Art of the Day: Green Arrow, Black Canary and Speedy

Artwork: Green Arrow and Black Canary #12 cover by Cliff Chiang

Art of the Day: Speedy (Thea Queen)

Artwork: Speedy by rahdot

I never understood why the writers of Arrow tried so hard to distance the show from the comic books. As much as I like Thea Queen (played by Willa Holland), I really wish she had been Mia Dearden instead. In the comics, Mia is an amazing character and it would have been cool to have had her on the show. So far the only live-action appearance of Mia (played by Elise Gatien) was on Smallville for two episodes during the 9th season.

Anyone else wish Willa Holand had played Mia Dearden instead of the amalgamated version of Thea Queen? 

Fashion Meets Comics: Mia Dearden's Red Plaid Jacket (Smallville)

I still feel like Smallville should have made Mia Dearden (a.k.a. Speedy) a main character instead of her only appearing in two episodes in the 9th season. Her character had so much potential and the show could have focused on her training to become Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy because she was definitely in the process of taking on that new role. However, the show didn't follow through and instead squandered a perfectly good character.

Well, one thing the show did right was having Mia wear this really cute red plaid wrap jacket in the episode "Crossfire". Since a lot of characters on the show didn't wear their superhero costumes, they were mainly shown wearing their signature colors. As in Mia's case she wore a lot of red and yellow clothes, which are the colors of her superhero costume in the comic books.

(Smallville season 9 episode 6 "Crossfire")

Book Review: Green Arrow vol #2

Book: Green Arrow volume #2: Sounds of Violence (issues #11-15) by Kevin Smith with illustrations by Phil Hester and color by James Sinclair

Source: Library

Rating: 3 stars

Review:

I thought this was good but what I liked the most were all the interactions between the characters. From Oliver's love for Dinah (Black Canary) to being a father to his son Connor Hawke (the other Green Arrow) and trying to be a good mentor for Mia Dearden. And not to mention Hawkman, Ollie and Carter never really seem to get along.

In this group of stories, while Oliver was trying to get used to being back from the dead (you know characters never stay dead) he had to cope with trying to dissuade Mia from wanting to go into the superhero business, reuniting with Dinah and Connor and trying to stop a crazed killer who was going after superheroes.

For these stories, I thought the writing was okay the interactions saved it and the artwork was also just okay. This was good just not as good as other Green Arrow stories I've read prior to this (excluding the New 52).

Illustration of the Day: Mia Dearden and Oliver Queen

Illustration: Green Arrow issue #3

What I like about Mia Dearden a.k.a. Speedy she didn't have a problem speaking her mind. She had a hard life before she got inducted into the Arrow family but she didn't feel ashame of what she had to do to get by. Mia was another character cut from the rebooted New 52.