WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for “Green-Man and Autumn-Son” from the Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 by Devin Grayson, Max Fiumara, and Ariana Maher, on sale now.
Green Arrow’s ward Roy Harper has had a difficult life, even by the trauma-filled standards of most superheroes. He recently relived most of the worst points of his life, but did so in a surprisingly sweet and healthy way: by telling his daughter a story over the phone.
While Roy was out fighting crime, his daughter Lian was being watched by a sitter. She refused to go to sleep until she heard a story. Lian called her father while he was out fighting crime, so he told his daughter a story while simultaneously taking down an arms smuggling operation.
Lian says the story she wants to hear is “‘Aak’ Eed-aye’ Dóó Tátɬ’dgo Dootɬ’izh Hastiin,” which roughly translates from the Navajo language of Diné Bizaad to mean “Green-Man and Autumn-Son.” This references how Roy was taken in by the Navajo people and raised by a man called Brave Bow after his parents died. Roy recounts the events of his early life to his daughter over the phone, including how Brave Bow grew sick and asked Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow) to watch over him. He eventually became Green Arrow’s sidekick, using the alias Speedy, and even began to feel at home with the other members of the Justice League. However, when Oliver abandoned him to go on a road trip with Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Roy felt abandoned and turned to heroin.
He eventually managed to quit cold turkey, but he would never be the same again–nor would his relationship with his former mentor. Roy started a relationship with the assassin Cheshire, and they had a daughter, Lian. Unfortunately, the villain Prometheus was responsible for the death of Lian. Roy lost his arm fighting Prometheus and his trauma drove him to the brink of madness. Later, his origin was retconned in The New 52, and he was now depicted as having been raised by the Spokane. On top of that, Roy was one of several heroes killed in the story Heroes in Crisis, although he eventually returned.
Based on Roy’s haircut and costume, it seems that the exchange he has over the phone with his daughter Lian takes place before her death. It is a sweet, intimate moment, and it is touching to see that he has taught Lian the same Navajo traditions he was raised with. There is also a great reveal where the babysitter watching after her turns out to be Oliver Queen, who is clearly making an effort to be there for both Roy and Lian. When Ollie questions Roy about sharing the details of his history of substance abuse, Roy responds that he knows his daughter is smarter than he is, so the best thing he can do is be honest with her.
The comic has two endings. The first focuses on Roy’s return as he climbs in the window, only for Lian to run over and hug him. All three characters sit down on the couch, enjoying a shared moment together as a family. The other ending comes in the form of two paragraphs of text at the end of the story. It explains that Roy grew up among the Navajo people, and that he is still profoundly influenced by this upbringing, and in particular by Navajo storytelling traditions. DC had previously failed to respect this when they retconned away his Navajo roots in The New 52–something they are notably attempting to remedy here.
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