Broken Frontier

Dragons from ancient legend? God-like sorcerers bent on taking over the world? It’s just another day at the office for Connor Hawke, the son of Green Arrow.

Manipulated by the shady Chinese businessman Zhao, the junior Emerald Archer proved his worth in a deadly archery tournament that saw most of his rivals slain. The real aim of this competition though was to find an archer so skillful he could slay the mystical World Dragon. With the resurrected dragon dead at Connor’s hands, can our favorite second generation bowman stop Zhao from bathing in the reptile’s blood and gaining immortality?

The Dragon’s Blood miniseries concludes here and it’s certainly been a fast-paced, even frenetic six issues. Chuck Dixon has ably recaptured the action-oriented high adventure of his Nineties run on Green Arrow. For old-time GA fans it’s been fun to see the double-act of Connor Hawke and Eddie Fyers back together and the return of Shado has been an added bonus.

Perhaps the main drawback of this comic though, is that maybe it’s all been just a little too fast-paced. The book has rushed from location to location with characters quickly introduced (and then just as quickly written out) and at times it’s felt like the story could have done with a little more time to breathe.

There’s also been a rather gaping hole in the plot of the series that the readership has to quietly turn a blind eye to. If the whole basis of your villainous plot hinges on the involvement of the world’s greatest archer it seems a little unlikely you wouldn’t invite Oliver Queen, Roy Harper or Merlyn to your shindig.

Still, it’s pleasing to see that Connor Hawke survived Dan DiDio’s purge on "duplicate" characters. Hawke is a sympathetic character with a naivety that is quite charming in its own way. Eddie Fyers, with his cynical wisecracking and black humor, is the perfect complement to Connor’s less than worldly outlook and Dixon does a commendable job of playing this up. Let’s hope that this partnership continues given the (bizarrely) off-panel fate of Eddie in this concluding part.

Derec Donovan’s art absolutely steals the show though. He turns a fun adventure story into something extra-special with his crisp, clear but still hugely-detailed visuals. His scenes of the dragon attacking Shanghai are particularly stunning and his use of perspective is highly effective throughout. A top notch job all round.

Connor Hawke: Dragon’s Blood isn’t groundbreaking or amazingly innovative but it is a good old-fashioned, eminently readable, action adventure comic and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that!