Arsenal confronts his inner demons as his recent brush with death continues to haunt him. Unfortunately, his soul-searching leads to serious conflicts with two of his teammates.
A nice character piece as the issue takes a look at Arsenal as he prepares to return to active duty, only to discover that while he's physically fit, he's sporting some serious emotional trauma that could get him, or one of his teammates killed. However, while the issue does an impressive job of developing Roy's problem, the solution that looks to cure him left me a bit cold, as Nightwing decides the best way to get Roy's head back into the game is to directly confront him with in, and even worse Judd Winick looks to be asking us to believe that Dick's confrontation method was exactly the right move, and that Roy is back on track. I mean it's one thing to question his ability to hold up his end in a fight, but Nightwing's solution simply doesn't convince me that it would be as effective as Judd Winick seems to want us to believe. Still, I did enjoy the scenes where Roy is discovering that he does have a problem, and it's nice to see Lian hasn't been completely forgotten about as she ge Read Full Review
The remainder of the issue is given over to the heartiest of male bonding rituals, and guest artist Conrads muscular men in tights dont belie the homoerotic allusions made by Winick in dialogue. Robin and Speedy go way back, and sometimes it takes a friend to help you see what you cant make out yourself. Its nice in fact to see Dick let his guard down a bit, recalling the optimistic Robin of old. This sort of identity crisis, and its beat in the ongoing narrative, may be formulaic. But, under Winicks careful construction, its also warm and authentic and funny. Read Full Review