You’ve failed this city… I thought the above quote was appropriate as I’m sure we can all draw the obvious parallels with characters such as DC’s Green Arrow, Marvel’s Hawkeye and of course, the northern rogue of British folklore, Robin Hood himself. From the latter we can see that this book is not high on originality, merely changing one letter in the name and flipping the gender of our arrow-slinging hero.
So creative wise, this book felt a little lazy to me. I mean her name isn’t just Robyn, it’s Robyn Locksley and she operates Nottingham Investigation, eurgh…
Anyway, take a breath, let’s give this book a fair shot. Well, the artwork from David Lorenzo Riveiro isn’t awful. Actually, it’s very bright and crisp so certainly different from the TV show Arrow but does rather remind one of it’s creative basis, the Green Arrow comics from DC’s hall of fame. In fact there were times I almost felt like I was reading a DC book when looking at its use of green speech balloons and classic heroic poses. After all, the “hero landing” came from somewhere and it’s something we can all recognize when we see it.
Now for the story, well this is where things get interesting because this seems to draw its inspiration from David Aja’s and Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye under the Marvel umbrella. We see our hero Robyn living an unfulfilling, somewhat sedentary life in the city, a city that she no longer recognizes, infected by crime and lack of manners apparently. But nothing blows off the cobwebs and spurs one into action like a child in trouble! So out of nowhere, she dons her bow and arrow and declares her one-woman-war on New York’s crime syndicate, a part of which seem to deliver drugs to the wanting masses with drones! How very topical! Oh bravo, bravo…Personally I preferred how the Hangover 2 movie did it with a crazy little monkey but still...
Naturally, Robyn’s latest resurgence in vigilantism attracts the attention of New York’s criminal underworld and this is probably the one success of the book as it actually leaves you wanting more. Sure the origin is unoriginal and uninspired, the plot’s been done to death a million times before but actually...I want to read issue two, perhaps for no other reason than creative curiosity. Have I lost the plot? Feel free to pick up a copy for yourself and set me straight but you might have a better time if you stick with one of the other established Robin Hood alternatives instead.
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