out what to do, and how to handle the situation, there’s a lot of emotions with it.
Another part of the episode, which is really cool, is we get some Lance family flashbacks. We get to see a little bit of the story of what their family was like before all the drama and everything that happened, before all the death. You’ll see the lightness that they had, which is a really cool thing to do, we had fun shooting it. It’s a cool thing to watch on screen.
Marathoning shows, or binging, has become part of the parlance, and my most recent binge for television was the CW’s popular Arrow.
You might want to say the book was an influence on the series.
The story is written by Andy Diggle (Daredevil, The Losers) with art by Jock (Detective Comics) and serves as a great companion to the show—and great holiday gift for your Arrow fan.