Do I Have to Do EVERYTHING for You People?!
Well, folks, I didn't think this was possible, but SOMEHOW, the Evil Comic of Evil (still known to some as Rise of Arsenal) has found yet ANOTHER way to irritate me. This must be some kind of record.
"'Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal' Wins Award For Accurate Depiction of Drug Addiction. Really"
The world is lucky I don't have a sonic scream, or else my neighborhood would be a pile of rubble right now. Even the people who wrote that article are gobsmacked! And do you know why? Sure you do.
THIS IS BULL$#!%!!!!!!!!!!
And that's not just my opinion! This is total, factual bull! I've heard people in the past praising this comic for its accurate depiction of a father's grief after his daughter's death and his own dismemberment, and I guess I can understand that point of view (understand =/= agree, though), but that's not what the award was about. This award was about the accurate depiction of drug addiction, not the factors that led to that addiction in the first place. The only problem is, this was in no way, shape, or form an accurate depiction of drug addiction. At least not of the drug being depicted in this story.
As anybody who knows anything about Roy knows (because any mention of Roy Harper is required by law to have a drug reference immediately after it), the drug he uses in the original "Snowbirds Don't Fly" arc and in Rise of Arsenal is heroin. In Rise of Arsenal #3, we see Arsenal scare a drug dealer into giving him a bunch of heroin, which is referred to as "A-Train" and "China Cat." Roy then takes the drug, smoking it since he apparently can't shoot up due to the whole one-arm thing. A few seconds later and Roy is off in Neverland, hallucinating that a group of junkies/hobos are all Prometheus, and that a dead alley cat is his daughter Lian.
Let's take that one at a time, shall we?
First, China Cat/A-Train. China Cat does not refer to heroin. China Cat is a former porn star. I am not even going to say anything else about that, other than that that is the most hilarious thing I've heard all day. Also, A-Train can mean a lot of things, none of which involve drugs (except maybe that long list of sports stars at the bottom). Maybe the comic was consciously trying to make up cool names to make heroin seem more exciting, and I can understand that logic (insofar as anyone can understand anything in this nonsense) with A-Train. China Cat? No sense. Except if they were referencing "China Cat Sunflower" by the Grateful Dead, which I have never heard, nor do I want to right now as this trash has already given me a headache. But the lyrics do appear to have been written by someone who was on drugs, and hey, one line even mentions a comic book. So there's that.
Next, the smoking. Sure, you can smoke heroin if you want (wouldn't recommend it, of course), but the quickest way to get high is through injection (wouldn't recommend that either). Even addicts with two arms sometimes shoot up using veins in their legs! So why can't Roy?! As a former-former drug addict, you'd think he'd know this stuff. Anywhere there's a vein, you can shoot up. Just ask this Darwin Award nominee. (link has NSFW content)
Third, and the one that bugs me most, HEROIN IS NOT A F'ING HALLUCINOGEN!!!!!! I think fifth-graders who just barely paid attention in D.A.R.E. classes could tell you that! Heroin is a depressant. That means it relaxes people who use it. It makes you sleepy and euphoric. Euphoric, for those not in the know, means HAPPY. Heroin makes you TIRED and HAPPY (or at least happy-ish). It does NOT make you that flippin' angry. It does NOT give you the energy to trounce a bunch of (admittedly drugged out and probably half-starved) guys while holding a dead cat. And it SURE AS HECK DOESN'T CAUSE MAJOR HALLUCINATIONS!!!!
I would have made the argument that "China Cat" is actually heroin mixed with something else, and that's why the drug acts nothing like heroin. But Roy explicitly asks for heroin, and the guy agrees and gives it to him. Besides, there's already a name for heroin and cocaine mixed together at least--it's called speedball, which does apparently give you a burst of energy (before the potentially-lethal crash) due to the cocaine, which is a stimulant (a.k.a. the exact opposite of heroin). Maybe they'll rename it speedyball in his honor for portraying its affects so accurately. Except we never actually see Roy crash after taking the drug, so it couldn't have been that, either. Jeez Louise, these people can't do anything right.
So bottom line, there is absolutely nothing accurate about this rotting stinkpile of a storyline, especially not when it comes to drugs, and don't you dare listen to anybody who tells you otherwise. Incidentally, you know how I found all that out? Old memories from an episode of Oprah and a five minute trip to wikipedia!!! It's not like these are state secrets locked away in a vault, for crying out loud, come on!! If the knuckleheads who gave this award seriously think this was an accurate depiction of heroin addiction, then, yeah, they must be on something (obviously not heroin). And you just know DC is going to use this award as a counterpoint the next time someone tries to complain about this series. ("But look--we won an award! This PROVES it's good! Just like your anger proves we succeeded in creating an emotional story!")
Oh, and to celebrate, you can now buy the Evil Comic of Evil in hardcover format. Oh frabjous day.