Jamie Revell

Dan Jurgens takes over for the final eight issues of the series. It's an improvement over Seeley, who has been consistently weak, and is a relatively straightforward action story without much additional depth to it. On its own merits, it's probably worth 4 stars, however, since the initial sense of menace and the method that the villain is using to combat the Corps works quite well - if you're really going to threaten the Corps existence, this is a pretty good way of doing it. And there are some good glimpses of the wider Corps, and the action does keep zipping along.

The reason I'm knocking it down to three stars is that the story is only barely about its nominal stars, Jessica and Simon. Certainly, they are in it, and both play a role in the resolution, but the story is as much about Hal and all the others as it is about them, and the primary threats are all from Hal's past. This makes it an unsatisfying end to the series, although it would be fine as part of something else. And the final scene does come a little out of left field, although it's as good a way to wrap things up as any.

In a clean break from Orlando's run, Supergirl heads out into space to solve the mystery of Krypton's destruction. This initially brings in the Green Lantern Corps in a section that works rather well, although how much it feels like Supergirl, rather than Green Lantern is perhaps debatable. From there we move to other spacefaring adventure, which is less engaging, but does at least provide a different vista than we normally get. It's an improvement over the often lacklustre preceding volumes, although there's none of the usual supporting cast and we really are starting from scratch. A couple of isolated short stories round out the collection - one filling in the background of a new supporting character, and the other a routine Christmas story.

It's enough to make me want to see where this is going, at a point where I would otherwise have dropped the line, so things are looking up even if I'm not really excited about this yet. And Andreyko is, frankly, a better writer than his predecessor (nice artwork, too). But, seriously, you had to include Krypto the Super-dog?

The audio series once again focuses on a minor character from the TV show, in this case, Sgt Andy. He receives a call-up to Torchwood, and has to demonstrate his skills by hunting down the source of a strange alien goo. The story features a standard mix of Torchwood tropes, with alien tech, a monster, and a glimpse of some of the poorer areas of Cardiff. Aside from this, while not bad, it's not particularly notable taken on its own.

What's more significant is Andy himself, and the Torchwood “assessor” he is paired with. Goss makes good use of Andy's particular skills, differentiating him from Gwen, let alone the other members of the team (none of whom are in this, of course). Tom Price is excellent as someone who is eager to help, calm in certain sorts of crisis, and yet out of his depth in others. In this respect, the story builds on what little we've previously seen of the character, consistent with what we know, but able to show much more in a story in which he is the focus.

The other main character in the story is Norton, the hologram of a Torchwood agent from the 1950s. He is obviously camp, and uses Polari at a couple of points, in amidst other '50s references, so that's another trope being honoured here. He's presumably being set up as a recurring character, and has some potential in this direction, contrasting with the more serious tone of most of his fellows - some of the banter with Andy is great.

The story is left open at the end, likely all tying into the running plot arc in most of these releases, although it's just another piece of the jigsaw, rather than obviously moving that along. Really, it's the characterisation that makes this another audio episode that's very much worth listening to for fans of the show.

This crossover event manages to bring together the good points of both of its constituent series. From the Aquaman point of view, we have some follow up to the events of the recently finished story arc, and a continuation of the theme of distrust between Atlantis and the U.S. military. The focus is more on the Squad, however, and here we have a typical black ops mission that inevitably goes a bit pear-shaped. In that respect, it's nothing new, but if you're going to do a Suicide Squad crossover, the sort of plot used here is a good way of doing it, with Harley and Amanda Waller being written particularly well. The slower scenes with the Aquaman characters also help to break up the non-stop fighting that tends to typify Suicide Squad so that the whole thing isn't simply a slugfest.

This is the first half of a story concluded in Casualties of Time. I am reviewing both parts here.

This is a sequel to the earlier two-part audio stories The Sands of Life/War Against the Laan and The Dalek Contract/The Final Phase. The Laan make only a few brief appearances here, but the main villain does return, resolving some significant dangling plot threads from the earlier parts of the trilogy. It's a tale with plenty of time travel; the Doctor pursues the villain through four different time periods, while Romana is trapped in a fifth one, the two only interacting significantly in the final 30-minute segment.

As with its first predecessor, the story also deals with some moral dilemmas, with the villain's scheme having been responsible for some good along the way - which might be undone if he is stopped. Splitting up the Doctor and Romana allows the latter to take on the former's role in her scenes, show-casing her as his equal in a way that few other companions of the era were. The story also moves along at a decent pace, feeling shorter than its 2-hour length when both parts are listened to back-to-back.

There are some weaknesses, however. The cliffhanger at the end of the first half makes a later dramatic revelation rather obvious well in advance, although it's quite a good use of the character in question. The ending is also rather pat, introducing a sudden unexpected reversal of fortunes for no particular reason and then hand-waving it away again... yes, the hand-waving has been foreshadowed, but it doesn't make a lot of sense. Possibly, there's more explanation of this to come in later releases, since part of it is left open.

This is a decent, if not stunning, story with some good use of time travel and fun incidental aliens. It is, however, certainly not standalone, and, indeed, also has connections back to some stories of the classic TV series. It's the end of its “season”, but, fortunately, Romana is back in the next one, too...

This begins with the annual story for the year, featuring Batgirl tracking down a serial killer connected in some way to her brother. This is followed by the main story, which also involves a serial killer, although he's not described as such. In both cases, this leads to an often dark story, something of a contrast with the bright and optimistic tone of recent releases. There's also an emphasis on Barbara's family life, although we've left the characters from the Burnside iteration of her adventures behind. Add to that Batgirl struggling with both physical and mental weaknesses and Scott is certainly shaping up for a different take on the character than her immediate predecessor, one which, from this offering, shows potential.

The final part of this trilogy of Master stories sees the two different incarnations of the Master meeting up with one another. Whereas the previous episodes are at least partially standalone, this is very much not, being set both immediately before and after them and filling in further background to what was happening. As a result, it's a relatively complex, timey-wimey story and, thankfully, one that very much manages to deliver the goods, enhancing the other episodes once you can put them into context. (I should also note that this would have been written before World Enough and Time, which, of course, uses a similar hook).

It's difficult to say too much of what this is about, without delivering plot spoilers, since there are a number of twists along the way. The background is that the time-space continuum is being destroyed piece by piece, with the action taking place on various space ships that happen to be involved, but really the story is about the Master himself, and the complex web of events in which he has managed to enmesh himself.

The two Masters don't meet up until relatively late in the story, but once they do, there is some marvellous interplay between them, contrasting the two very different personalities of these incarnations. (In a sense, this also contrasts the classic and new series takes on the character, since MacQueen's version more closely resembles Simms and Gomez than he does the earlier ones). In fact, the Doctor is away for large stretches, and MacQueen and Beevers do such a good job that you barely notice - despite the fact that the Master is unquestionably a villain here, and racks up a high body count along the way.

The second in this series about the modern incarnation of UNIT uses an original threat, rather than something pre-existing in the DW TV series. It turned out to be a one-off experiment (so far, anyway), with familiar aliens featuring in all the later releases, but I wouldn't describe it as a failing here. True, the aliens aren't hugely interesting in themselves, but it does allow for a story that makes good use of the UNIT set-up.

Although the four episodes in the release are individually titled, it is a single story, with each episode ending on a cliffhanger. It starts out as an investigation into the murder of a scientist researching some alien tech from UNIT's archives and grows from there, with aliens and an obligatory sinister corporation somehow involved in events.

The story takes in a worldwide scope, ranging from London to UNIT HQ in Geneva and (in an obvious homage to Ice Station Zebra) Antarctica. It also manages to squeeze in UNIT bases in Gibraltar and Port Stanley, super-fast jets, mini-subs, a fight in a cable car and other appropriate tropes. There's also good use of the Tower of London in the third episode, having fun with the idea of UNIT's main British base being underneath such a major landmark.

The colonel from the first release is absent in this one, but all the other main characters are present, albeit with Sam only turning up in the final part. Speaking of which, while the focus is mainly on the action and intrigue, there are some insights into Osgood's life (it's set before The Zygon Invasion) that add some nuance to the character.

It's a fun, fast-moving action story with strong female leads with a high tech action feel. Oh... and alien ninja assassins.

This three-hour story follows on directly from the open ending of the previous, rather weak, offering... by immediately retconning it out of existence. Which is rather easier to do in a story about time travel than it might be elsewhere.

That, however, is just in the first few minutes of the story. What follows is a return to form for the series, with the original characters returning and the plot once again resembling a political thriller more than an action adventure - although there are elements of the latter. Time travel is also a key element, enabling some events to occur out of sequence from the perspective of the main characters.

In fact, there's quite a lot going on here, using the unusually long running time to tell a complex story, with political skullduggery, assassinations, and time paradoxes all playing their part. What you don't get, and which might be implied by the cover, is anything to do with the Time War (beyond a few hints that it's on the horizon) or with Daleks - perhaps the strongest reference to anything in the new series is a throwaway line about the Sycorax. It may also be worth mentioning that this is primarily Romana and Leela's story, with Ace playing a relatively minor role, although she is key to one of the six 30-minute segments.

For me, neither of these things detracted from the story, which is far more reminiscent of the first couple of seasons than anything that's happened since. That's a good thing from my perspective, although it does mean that it's the kind of story you'll want to pay close attention to, given how much is happening, and it isn't one for those who want straight-up action with monsters. The story wraps up with a good ending that leaves no obvious loose ends, and, while there are plenty of references to earlier releases in the series, it's largely self-contained.

The first half of this story is a crime caper, centred around a bank heist and also involving a couple of cons. The nature of the cons is such that it's immediately obvious to the listener that they are cons, with the main tension being how long it takes the characters in the story to work this out. (Not too long, as it happens, but this is alleviated by a fair chunk being told in flashback). The real villains only take centre-stage in the second half by which time we're in something that's more of a typical alien invasion plot.

The most significant aspect, however, is the return of former Doctor Who companion Mel Bush. Obviously, she's been in other Big Finish plays almost since the beginning, but here we're following on from her departure in the TV story Dragonfire with space-travelling crook Sabalom Glitz. He's not in this, although some of the other characters are former associates of his and it deals, in part, with the repercussions of his actions.

Mel carries much of the early section of the story, with Ace and the Doctor both in the background, and there's some effective handling of the question of just how much her time with Glitz has changed her from the character we saw on screen. Unsurprisingly, as already seen in other BF stories, this makes her a better and more developed character than the two-dimensional, mostly irritating, version of the TV show. Since we're now seeing an older version, there's also the potential for more development down the line, without established continuity getting in the way.

Despite the stakes, and a few nice scenes here and there, the story never really grabs. It feels more like a means to bring Mel back in a way that makes sense given the nature of her departure than it does a particularly strong story in its own right. It works, but it's nothing special.

Following on from the Flash accidentally bollocksing up an aspect of reality (again) we have what's really two connected stories, each featuring a new Force (Strength, Sagacity) possessing one of the Rogues and causing havoc. The Strength Force half isn't particularly impressive, in part because “strength” is hardly an unusual feature in superhero comics, but the second, which takes place largely in the villain's mindscape, is rather better. What helps both is that there is more to the story than this, with some action for the regular detectives of the CCPD, and reflections on how the alteration of the timeline has affected Iris. The resulting mix strikes the right balance, and makes this a fun read.

Benson starts off her run on Green Arrow in fine form. The opening story (from the annual) is fairly unremarkable in itself, and clearly ties into something larger going on in another title, but it shows a good insight into Oliver and his role vis-a-vis more obvious superheroes. That's followed up a by a four-part story with a villain killing off wealthy white-collar criminals, bringing things down to Earth and presenting the kind of social issues that this particular title does when it's at its best. Parallels with the Arrow TV show, particularly in its first season, are hard to miss...

There's also time out for a character-based issue dealing solely with the fallout of events in another title that directly impacts on the characters in this one - and it's this that is the strongest part of the collection.

This is a mixed bag of stories with no connecting arc or theme. The first story is the best, showing Diana interacting with an imprisoned villain over the course of many years in a way that's difficult to imagine for many other superheroes. That's followed by a story that uses the interesting idea of having Wonder Woman face the Aztec gods for a change, but that does nothing much with that idea beyond a punch-up. Next up, she tries to stop a war between a group of renegade Amazons and a Middle Eastern nation, which has its heart in the right place, but doesn't deal with the characters long enough to develop anything. The collection is rounded out by a set of short stories by a number of different writers and artists, some of which are good, and some of which aren't. There are some individual gems in here, bringing out what makes Diana distinctive (the interview with Lois Lane, written in straight text, is one such) but it's too choppy to be successful as a whole.

This time the viewpoint character is Suzie Costello, Gwen's predecessor at Torchwood. This is set only shortly before Everything Changes, and, among other things, expands on her motivations in that episode and its follow-up They Keep Killing Suzie. There's a tenuous link to the audio series' ongoing arc, but otherwise, this is a standalone story aside from the obvious connections to events in the TV show.

Suzie wakes up to discover something very strange has happened to Cardiff, but, after this initial set-up is over, the story shifts to something that's initially comedic but gradually becomes much darker as the true hopelessness of the situation she finds herself in becomes more apparent. As usual in this series, the cast is minimal, with just two other speaking parts, but it's the isolation of the characters that's a large part of the point.

There's a good mix of comedy, action, and drama, although the story does start to drag a little bit towards the end, which prevents me from giving it the full five stars. Nonetheless, it's an excellent look at a minor character from the show, both giving her the chance to be the hero that we never really saw on TV, and foreshadowing what she will do not that much later. There's also a strong moral element, much of it voiced in Suzie's conversations with the villain... and the ending is superb.

A reasonably fun story of a team of lesser superheroes coming together to explore a forbidden area of space and uncover a mystery there. It's fast-moving, and there are some interesting aspects to the setting, with the locals having somehow already built religions around three of the four main characters. On the other hand, there's no particular depth to the characterisations of the leads (nor much opportunity for it) and the big revelation that the main villain is... um, villainous... is a bit of a “well, duh” moment. Slepic's artwork is very nice, and the other two aren't bad, but the story, while entertaining enough, isn't going to break any ground.

This two-hour special constitutes a single story serving as a bridge between the original series of Counter-Measures and its soft reboot. The latter is set in the 1970s, making the series title an obvious homage to The New Avengers, which is likely at least part of the inspiration behind it.

The story starts up in December 1973, seven years after the cliffhanger ending to the fourth and final season of the original run. Initially, it's just about Sir Toby, with the story starting in media res, and working towards the event implied by the episode's title. Some of this is a little confusing at first, but - while some details are lampshaded rather than properly explained - most of it does come together to make sense as the rest of the story unfolds.

This is basically a spy thriller, involving Middle Eastern potentates, MI5 agents, and a Russian assassin, among other elements. The science fiction bit of the plot is thrown in as an afterthought, with no real relevance to anything else, only there because somebody felt it had to be. But it's really a rather good spy thriller, with our heroes in hiding from the authorities, and in a very different situation than they typically were in the preceding series.

The '70s atmosphere comes mainly from the background details, with the oil crisis and the Three-Day Week both being mentioned repeatedly, and even having some impact on the story. (Having said which, the timing of these events is changed slightly to suit the plot, but not in a way that matters).

A large part of the appeal, though, is seeing how the characters have changed in the intervening years, rebuilding their relationship after an enforced separation. While, in most respects, the tone remains the same (and the tradition of plenty of strong female characters continues) the set-up is going to be very different in the reboot, with the new group's status and resources being rather different going forward. I'll miss the '60s ambience, but the '70s holds promise, too...

This story is set in the closing months of the Spanish Civil War with the TARDIS arriving just before a bombing raid and the crew finding themselves trying to help a struggling Republican unit. It's one of those stories that benefits very much from the setting, with the inevitable fact that the Republicans are doomed hanging over events. There are also a number of nice touches bringing the setting to life, and a good mix of peril and humour.

Nonetheless, this is an alien invasion story, not a straight historical, with the Nationalist bombing having awoken something nasty in a nearby cave. The monster has some original traits, although its function in the story is mostly just as something to run away from. Even so, the story is structured so as to give some ups and downs in the conflict, with a few twists here and there to keep things moving and a reason for the soldiers' reluctance not to simply shoot it on sight.

Nonetheless, it's not the monster that's the real pleasure here. Rather, its the characterisation and the quieter moments of reflection and dialogue that lift this above the average. The Republican leader is notable here, a decent man caught up in the conflict that has engulfed his entire country, and so is Mel. The latter has enough nods to her characterisation on the TV show to be clear it's the same person, but she's far better written here, a strong and compassionate character who has, perhaps, grown in the years that are supposed to have passed for her since Dragonfire. By putting her in a darker and more serious setting, this manages to do a better job of developing Mel than the preceding episode, A Life of Crime, did, although Ace, oddly enough, seems to be closer to her TV self than she was when paired with Hex.

An anthology of four 30-minute stories, linked by the loose theme of “memory”. I found them surprisingly variable in quality.

* The Memory Bank - The title story is set on a world where, for some not-terribly clear reason, remembering people is key to their continued existence. The story is full of little snippets from the lives of the people being remembered, although it's primarily about those who are forgotten. Like some other audio stories of its length, it feels too slight to be anything much; things go wrong, a monster turns up, it gets defeated. Nor does it seem that there's anything much else that could have been done with its theme. It's fair enough, but not, well... memorable. 3 stars.

* The Last Fairy Tale - Set somewhere vaguely in medieval Europe, this sees the Doctor being mistaken for a mythical storyteller. The story really doesn't make any sense, with exaggerated stock characters not having any plausible motive for what they're doing, and the science fiction elements just being plucked out of thin air (it's effectively magic, although the Doctor says it isn't). Yes, this strangeness is lampshaded at the end and there's a vague reason for the stereotyping, but the story is little more than meaningless fluff. 2 stars.

* Repeat Offender - Finally, things improve with a hard SF story set entirely inside a single room in 22nd century Iceland. The Doctor is caught in the middle of apparently committing a crime, and the memory of those involved seems to point to his guilt, but (naturally) their recollections may have been tampered with. There are some themes of the future development of modern technology here, but it's also about time travel and an authoritarian system. It would probably have worked better at twice the length, since there are a few points where things seem to move along rather too quickly, but it would likely also have had to lose the highly contained setting, which might have been a minus. 4 stars.

* The Becoming - An unusual story for DW this, and the sort of thing that probably wouldn't have worked if it was much longer. It's a highly speculative piece, set on a strange and distant planet, with that world's ecology as the main focus, and presenting an alien race for whom memory is particularly important. The Web Planet is probably about the closest we ever got to something like this on TV, although the much shorter length of this prevents it from dragging. It's really quite a delightful story with a sense of the strange and alien, although not the sort of thing you could do too often. 5 stars.

For the second time, we have a story that focuses on Ianto, albeit this time with Jack also playing a significant role. It's built around the first season of the TV show, exploring the emotional toll that the events of some of those episodes have on Ianto, starting in the immediate aftermath of “Cyberwoman”. The over-arcing plot of the audio series doesn't get a mention, for once, and would have diluted the references if it had.

Much of the play consists of the conversations Ianto has with the motherly barmaid at his local pub, exploring the impact of the TV episodes without directly recounting their plots - this isn't a release for those unfamiliar with the original. It's a great performance from Gareth David-Lloyd, outshining Barrowman in the scenes they have together, as we see his character begin to break down under the strain.

As is implied by its opening teaser, however, there is more to the story than the emotional journey, with some science fiction elements that directly feed into the resolution. But here, it's doing what Torchwood does best, combining the everyday with the fantastic and using the latter as a metaphor for some darker corners of the human mind. It's also, as is probably clear from the cover, something of an LGBT romance, filling in the gaps of Ianto's romantic development as the TV series progressed.

This isn't one for those who are more interested in action, but it is a clever, and beautifully written complement to the TV series that spawned it.

Barry and Iris head off around the world in search of the other three forces, and at least manage to find heroes using two of them. Both are different from Barry without being simple villains who simply want to fight him although, again, we're dealing with the fact that enhanced strength isn't exactly a new idea in superhero comics, and Psych's powers aren't particularly original, either. There is some good use of Iris here, and a sub-plot with Commander Cold that doesn't have space to go anywhere yet, but may well do so later. I could have given it more than three stars, since there's certainly some effort to explore the other forces here, but things don't particularly move forward, and it's too obviously the middle part of something larger. So 3.5 stars, rounded down.

To my mind, this is one of the stronger seasons of the series, which normally contains at least one weaker episode in each box set of stories, but doesn't here. It's also unusual in having a relatively unified plot, which follows the consequences of one of the events in the previous season. If there's a weakness, it's that one character automatically assumes that a painting represents a literal depiction of actual events. Granted, we as the audience know that it does, but why would she think that - it's not a photograph?

* Picture This - We start where the cliffhanger of the previous season left off; a murder at an art gallery. The murder turns out to be merely setting up the later episodes, with this one about something else strange going on at the gallery. This sets the tone for the rest of the season, which deals entirely with supernatural threats, and has some overtones of horror, although this particular episode is more about the investigation than a specific ‘monster'. It's a surreal episode, kept well-grounded by its leads. 4 stars.

* The Flickermen - This is the most clearly horror-based of the four episodes, at least in terms of tone. It's partly about the arrival of the cinema in London - at this point in history very much a curiosity, where the mere fact that the pictures moved was exciting enough that films didn't need a plot. This, however, coincides with the appearance of the titular Flickermen, an interesting and spooky idea that fits not only with the technology of early film but with other aspects of the late nineteenth century. The result is a spooky ghost story, rich in Victorian atmosphere, as well as foreshadowing the eventual death of Jago's beloved music hall. 5 stars.

* The School of Blood - The sub-plot that has been running in the background for the first two episodes comes to the fore here as Jago and Litefoot investigate a series of vampiric murders. It's been a while since the series has dealt with vampires directly, but the plot here is an original one and actually better than the previous outing. It's set in a girls' boarding school, with a number of suspects - we know one character is a vampire, but it's not clear what everyone else is hiding, since there are evidently other things going on. 4.5 stars.

* Warm Blood - While the previous episode is mostly self-contained, it does lead directly into this one as Jago and Litefoot close in on the vampire and find their loyalty to one of the other series regulars tested. The main plot is, perhaps, rather straightforward and a little predictable, but the more personal elements compensate for that, as events from the very first season come back to haunt the heroes.

Since it doesn't end on the usual end-of-season cliffhanger, it may be that this was being lined up as a possible final episode, although a further season did, as it turned out, follow. It would have been a perfectly satisfying conclusion if that was what it had been, but it's open enough for it not to feel odd that it wasn't. 4 stars.

It's hard for a new writer to follow on from a successful run by a predecessor, and Humphries seems to have taken a while to find his feet. But he finally starts to do so here in a collection that improves as it goes along. To begin with, we have a story that overdoes the fourth-wall-breaking, with Harley supposedly endangering DC comics continuity. It's more weird than anything else, an excuse to throw different art styles and Elseworlds-style jokes into the mix, and the story that follows it, with a deeply obscure Golden Age superhero becoming stuck in the present, is only a slight improvement.

After that, Humphries finally starts to get into the swing of things with some suitably cooky villains and larger-than-life threats, counterbalancing some of the humour with a more serious side. He's overly reliant on puns and doesn't quite have the wackiness of the previous run, but these latter two stories are much more the sort of thing I expect from - and look for in - this comic.

A collection of ten short stories, accompanied by some artistic impressions of the title character (including some retrospective ones, showing how her look has changed down the years). The stories are mixed, as one might expect, and so is the art, with both ranging from good to poor. It's a varied look at different visions for the character, from the gritty to the comedic (one is set in the Batman ‘66 universe, for instance). Nothing with too much depth, perhaps, given the individual lengths, but it's as good a way as any to do an anniversary special.

A sort of Christmas special, this consists of two hour-long stories set in the present day, which follow on directly from one another chronologically (and are loosely linked), but which present a different foe in each case.

• Desperately Seeking Santa – The stronger half of the story concerns a series of supernatural murders in the run-up to Christmas. Gray is portrayed more positively here than he is in most other stories in this series, although that's partly because he's set against the grisly horror of the Santa-obsessed villain. One of the principal delights of the story, however, is the narration, provided by Colin McFarlane in a style that suggests he's reading an uplifting Christmas fairy tale, even as the gore builds up. The central device has been used in other horror stories, although this feels (at least to me) like an original take on it, perhaps partly because of the seasonal theme, complete with appropriate music. 5 stars.

• All Through the House – In the second half, Gray and Toby become trapped in a mysterious hotel on Christmas day. The story jumps along rather quickly as the strange nature of the hotel unfolds, presenting both physical threats and emotional torment for Gray. It's perhaps more notable for the ending, which gives Gray an opportunity the ramifications of which will presumably play out in the final season but which, at this point, are far from clear. Up until that, however, it's a little muddled, perhaps with the story being too short too fully explore the ideas within it, although there are a number of twists along the way. 4 stars.

A collection of three mini-arcs rounds out this run of the title. While they may be filler (hence the 3 stars), each does have something going for it. The first sees Ollie visiting a war-torn Middle Eastern country and confronting the brutalising effect it has had on the locals. It's an interesting choice of scenery and a story that plays to some of the strengths of Green Arrow, in a way that would be very different were it to feature a more obviously powered hero. That's followed up by a story featuring Parasite making a jailbreak, which is notable mainly for the moral ambiguity of the ending and a sympathetic portrayal of its tortured villain. The final arc is itself two stories, the first with Ollie facing off against an enhanced Count Vertigo, which has some nice visuals and a surprisingly quiet ending, which leads directly into the finale. The latter ties into something larger elsewhere in the DC Universe, but it's a good wrap up for the line, with many things left open, and more reflections on being a hero without powers in a world that has Superman in it.