Writer: JT Krul. Pencils: Angel Unzueta.
What Happened: Roy Harper(Red Arrow)and his young daughter, Lian, have moved away from NYC and the Titans and have wound up at a modest home in Star City. Roy gives Lian some archery lessons before taking her to school for her first day at her new school in Star City. Before he goes, he promises her that he'll be there to pick her up after school, and that he'll paint her new bedroom upon returning home with her. Unfortunately for Roy, he spots assassin Lady Vic(!)trying to murder some guy being protected by a police escort. Roy(as Red Arrow)steps in the way and winds up ruining Vic's assassination attempt. Although Roy manages to keep the guy Vic was after safe, Vic herself manages to elude capture, which prompts Roy to chase after her. By this time, school has let out and Lian is sitting all alone in front of the school building with Roy nowhere to be found. After a few minutes, Mia(Speedy)Dearden arrives to take Lian back to her home. After Mia returns Lian home, Lian begins to fear that there could be something drastically wrong with Roy, but Mia tries to reassure the girl that Roy's probably fine. Roy is still hunting Vic and he ultimately catches up to her in an abandoned warehouse. The two battle, but Roy is distracted by the fact that he once again allowed his duty as a super-hero to get in the way of his duty as a parent. This distraction leads to Vic gaining the upper hand during the fight, and she manages to wrap a chain around Roy's neck and she slowly begins to strangle the life out of him. As he begins to lose consciousness, Roy's mind begins to drift to what would become of Lian with him not there to guide her. After seeing a vision of her strung out on heroin as he was, Roy gets a burst of adrenaline and manages to drive his head back into the face of Vic, knocking her out. This issue ends with Roy handing Vic off to the cops before returning home to find Lian sleeping on the couch. After thanking Mia, Roy decides to let Lian sleep on the couch while he heads up to Lian's room to paint it as he had promised her.
What I Thought: I'm a big, unabashed fan of Roy, always have been, always will be. For a character with no superpowers, he's a very unique character, what with his overcoming heroin addiction and raising a child(which he fathered with a villain)on his own. With that said, I thought JT did a wonderful job with this story. It was a great look into Roy's life, and did a masterful job of showing how he was trying to balance the duties of being a single father with those of being a super-hero. Everything was well done, from the dialogue to the characterizations(JT even mentioned Great Frog!!!)and as any of the regular readers of my blog know(all three of them!)proper characterizations are one of the most important aspects of a comic book story to me. Plus, as a fan of the old Nightwing series, I have to admit that seeing Lady Vic make an appearance here did cause me to smile a bit. All in all, this was the best Titans solo story BY FAR, and has gotten my afternoon off to a very good start.
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
I've heard the word "bloke" before, but "manky"? What the hell does that mean???
Dude I loved this issue, btw when i read It I looked up manky, it means bad or worthless.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wasn't expecting anything from this issue, but I was surprised by how well done it was.
ReplyDeleteHa! You know, after I read this comic I also wound up looking up the word manky!
Lol I'm pretty sure everyone looked up Manky. See that's perfect proof that Roy could hold his own in a second feature.
ReplyDeleteI've never doubted that Roy could easily star in one of those Second Feature deals. The guy is a very unique, interesting character. With how terrible the current Green Arrow series is, I wish they'd just replace that series with a Red Arrow one.
ReplyDeleteI love Roy's character, I definitely believe he could hold his own and I gotta agree with ya, hell gimme Red Arrow and Black Canary if you have to, get rid of that Cupid character and the new horrible art style.
ReplyDeleteYeah! I'm in complete agreement with you there. Unfortunately, I think we'll get Cupid/Green Arrow before we get Red Arrow/Black Canary.
ReplyDeleteSadly you may be right. I think Roy should've been the one in this new JLA though, instead of Ollie. Or hell have em both and get rid of Starfire.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I'd like to see Ollie and Roy an the JLA together, two archers on the team would probably be overkill. I'm just hoping that when everything shakes out after Blackest Night, Roy is somewhere...
ReplyDeleteGood point, I didn't even think about that. Okay, if one archer has to die during BN, who would you choose and why?
ReplyDeleteCupid, 'cause I hate her! OK, I guess that's kind of a cop-out answer. This is a tough one. I'd go with Ollie because his death would send more ripples through the DCU then Roy's would, plus Roy is younger and probably has more room to grow then Ollie, who is set in his ways. Of course I don't think Ollie would get killed off AGAIN, but if it was up to me, and one archer HAD to go, I'd pick Ollie.
ReplyDeleteHm...did you forget about Connor Hawke and Mia Dearden? Lol If we're counting them I'd say Connor just because it would drive Ollie. I like Roy too much, Mia is growing on me and I can't have Ollie die again.
ReplyDeleteOoo, I did indeed forget about Connor(although I did remember Speedy)... Hmm, I'd hate to kill Connor off just because his character is younger/fresher then Ollie's, but if I had to choose between the Green Arrows, I'd probably pick Connor to go.
ReplyDeleteThey did test the waters sorta during the earlier issues of GL & BC series. I'm not sold on Connor but I haven't read much with him, well not as much as Ollie or Roy. If I had to sacrifice an archer it'd be him.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like Connor too(and I have read alot of stuff with him in it), but like you said, if it was a choice between Connor, Ollie and Roy, I'd have to pick Connor to take face the chopping block. After the way he left the GA/BC series, I'm kinda curious as to what Connor is up to nowadays in the DCU...
ReplyDeleteYeah he really got kicked to the side. Roy is still in what's left of the Titans, and Mia atleast has face time in GA & BC and Connor is just outta it. Is he too old to join the Teen Titans? They could use an archer.
ReplyDeleteConnor was on the JLA, so I'd think joining the Teen Titans would be a HUGE demotion. You're right about the Teen Titans needing an archer though. Mia or Arrowette would fit in nicely if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteI'd like Mia back on the team, she'd add a good dynamic to it. I haven't even heard of Arrowette since Young Justice. Didn't she retire or something?
ReplyDeleteI'd like Mia back on the team, she'd add a good dynamic to it. I haven't even heard of Arrowette since Young Justice. Didn't she retire or something?
ReplyDeleteArrowette really dropped off the radar after YJ concluded. She did retire during the YJ series, I guess when she says she's retired, she means it!
ReplyDeleteYeah she's one of the few that really hangs it up when she says so. I'd like to see her have a run in with Mia though. She's make a good villain for Mia as well. I could see Arrowette joining a villainous Titan Team
ReplyDeleteI can and can't see Arrowette switching over to the dark side. On one hand she tended to blur the line a bit more then her YJ teamamtes, but on the other hand I don't know if she'd betray her former teammates. She had a pretty close bond with Cassie, it would prob take something pretty drastic to make her break that bond.
ReplyDeleteHm...we could easily write the big Amazonian War thingy that happened claimed Arrowette's parent/family member. She's been trying to find Cassie so Cassie could explain what happened but Cassie hasn't had time for her due to being busy leading the Titans. Enter the guy who convinces her to join his evil team. I would say Slade but, been there done that.
ReplyDeleteHey, that premise sounds good to me, and although Slade has worked that same plan before, I'd have him do it again. Titans East 2.0!
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with Slade doing it again, but I wouldn't be opposed to someone like Scarecrow doing it. I could see him donning a team for some reason, I like Scarecrow in the evil mentor role.
ReplyDelete