Just look at that Jackson smolder. Colton Haynes shocked Teen Wolf fans last year by announcing his resignation from the show in order to take a role on the CW’s Arrow as Roy Harper. He’s only made one appearance in an episode so far, as a purse snatcher and wily-con-man-when-he-needs-t0-be, but it shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s been signed to be a regular character in the show’s second season.

Yes, I’m still watching Arrow.

Arrow isn’t a great show by any stretch of the imagination, but I respect it for what it’s trying to do and have some hopes that eventually it will succeed. And let’s be real: I also enjoy the near constant references to obscure facets of the DC universe and it’s liberal borrowing from the Batman canon for villains and supporting characters. It’s those bits that keep the nerd in me casually watching it in the background of my other activities.

With the addition of Alex Kingston to the cast, however, the show’s going to pique the interest of an entirely different fandom.

I finally caught up on four episodes of Arrow on Sunday, and while the show doesn’t exactly have me riveted (I watched the last three while simultaneously playing World of Warcraft because Valor Points, baby, Valor Points), it seems to me that the show is still sketching out the borders of its frame, still setting the stage for what it ultimately wants to say, and so I’m still mildly interested. Helping along my interest are small moments with the show’s considerable female cast (although I find the dialogue between Laurel and her friend at the legal aid office to be laughably bad), like Thea’s defenses of her understandable brokenness, the lovely awkward lady hacker character who just came on the scene, and the moment when Laurel totally rescued Ollie from a buttwhooping. Also, John Barrowman has finally started making appearances and that’s fun.

But more than any of that, I’m honor bound to stick with the show at least through the introduction of Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, scourge of the Cosa Nostra.

DC has only just begun to offer licensed art prints related to its characters, but we’re really digging them. Also, this chart says I’m Rot Lop Fan, the F-Sharp Bell, so heeeelllllllz yes.

This picture of John Barrowman smiling at a scorpion brought to you by my love of odd celebrity pictures.

We’ve found out that the CW’s heretofore unimpressive Green Arrow-based series Arrow will also be featuring DC superheroine the Huntress in some first season episodes, and we’ve found out that the show’s creators have plans (however tentative) to include a female version of Speedy, Green Arrow’s sidekick. But it was the announcement of John Barrowman joining the cast of the show that first renewed our interest in the adaptation. Unlike Jessica De Gouw and Huntress, however, we still have no idea who Barrowman is going to be, and he’s not helping.

Dammit, Arrow. You better be worth all the playing you’re doing with my emotions. It seems now every secondary character you reference as having included in the show now turns out to be one of the DC universe’s more obscure kickass ladies. I mean, first you included a character named after Black Canary’s civilian identity. Then you announced that the Huntress will definitely be on the show. Now, you’re saying that you’ve got long term plans that may culminate in the inclusion of Speedy, Green Arrow’s traditional teenage sidekick.

And not even Roy Harper, the original Speedy! You want to include a female Speedy, like Mia Dearden!

Because Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Producers veteran John Barrowman is returning to a regular television role in it.

Most of us remember the impression Batman left the last time he starred in a live-action television show. Adam West’s portrayal will never be forgotten but in the wave of Christopher Nolan’s more realistic (and highly successful) take on the character in film, could Batman ever be brought back to the small screen? According to the CW’s Arrow writer Marc Guggenheim, the answer is yes. 

I’m following the CW’s big Smallville follow-up, Arrow, with a sharp eye. Oliver Queen is one of my favorite characters (when written well) and I’d love to see this show succeed. The clips and trailers we’ve seen so far have been promising, with tons of action and a seemingly serious take on Green Arrow, but if this new clip from TVLine is to be believed, Arrow is going to be really serious. Deadly serious to be exact. Watch as Stephen Amell’s Ollie gets out of a sticky situation in this clip from the pilot episode.

(via Spinoff)

The Doctor finally gets to be a ginger in this Little Mermaid/Doctor Who mash-up. Artist Lar deSouza even made Flounder into K-9 but made sure to put a stipulation on his tumblr post, “Don’t get excited for a series though. I’m exhausted just by the thought of doing a dozen more Princess Who’s!” Pretty please! With sugar on top! I’ve already done one FemmeDoctor cosplay group, I would totally do another in this vein. (via Ashley Hay)