Fans of Zenescope‘s Grimm Fairy Tales series might have been a bit surprised when Robyn Hood was chosen as one of the first characters for her own ongoing series.  They equally might not have been so surprised when the series’ debut was less than stellar.  In a comic world with both Green Arrow and Hawkeye being quite popular, how could another series focusing on a superhero archer succeed, especially one that is from a smaller publisher.  Slowly though, the series has managed to find itself, culminating in this latest issue which is the best of the series so far, even though admittedly there is still some way to go.

This issue follows once again Robyn and Marian as they rent out their somewhat unique skills to help a woman find her boyfriend who has seemingly joined a cult.  Although this remains the focus of this issue, it also splits into two separate segments.  In one Robyn hunts down the cult, but the other focuses more on Marian and her struggle to fit into life on Earth and not in Myst.  At first the idea of yet another lesbian witch seemed a bit stale in terms of the inspiration for this series, which at its heart could be described as a female Green Arrow plus Willow from the Buffyverse.  Instead there is something a bit more to this particular story line as Marian summons the courage to ask a girl out on a date, and then as the two get to know each other, that she opens up about how her life used to be.  Although this focuses on her homosexuality, the theme is equally strong to match a lot of other problems where people feel ostracized from their communities because of their identities.  While this acts as a nice interlude, it is paced well with the impending danger to Robyn as she finds and infiltrates the cult, just in time for what looks like pretty mean battle.

The end result is still not great, but it is nice to see this series moving in the right direction.  As opposed to some other nascent series such as this one, they start off strong and then lose their momentum.  This on the other hand seems to be building as it grows, and is relying on both stronger characters and better story lines.  It started as an unconventional choice for a series, but slowly is becoming its own entity and not relying on the bigger universe for its own thrills.

Story: Pat Shand  Art: Roberta Ingranata
Story: 7.7  Art: 7.7 Overall: 7.7 Recommendation: Read

Zenescope provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.