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Arrow CW TV Show Tie-in Graphic Novel #2
Arrow Volume 2
Spinning out of the hit CW television show, these digital-first chapters, written by show creators Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg, fill in the gaps between the television show and the comics.
This volume explores the mystery of what really happened to Deadshot after his dramatic showdown with Oliver during season one of Arrow!
This volume explores the mystery of what really happened to Deadshot after his dramatic showdown with Oliver during season one of Arrow!
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2014
16 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Marc Guggenheim
922 books173 followersMarc Guggenheim grew up on Long Island, New York, and earned his law degree from Boston University. After over four years in practice, he left law to pursue a career in television.
Today, Guggenheim is an Emmy Award–winning writer who writes for multiple mediums including television, film, video games, comic books, and new media. His work includes projects for such popular franchises as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.
His next book, In Any Lifetime, coming from Lake Union Publishing on August 1st.
Guggenheim currently lives in Encino, California, with his wife, two daughters, and a handful of pets.
Keep up to date on his latest projects with LegalDispatch, a weekly newsletter where he shares news and notes about writing, comics, and the entertainment industry.
Today, Guggenheim is an Emmy Award–winning writer who writes for multiple mediums including television, film, video games, comic books, and new media. His work includes projects for such popular franchises as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.
His next book, In Any Lifetime, coming from Lake Union Publishing on August 1st.
Guggenheim currently lives in Encino, California, with his wife, two daughters, and a handful of pets.
Keep up to date on his latest projects with LegalDispatch, a weekly newsletter where he shares news and notes about writing, comics, and the entertainment industry.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 19, 2015
It was nice reading more in the Arrowverse. Would you call it the Arrowverse or something else? A few typos though but otherwise good.
May 23, 2017
Same as the 1st volume. 18 short stories but no new plots. These were the stories that can be fitted in between the events of season 1 or season 2. Though none of the stories were bad but probably they don't had enough pages to create a lasting impact. The stories which were connected to somewhat bigger events such as Back from the deadshot and Sacrifices are easier to recollect, while some other stories like You owe me were more interesting even without any connection with any of the big events from the TV series. They have used so many artists throughout the stories that the overall artwork for a combined book is very uneven. As everyone has his/her own style, you see the different versions of the same characters after every 4-5 pages. Not only style but the quality of artwork is up and down throughout, I would rate the overall art between average and good.
I think in spite of the effort from the entire team these first two volumes are more or less fillers only. They did a better job after these 2 with Arrow 2.5 and The Dark Archer. This might be a collector's item for the die hard fan of TV series but overall it's just a one-time-read stuff.
I think in spite of the effort from the entire team these first two volumes are more or less fillers only. They did a better job after these 2 with Arrow 2.5 and The Dark Archer. This might be a collector's item for the die hard fan of TV series but overall it's just a one-time-read stuff.
January 31, 2015
This volume had stories featuring Deathstroke and Deadshot and also had some stories that bridged season 1 and 2. Mike Grell put in a few more appearances as well. If you are a fan of the tv show these are definitely worth checking out. There's a lot of backstory in this volume and the story and art are above average as well. Good series.
October 5, 2015
An inconsistent collection that will only appeal to fans of the Arrow TV show.
This volume essentially plugs some storytelling gaps - it's like a collection of deleted scenes from the show. Some are actually quite good - the Roy Harper story "Potential" provides some interesting background to his character and his hoodie, and the two-parter "Sacrifices" is a dark story that adds an interesting layer to Oliver's decision to leave Starling City after the Season One finale. Some are not so good, particularly by the non-writers of the show who don't have a good handle on character voices.
The art is all over the shop - sometimes quite good, at other times barely passable. Likenesses are mostly terrible - you have to look for context clues to figure out who is who. At other times the art is woefully inconsistent with the show (Lyla Michael's has wavy blonde hair, apparently), making this reader think that some artists haven't even watched the show.
It's fine if you like deleted scenes, but otherwise it's nothing special.
This volume essentially plugs some storytelling gaps - it's like a collection of deleted scenes from the show. Some are actually quite good - the Roy Harper story "Potential" provides some interesting background to his character and his hoodie, and the two-parter "Sacrifices" is a dark story that adds an interesting layer to Oliver's decision to leave Starling City after the Season One finale. Some are not so good, particularly by the non-writers of the show who don't have a good handle on character voices.
The art is all over the shop - sometimes quite good, at other times barely passable. Likenesses are mostly terrible - you have to look for context clues to figure out who is who. At other times the art is woefully inconsistent with the show (Lyla Michael's has wavy blonde hair, apparently), making this reader think that some artists haven't even watched the show.
It's fine if you like deleted scenes, but otherwise it's nothing special.
June 10, 2015
I'm giving this one more star than Arrow Vol. 1 only because a few of these stories had Felicity, who is the best. But, tragically, most of these stories had NO FELICITY.
IDK, both these volumes just felt really blah. Like if these were some fan's 15-minute flash fics, I'd be like, okay I get it. But as professional comics they're just like random fragments that don't contribute much to our understandings of any characters, nor does very much interesting happen, nor is the art very good?
my vote is: just watch the show.
IDK, both these volumes just felt really blah. Like if these were some fan's 15-minute flash fics, I'd be like, okay I get it. But as professional comics they're just like random fragments that don't contribute much to our understandings of any characters, nor does very much interesting happen, nor is the art very good?
my vote is: just watch the show.
October 30, 2014
Ever so slightly better than the first one (it had a couple of stories that I was actually interested in), but still very scattered, pointless and with terrible art.
I heard about these comics through Stephrn Amell's Facebook, where he said the comics were like a season 2.5, which made me really interested. And it's true. From a certain point of view (EXACTLY like old Ben! These are a season 2.5 just as much as Anakin Skywalker being dead. Well, dead at the time the conversation took place).
Not reading any more of these.
I heard about these comics through Stephrn Amell's Facebook, where he said the comics were like a season 2.5, which made me really interested. And it's true. From a certain point of view (EXACTLY like old Ben! These are a season 2.5 just as much as Anakin Skywalker being dead. Well, dead at the time the conversation took place).
Not reading any more of these.
November 16, 2017
In the book Arrow Volume 2 by Andrew Kreisberg it left off from volume one with the death of Tommy Merlyn, Oliver Queen’s(Arrow) best friend. This puts Oliver in a state of sadness and self-guilt given by context clues. Oliver has to focus on repairing the city after the leveling of the Glades. During this time, a plague breaks out killing many people, or so he thought.
I read this after watching the series on the CW tv network and I am happy I did. This book gives more info than the show does. It gives a characters backstory before you even meet the character. I know the character through the show. I would be confused otherwise, so my advice to to watch the show before this book.
I think the recommended age for this book is males who are 14 and older. I think this because there and graphic scenes and harmful language. It is just like the show which is TV-14.
I read this after watching the series on the CW tv network and I am happy I did. This book gives more info than the show does. It gives a characters backstory before you even meet the character. I know the character through the show. I would be confused otherwise, so my advice to to watch the show before this book.
I think the recommended age for this book is males who are 14 and older. I think this because there and graphic scenes and harmful language. It is just like the show which is TV-14.
March 19, 2018
For all Arrow lovers out there, it just seems like an extension of the TV series. Well, I am not a comic-book fan, but I too liked this from the makers/writers of the show. Though this may not appease the regular comics readers from what I have heard, but being a fan of the show only, anyone should love it!
October 23, 2021
I like it. Although I’d prefer to read some of “missed” scenes that happened before stories in comics because now it’s 2021 and I don’t remember 1st season that good to know exactly what was happening back then but I perfectly remember the last scenes from it... Oliver, Tommy, the talk between Dig and Oliver... I was reading that and wanted to cry... but I didn’t.
July 3, 2021
I liked that the stories mix between origin stories and stories linked to Season 1 of Arrow. It could be a little confusing at times as all the stories are separate instead of linked but I did enjoy it.
May 10, 2017
I enjoyed that volume more than the first one, but still thought there lack a certain continuity between the stories.
August 2, 2017
Really enjoyed it, that's all I have to say.
July 21, 2019
Great art work and lots of action from the beginning!
January 29, 2022
I thought the first volume was more interesting and a lot of these stories were just random fillers.
January 16, 2016
As with volume 1, Arrow: Volume 2 collects the tie-in comics of the the CW show Arrow, in this case issues 7 through 12, into one book. And as before, the stories are arranged into a further 18 "chapters", each one a short vignette which takes place in the past or present of the first season of the show, taking a small part of the storyline or character development and adding a bit more flesh to it. As with the first volume--I feel like a broken record here--this compilation is really only for fans of the show rather than fans of the original DC comic character Green Arrow. That said, even though this is the second volume, both books are stand-alone as there's no cohesive, over-arcing storyline to them, so if one is read without the other, other than any niggling feeling you might have from reading a set of books out of order (or does that only happen to me?) you won't run into any problems.
Because each chapter is drawn by a different artist--some having come over from volume 1--once again you run into a range of style and talent. However, there seemed to be a greater consistency between the artists with this volume, not necessarily with them trying to emulate each other's work, but with the artists trying to achieve a more consistent look from story to story, i.e. the characters look more like the actors portraying them rather than generic "female victim" or "male hero." Each artist still puts his individual stamp on the story they're creating, obviously--there's nothing homogeneous here--but there's also no great disparity moving from one chapter to the next which could startle you out of the mood the book has created. You know, when one artist uses a lighter hand with his outlining and shadowing, creating a more delicate look, and then the next artist relies on deep shadows and heavy lines, creating a more raw or crude look. Does my rambling make any kind of sense?
As I stated earlier, Arrow: Volume 2 is most enjoyable for those fans of the show who would like to explore further the characters and history of the world Guggenheim et al have created. Anyone else might possibly enjoy the artwork or the stories for the interaction between characters without actually knowing who they are and why they're behaving as such . . . but I doubt it as I think it would simply raise more questions than answers for them. As for me, since I am such a squeeing fan-girl of the show, I got a great deal of enjoyment out of the book; I think my only disappointment came from the fact that the stories were so short, causing the book to end much too soon.
Because each chapter is drawn by a different artist--some having come over from volume 1--once again you run into a range of style and talent. However, there seemed to be a greater consistency between the artists with this volume, not necessarily with them trying to emulate each other's work, but with the artists trying to achieve a more consistent look from story to story, i.e. the characters look more like the actors portraying them rather than generic "female victim" or "male hero." Each artist still puts his individual stamp on the story they're creating, obviously--there's nothing homogeneous here--but there's also no great disparity moving from one chapter to the next which could startle you out of the mood the book has created. You know, when one artist uses a lighter hand with his outlining and shadowing, creating a more delicate look, and then the next artist relies on deep shadows and heavy lines, creating a more raw or crude look. Does my rambling make any kind of sense?
As I stated earlier, Arrow: Volume 2 is most enjoyable for those fans of the show who would like to explore further the characters and history of the world Guggenheim et al have created. Anyone else might possibly enjoy the artwork or the stories for the interaction between characters without actually knowing who they are and why they're behaving as such . . . but I doubt it as I think it would simply raise more questions than answers for them. As for me, since I am such a squeeing fan-girl of the show, I got a great deal of enjoyment out of the book; I think my only disappointment came from the fact that the stories were so short, causing the book to end much too soon.
December 24, 2014
Continuing the format of the first volume, the Arrow comics are short backstories adding context to events of the show. They're written by the show's creators, so they seem very consistent, and add to the stories if you're already a fan.
This second volume ends with a disturbing tale of Oliver's actions during and immediately after the Merlyn-masterminded Quake in the Glades. So no worries about plot-spoilers from the comics if you've seen the first season of the show.
After a season and a half of the new, non-lethal Arrow, it felt a little sickening looking at detailed panels of Season One Oliver killing people left and right anytime he'd write someone off as a "thug." And the racist connotations of that term are not lost here.
I recommend skipping chapter 30, which was the grossest (and least essential to the broader story) example of how the plight and abuse of women is often used in this series as a plot device, especially to prop up the heroism of our uber-privileged protagonist.
This second volume ends with a disturbing tale of Oliver's actions during and immediately after the Merlyn-masterminded Quake in the Glades. So no worries about plot-spoilers from the comics if you've seen the first season of the show.
After a season and a half of the new, non-lethal Arrow, it felt a little sickening looking at detailed panels of Season One Oliver killing people left and right anytime he'd write someone off as a "thug." And the racist connotations of that term are not lost here.
I recommend skipping chapter 30, which was the grossest (and least essential to the broader story) example of how the plight and abuse of women is often used in this series as a plot device, especially to prop up the heroism of our uber-privileged protagonist.
November 10, 2016
The stories within this comic were slightly different than the ones in the first volume. I found these stories to be more interesting and more in depth. Also there was a lot more monologues and self-reflection in this comic. I did find that the stories flowed well and even though sometimes the illustrations got a bit confusing, you could still understand what was going on. In this comic, it was mostly focused on Oliver (more so that the last comic) but there were a few random stories that Oliver or "The Hood" were not the main focus (but he still appeared in the story). I liked how some of the scenes from the series were repeated since it helped me know where in the continuum the story was taking place. Overall, another good comic to read to expand the Arrowverse and get a better understanding of people and events that happen in the TV series.
August 27, 2014
See my review for Volume 1, basically. This is an anthology book, so everything varies from issue to issue, from art to story content. As with volume 1, there's nothing outstandingly bad, and nothing spectacularly good either, but fans of the show will likely get some enjoyment out of this. If anything, I think the short length of the chapters hurts the storylines, making them wrap up very quickly, and the sheer amount (18 chapters per book) mean that it can be a slog to read most of the book in one go. Probably better in monthly format, where it was 3 chapters and that's it.
January 14, 2015
I have just recently gotten into graphic novels and I really enjoyed this one. I am obsessed with Arrow the tv show so I was excited to see they had these based on it. The only thing that I did not like about this was it jumped around a lot. Some of the chapters I recognized from the series and others I don't but it did not always follow a full storyline. It jumped around a lot which made it confusing sometimes.
Other than that I really enjoyed it and can't wait to finish this particular collection.
Other than that I really enjoyed it and can't wait to finish this particular collection.
October 27, 2014
Really just for fans of the television series. It ties some knots together.
But, mostly, it's more like some extra scenes to story line or characters.
I really enjoyed reading an additional story about Felicity, she's just the best!
The second volume ends with the aftermath of what happened at the end of the first season of the show.
But, mostly, it's more like some extra scenes to story line or characters.
I really enjoyed reading an additional story about Felicity, she's just the best!
The second volume ends with the aftermath of what happened at the end of the first season of the show.
August 24, 2014
I admit to being a fan of the show, & as a fan also of comics I really love these as an addition to the show. The stories fit neatly amongst those in the show rather than being a comic version of the episodes themselves which means that these serve to fill out the story more. I've already got the next book on my wish list.
November 15, 2015
Bah humbug. For a show that is so good about plot and continuing story lines, you would think the comics/graphic novels should be too. Sadly that isn't the case here. Volume one was saved by having good art. This time the art feels rushed and forced. Glad I chose to pass buying this one and using the library instead.
April 23, 2016
More micro stories, glimpses of background and mini side stories from the television show Arrow. While interesting to learn about, not something that make for a cohesive graphic novel. Glad I read it for the information, but again, would have preferred a solid side story.
However... he's delicious
However... he's delicious
July 11, 2014
Public library copy.
Like many reviewers before me have stated this work functions for fans of the tv show, not the comic book character. Nice to see GA artist Mike Grell drawing some interior art.
Like many reviewers before me have stated this work functions for fans of the tv show, not the comic book character. Nice to see GA artist Mike Grell drawing some interior art.
July 26, 2014
fills in some of the gaps of the CW television show
November 30, 2014
3.5 stars
May 22, 2015
It adds to the show's backstory which is interesting but sometimes boring. Also the art for the characters are okay but not great.
June 27, 2016
Small bits from the series in another viewpoint. Quality artwork, works if you haven't seen every episode.
October 29, 2016
It was great. They were fill-ins that didn't make it into the show. Oliver Queen/ Arrow is still my favorite hero/ vigilante.
April 12, 2017
What more can I say I love the show and I loved reading this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews