The CW’s Arrow is in the middle of its fourth season, and just a few short years has become a veritable repository of characters from the DC Comics universe like Green Arrow, Black Canary, Deathstroke, Deadshot, Ra’s al Ghul, the Clock King, Huntress, the Royal Flush Gang, and even super obscure ones like that guy who can throw his tattoos at people. But since the first season, one of the more mysterious characters in the TV universe is Malcolm Merlyn, a.k.a. the Dark Archer, a.k.a. the new Ra’s al Ghul, a.k.a. Thea’s dad, played by the always awesome John Barrowman. But, like, what’s Malcolm’s story?

Fans of the ubiquitous ninja guy in black won’t have to wonder much longer because a new bi-weekly digital comic is being released by DC. It will fill in what happened to Merlyn between the third and fourth seasons (when he picked up the mantle of the leader of the League of Assassins) and also touch on his shady history, which had to include all kinds of murderous pursuits.

The comic, called Arrow: The Dark Archer, is being written by none other than Barrowman himself, along with his sister and longtime writing collaborator Carole. Together, the two have written six books and are poised, it would appear, to do other work for DC coming soon.

The first chapter of the 12 issues will be released Wednesday, January 13, one week prior to the show’s mid-season premiere. It’ll be available on many digital comics platforms such as the DC Comics App, readdcentertainment.com, iBooks, comixology.com, Google Play, Kindle Store, Nook Store, and iVerse ComicsPlus.

Are you excited for more Merlyn magic? Talk about things related to this news article in the comments below!

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HT: TV Insider
Image: DC Entertainment/CW

Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!