Comic Review: Arrow: Dark Archer #10

Synopsis: Lourdes comes face to face with Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Assassins! Meanwhile, in the present day, Malcolm fights for his life against Saracon.

Review: The official synopsis of Arrow: Dark Archer #10 is misleading. Lourdes alludes to Ra’s al Ghul, but he’s not featured. Instead, readers encounter something even better in the pages of this transition chapter — The Creature From The Lazarus Pit.

The Barrowmans and artist Daniel Sampere take full advantage of comic format to deliver Lovecraftian R&D, and Malcolm implies even more Lovecraftian R&D down the line.

The Creature From The Lazarus Pit is all eyes, legs, and metal. It demonstrates a point I made previously that the Lazarus Pit’s narrative potential hadn’t been realized within Arrow’s screen narrative. The Creature itself isn’t the scariest aspect of the situation, however.

The scariest aspect is that The Creature is a weapon twice over, as a direct threat to the antagonists and as a threat to the bats around them. The Creature destabilizes their sonar and kills them, forcing the meta-human Saracon to experience the bats’ deaths through his connection to them.

It’s a chilling plot point that encapsulates Saracon’s entire journey. In the context of all this, Malcolm’s backstory tie-ins to Arrow’s screen narrative are incidental, but I appreciate them nonetheless.

I hope John and Carole Barrowman have room for a few more reveals in the two remaining issues. I would hate for the conclusion to be as rushed as Arrow’s screen endings have been. I also hope that the foreshadowing throughout this comic series can be paid off properly within the space left, so Arrow comic readers can learn if their theories are correct.

Written by

Carole E. Barrowman

John Barrowman

Pencils by

Daniel Sampere

Inks by

Juan Albarran

Colors by

Kyle Ritter