Exclusive: Arrow Targets Comic-Con With Comic Book Preview

For longtime Green Arrow fans, an exclusive 10-page preview comic of the new CW series Arrow (starring Stephen Amell) will be the keepsake giveaway from this year's Comic-Con. "It's almost like a little mini episode after the pilot but before the next episode," explains Andrew Kreisberg, who cowrote the story with his fellow Arrow exec producers, Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, along with comics superstar Geoff Johns, DC Entertainment's chief creative officer. (The cover was penciled by legendary artist Mike Grell, with colors by Randy Mayor; interior art was provided by Omar Francia.)

Like the pilot, the story features a hard-edged version of the emerald archer, but through flashbacks we learn that he was a once a frivolous playboy. "People tend to think of Green Arrow as a little more lighthearted and sort of a ladies man," says Kreisberg, a veteran of Fringe and Warehouse 13. "And the Oliver Queen that we're doing a show about is a little bit more tortured, a little darker and lives more in the real world."

And judging by an advance peek at the script, it also appears that Detective Hilton — a character created by Kreisberg during his 2009—10 run as writer of DC Comics' version of Green Arrow — may have a bigger role in the series. (That would be good news for 24 alum Roger Cross, who plays Hilton in the pilot.) But the biggest hint of things to come is a haunting image of an infamous DC villain who has been teased in an online trailer for the show. "To us those 10 pages are canon," says Kreisberg, "and [for] anyone who grabs a copy: Hold onto it and as the series progresses, you'll appreciate it more and more."