10 More Most Inappropriate DC Comics Storylines Ever
6. Arsenal's Rampage
Comic books aren’t just a place for superheroes in colourful costumes to beat up the bad guys and go home to celebrate. There is a platform here to tackle real issues and have real discussions about important, sometimes difficult things. It’s just that they aren’t always handled as well as they could be.
Take for example drug addiction, and look no further than Green Arrow’s ward, Speedy. Way back in 1971's 'Snowbirds Don't Fly' arc, it was revealed that he was addicted to heroin, and the story surrounding his journey through recovery was handled well if too quickly. The same can’t be said for his relapse.
Almost 40 years later, Roy Harper went by Arsenal, and was reeling after losing an arm and seeing his daughter killed. His grief drove him back to heroin, and while his first battle with substance abuse was handled tactfully, this just wasn’t. This was a hallucination-inspired frenzy that ended with him getting taken down by Batman.
The drugs caused Arsenal to see a dead cat as his daughter, and to attack the group of thugs he thought were trying to kill her. The hallucination ends with Roy holding the deceased cat with a simply deranged look on his face. Not only is the story robbed of any real gravity by the final painful image, it even retrospectively does the same for 'Snowbirds Don’t Fly'.