Arrow S02E15 – Review

By: Jake Coburn & Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: One should think twice before inviting a man with an eye-patch into one’s home.

The Review: I didn’t mention the cliffhanger appearance of Slade in the Queen family home last week because there really wasn’t much to talk about besides its dramatic power.  Now that we’re actually dealing with the fallout from his revealing himself to Ollie, we ought to talk about Arrow’s portrayal of Slade Wilson, who in many respects cuts a more impressive yet sympathetic figure on TV than he does in comics.

Compared to the amoral mercenary we almost always see (check out his guest part in Forever Evil for a typical example), television’s Slade has an emotional component driving his ruthless behavior, one that makes him difficult to hate even when he’s planning to destroy Ollie and everyone he loves.  A large part of this comes from the passion Manu Bennett brings to the role, selling Slade’s rage and despair with equal finesse, making you believe that there’s a core of pain in his deadened heart.

Supergirl #66 – Review

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), Chrisscross (penciller), Marc Deering (inker), Blond (colorist)

The Story: And here I thought college was supposed to get you out of the sewers.

The Review: To capture the audience’s attention and to keep it, even long after the story finishes, you need characters who strike you with as much vitality as a flesh-and-blood person would.  Some writers try to do this by piling on the backstory, hoping their meticulously realistic attention to detail will somehow form the character and make him/her live.  But it’s so much more effective to let the character interact with the story, revealing their lives in the process.

Look at this issue’s redheaded girl, a member of Henry Flyte’s merry band.  Her boast, “We don’t need a map.  We’ve got a Henry,” and her assurance that “He’s just messing with us,” indicates an attachment to her leader beyond respect.  No one has to point out her possible crush; in fact, mentioning it outright would make it easier for us to dismiss her, a bad choice as she also demonstrates a take-charge attitude and intellect that implies she was probably Hanks’ right-hand woman.  That’s a lot of information for us to gather without any of it ever being told to us.

Just imagine what DeConnick does with her star characters.  Lois Lane’s craftiness has never had better display, using a mixture of disarming small talk and aggressive questioning to get the answers she wants.  After the direct approach fails (she’s caught sneaking and rummaging through the Stanhope College president’s office), she offhandedly mentions Kara’s (feigned) interest in the institution, then slyly segueways into the matter at hand by claiming concern over her “niece’s” safety, leading into the missing students case.  Well-played indeed, Lois.