Why Arrow is the Best Comic Book Show on Television

Welcome back to Why It’s the Best, ComicBook.com’s ongoing column explaining why a given TV show, movie, comic book, and more, is the best of its kind. To be clear: I am arguing definitively why Arrow is the best comic book show on TV. In future columns, I will argue definitively why another is (in the past, I made arguments for The Flash and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. being the best comic book shows on TV). Think of this as debate class. And given this week’s season Three Final of Arrow, I’m pro-Oliver Queen.

But that’s an easy task, since Arrow is currently the best comic book show on television.

What You’re Watching

Now in its third season, Arrow kicked off DC Entertainment’s new TV revolution. The show follows the origins and adventures of the DC Comics character Green Arrow. The series began when Arrow’s alter ego, Oliver Queen, had to become someone else – or something else after spending years marooned on a secret island. Oliver has no superpowers; he just has training from folks like Shado, Slade Wilson, Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S., and more, and the will to make the world a better place, especially when it comes to saving his city. In his adventures, Oliver unwittingly kicked off a new world of heroes and villains that are larger than life. With Team Arrow at his side, including the stalwart John Diggle, the brilliant Felicity Smoak, and occasionally others like Black Canary, Arsenal, The Atom, and more, Oliver tries to save his city, while also discovering how – and if – he can be both Oliver Queen and The Arrow.

What Makes It Unique

This is the one that started it all, and kicked off a new superhero TV revolution. With a grounded approach, the show started small but built rapidly, complete with a classic comic book supervillain plot including an earthquake device to cap off the first season. That’s what pushes Arrow over the top: its breakneck pace, and willingness to push the story forward at all costs.

Why It’s The Best

Arrow wasn’t just the first superhero show of this new modern renaissance. It was also proof  that a superhero show can be gripping, dramatic, and cool, while also showing that a man – just a man – can make a difference.

This power fantasy is most associated with another DC Comics hero, of course – as are some of the villains and storylines we’ve seen on Arrow. But when that guy in the cape and cowl is all mixed up in rights issues and a new film franchise launch, why wouldn’t DC choose their second best choice? With Arrow, DC can explore some of the similar themes fueling Batman, but through a different lens. This isn’t someone who has been on a crusade for most of his life; this was a golden boy. Growing up the native son of a privileged family high atop the city’s proverbial food chain, Oliver didn’t know what was happening in Starling City if it didn’t affect his party first, party later lifestyle, and he didn’t care.

That’s why his transformation into a hero willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good – or even just the betterment of a single person’s life – means so much: He started so very far away from that. The bachelor, partyboy lifestyle that Bruce Wayne pretends to have is something Oliver actually did have. It gives him an incredibly unique perspective. And while it may borrow from the Bat, Arrow has its own flare.

But while the dichotomy between Oliver’s past and present life are compelling, it isn’t even its best part. That honor goes to the series’ breakneck pace. From Arrow’s very beginning, it has held a larger sense of “anything can happen” than any other show this side of the zombie apocalypse. Main characters have died, but it’s more than that. While many shows, even other comic book shows, choose the slow burn with season-long problems and mysteries, Arrow sets that kind of storyline up, then quickly does something drastic way before you think it will happen. We get a question asked in episode 7 that’s answered in episode 8. Then it asks two more, and one of them gets answered a half an hour later.

That relentless pace does more than just make a great TV show. It makes a great comic book show. This is what makes some of the best comic stories, a pace that makes you have to read the next issue–Or, in this case, watch the next episode.

“Team Arrow” was coined by the fans, and became part of the show’s own vernacular. But that team was already there, and it was clear from the start that this show, and indeed Oliver’s mission, couldn’t exist without series regulars Diggle and Felicity. The on-again/off-again romance between Oliver and Felicity, dubbed Olicity by those fans, is a fairly fun one, due mostly to the fact that it puts a new spin on the Hero-Secret ID-Love Interest love triangle. It’s not Felicity torn between Arrow and Oliver, it’s Oliver torn between Felicity and Arrow. At least, that’s how he sees it.

While the romance is fun and compelling, it’s arguably the least interesting part of the Team Arrow dynamic. There’s the heart in Diggle – the guy who manages to dedicate large portions of his life to this crusade, but still have a family. There’s the smarts of Felicity, which let’s be real here – Oliver wouldn’t have even really gotten started without, let alone begun inspiring other heroes. When you bring in protégés, be they eager or reluctant, you have another way of looking at these things, and can see how the inspiration of one can lead to changes for many.

Without the Team, Arrow is just a show about a vigilante out for some combination of vengeance and justice. With it, it’s a team with one person pushing the world into the better place that he thinks it should be in – even if it means he’s left out of it.

The Final Word

Arrow is an interesting show, because it makes you think as much about the themes and real-world consequences of a characters’ actions as it does the superheroics, crazy villains, and over-the-top nonsense like hot springs that bring people back to life. That ability to tap into the human consciousness while still delivering all those other elements is what makes Arrow the best comic book show on TV.

Oh, but the salmon ladder is just mean and insane and makes me feel bad about myself – nevermind, forget everything I just said!

If you had to argue that Arrow is the best comic book show on TV, what reasons would you give? Sound off in the comments!

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