The entirety of the last decade feels like one long era of degradation and wasted potential for the former sidekick, leading up to his anticlimactic and rather insulting death in Tom King and Clay Mann’s Heroes in Crisis series.įrom 2010-2011, Roy was positioned as a troubled, psychotic anti-hero/villain lashing out at the world after he lost his right arm and his daughter Lian was killed at the end of Justice League: Cry for Justice. Roy has a rich history of characterization DC could use to do interesting stories, but they have chosen to rehash the same drama about his past drug addiction and animosity with Green Arrow. Some have argued DC Comics hasn’t known what to do with Roy in recent years, but I’d argue that’s not true. Interior art by Rick Mays The Fall of Roy Harper I want to dive into Roy’s Native upbringing, from the racism prevalent in the original stories, to writer Devin Grayson treating the subject with respect and making it an integral part of Roy’s history, to how DC subsequently diminished it and then brought it back in a problematic way. With Native American Month freshly in my rearview, I want to focus on an aspect of Roy Harper’s backstory that’s not talked about as much as his time as a heroin addict or his troubled partnership with Green Arrow. Although I’ve also made mistakes over the years in close proximity, namely in discussion of Lian’s mother Cheshire. ![]() I’ve talked and written about the Harpers enough that at least a few people have referred to me as THE authority when it comes to Roy and Lian. I’d already been angry about what had been done to him and his daughter Lian for… wow. His death provided a big part of my article on Heroes in Crisis this past summer. I’ve already spent a lot of time on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook talking about DC’s Roy Harper. But alas, November is also considered Native American Month, so there’s some consolation to the last few weeks. That’s not even me getting into the idea of a holiday being built on centuries of exploiting the native inhabitants who lived in America before white colonists “discovered” the country. God knows I can’t help but tense up whenever discussion of my own family’s plans for Turkey Day starts. ![]() ![]() It was Thanksgiving again, a holiday I loathe because it seems to pride itself on the way it brings out the worst in families.
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