Fans of the Smallville television series have been treated to a weekly released digital comic series that continues on the story even after the show has ended. It has now been anounced that the future CW Arrow series will have a companion comic releasing right along side of it. Take the jump for more details.
When Arrow premieres in primetime on the CW the story will have already started earlier that day when the first issue of Arrow is released on comiXology. Much like the current digital series that DC is putting out, Arrow will have a price of $0.99 for the weekly issues and then will cost $3.99 when the smaller issues are combined into a larger physical monthly release. The series will be written by show executive producers and showrunners Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg and will feature art by Mike Grell for the first issue with Sergio Sandoval and Jorge Jimenez taking it over after that.
We loved the idea because (a) we love comics and (b) we sensed the opportunity to do something that struck us both as unprecedented. We come up with a lot of stories in the writers room, but only have 42 minutes each week to tell them. That leaves a lot of story and backstory left over that we like having the opportunity to tell. – Marc Guggenheim
Guggenheim also said that the comic series will be there to expand on the stories of Oliver’s early adventures that will tie in and preview what viewers will be seeing on the CW every week.
The first chapter is especially exciting — and not just because Mike Grell drew it. We took a moment directly from the second episode, then flashforward throughout the story to key moments from future episodes.
The digital weekly titles that have been coming out from DC every week seem to be going over nicely on comiXology, so hopefully this will do more of the same. What will be more interesting will be seeing how the comic downloads and viewership will compare and if having a comic supplement will enhance the overall experience of the TV show. As previously stated, both comic and show kick off on October 10th, so mark the date down so you can jump into the multimedia experience of Arrow.
