I'd Rather They Didn't...
So I was just chillin' out, half writing new fic (with hedgehogs!) and half checking what's new on scans_daily. Everything was going swimmingly until I came across pages from Titans #32.
Now I know approximately squat about Osiris and Isis and whatnot, so I don't care. What I am talking about is the promotional blurb on the bottom of the last page.
"Arsenal and Cheshire reveal their hearts of darkness"? Oh, so losing your arm and your daughter, getting hooked on drugs for the second time in your life, trying to rape your ex, being committed to an institution for drug-addicted criminals by your mother figure and best friend, setting your house on fire with your ghost/zombie/corpse daughter inside, beating crooks within an inch of their lives and joining a group of supervillains ISN'T DARK ENOUGH FOR YOU NOW??? How much worse can it GET? Are they going to go around setting fire to orphanages now? Stabbing schoolteachers? Kicking puppies? Honestly, I'd give more examples, but at this point, I'm just afraid I'll be giving them ideas.
Holy Hera, DC, how much more garbage are you going to put Roy through before you lay off the poor man already?! Haven't you got the message? We hate this. We don't want more of it. This is not entertaining in any way, shape or form.
Know what, screw this, I'm gonna go read the 90s Arsenal mini again. Or maybe some fan-fic. Anything where Roy is a likable character whom DC isn't determined to eff up repeatedly.
EDIT: Okay. Now that I've had the night to calm down and stop foaming at the mouth, I can explain what's wrong with all this in a more rational manner.
Roy Harper does not have a "heart of darkness."
He has never had a heart of darkness, nor should he ever. It is not in his character.
This man has gone through some of the worst $#!% imaginable. His mother is pretty much non-existent (if anyone can disprove this, please point me in the right direction). His father died when he was three. His adopted father got cancer ten years after taking him in and, without fully explaining the situation to Roy, shipped him off to live with Ollie. He had to deal with Ollie ignoring him in favor of the rest of the world. He became addicted to heroin and then had to overcome that addiction. He was shot five times in the chest and nearly died. But you know what? It didn't kill him. None of the stuff listed above killed him, turned him into a psychopath, etc. And you know why that is?
Roy Harper is a survivor. That is his character. It is what he does. If bad stuff happens, he deals with it, picks himself up again, and moves on with his life. And while I don't blame him in the least for being upset about his missing arm and Lian's death--heck, I'd be just as mad if he wasn't upset over Lian's death (actually, it'd be nice if Lian wasn't dead at all, but let's work with what we have)--there is no way this character would ever take the route the guys at DC have laid out for him. It's just not in his nature, and trying to make it so is an unimaginable disservice and disgrace to his character. It's sloppy and a cheap excuse for unconvincing angst, and I am sick to death of it. I want to know where the real Roy Harper is and when DC plans to let him out of his cage to entertain us and be awesome again. Because this man, the one with the "heart of darkness?" This isn't Roy Harper. Not by a long shot.