touch

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i started this little two-pager some time after top surgery i think? it was spurred on by thinking about being knit back together by a complete stranger, and how different people experience touch, and what it means to each individual.

Roy, to Jason: Have I ever told you how beautiful you look contemplating violence?

yes it’s 4:30 am no i don’t want to talk about it

bonus if you guess what jason’s shirt is referencing

Lian Harper has a better understanding of Snowbirds than much of the modern fanbase

I've been reading the Green Arrow 80th anniversary special and one part in particular stood out to me. One of the stories in the comic is Roy telling Lian (and Ollie) a story over the phone, specifically *Roy's* story, in the style of a Navajo story, and Ollie and Roy are called Green-Man and Autumn-Son.

During this, obviously, one of the major plotpoints is Roy's addiction and a retelling of Snowbirds Don't Fly from Roy's perspective, in which Roy accounts how Ollie was angry at him. Lian actually *corrects* Roy, saying that Ollie was scared

And honestly? I think this is *how* this was meant to be interpreted when it was written. Snowbirds was never meant to show Ollie as in the right, but it was also never meant to make him the villain. Ollie is, in this story, essentially a caricature of a 70s parent's reaction to finding out their child is using drugs. Keep in mind this was written *during* the war on drugs, a time where misinformation was rampant and every parent's worst fear was finding out their child was an addict. I personally firmly believe that Ollie views Roy as his son, and vis versa, but even if you don't Ollie finding out that the kid/young adult he'd been mentoring is addicted to drugs? Terrifying. Especially since Ollie's aim had always been to teach Roy strength, and addiction was seen as the worst possible weakness, meaning Ollie had not only failed as a father but as a mentor in his eyes. Snowbirds is repeatedly used by Oliver Queen haters to demonize him, to show him as a bad father, but Snowbirds is and always has been a product of its time, not in terms of writing but culturally. Yes, Oliver *would* react like that in 1971. And so would most DC heroes. But you know what? He grew. He developed, he changed his mindset and he *listened* to Roy, and snowbirds ends with him being *proud* of Roy.

So yeah. While there were definitely aspects of his reaction that were undoubtedly angry, that was all vastly overshadowed by *fear*. Lian Harper was, as always, right.

Edit: I did a big post on Snowbirds here

What's underneath that mask?

i drew LJS lupin in a hospital bed again. but this time i did it better :)

for @thelavendercatalogue / @dukeswonderousmenagerie

The slaughter's mine, my darling, get under the knife

'Provenance' by TheResurrectionist

Author: @frownyalfred

When Queen finally answered, he sounded hungover and irritated. "What."

"Roy's at Gotham General.'

"Gotham Gen--" Queen cut off with a curse, the sound of a bottle clinking echoing down the line. "How the hell did he get there?"

"That doesn't matter. He's in intensive care. Get down here."

"Is it the drugs again?"

Bruce paused, at a loss for words. Somewhere down the hall, a nurse's station began beeping.

"You knew he had a problem."

"'Problem'? Hell, I'd call it more than a little problem," Queen sneered, "When he's clean again, let me know. I'll send someone to pick him up."

"Queen--"

The dial tone buzzed in his ear. He shut off the phone, resisting the urge to throw it against the wall. He took a deep breath, then another.

The next time he saw Oliver Queen, the man wouldn't get away so easily.

I was re-reading AFT the other day and I wondered, when did everyone in the house realise Lord Hastings' mind was going?

I don't think Daisy knows in that book, and mostly likely Bertie as well, but it's interesting to think about the others (especially in case he hasn't been diagnosed with dementia yet) and also about when Daisy and Bertie would have realised.

This ask gave me a real jump, because I don’t know that I realised I put dementia in AFT!

My father had dementia - he first showed symptoms when I was about 18, although he wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my late 20s. He’s who Lord Hastings is based on, and when I was writing the book he was already quite ill. But I didn’t consciously give Lord Hastings dementia! You must be right that he is showing symptoms, though, because that was what a father was to me at the time.

It’s funny how things like this will happen to writers - we’ll put something in that we think is neutral, and separate to ourselves, and then only years later notice how personal it really was.

BRAIN DAMAGED

Self Hate and Self Harm.

Roy: If you were a flower you would be a DAMNdelion.

Jason: You realize dandelions are weeds, right?

for those curious about the roy and dick party era…

yeah poor boys. after a point, it wasn’t about taking it for fun anymore. roy realized he fucked up when dick stopped going to parties and started doing it on his own.

he wasn’t rlly thinking when he took dick on the first few parties, but if he were the mindset would’ve been like “he isn’t as messed up as me. he’s the boy wonder. a few new friends wont hurt” and then of course that turned out to be the worst decision he could’ve made.

they did eventually go to bruce after a close call with an accidental overdose. white christmas by @kachwoww is how i pictured it

Snowbirds Don’t Fly- Drugs TW (Obviously)

Recently, I created this post about Snowbirds Don’t Fly being told from Roy’s perspective in the Green Arrow 80th anniversary special, and I thought I’d make a separate post with some specific panels from the original Snowbirds. I’m well aware that a lot of people haven’t read the full comic and may only know this-

-infamous slap panel, I myself only read the original 1971 comic recently. So, here’s some other panels from the comic.

For starters, when Ollie finds Roy amongst drug users, his immediate reaction is “oh, Speedy must be undercover!” This could be interpreted one of two ways- trust, or denial. Either one makes his reaction to finding out Roy’s addiction understandable*, since if it’s a reaction based on trust then Roy’s essentially betrayed that trust or, more likely, if it’s a reaction based on denial then finding Roy shooting up is an immediate shattering of the illusion. While this comic obviously focuses on drug use, it’s also common for tons of different issues, be it mental health, sexuality, whatever. Parents like to live in denial about their kids’ issues and, particularly in the 1970s when the idea of ‘gentle parenting’ was a rarity at best, when that illusion is broken it can cause parents to lash out when faced with evidence of what they’re denying. Even if you don’t personally see Ollie and Roy’s relationship as father/son, that is very clearly the dynamic portrayed in this comic.

*note the wording; understandable, not justifiable. Are Ollie’s actions justified? No. Are they understandable based on the circumstances and time period? Yes.

I’m putting these two panels together because I think they fit well. A common misinterpretation I see for the circumstances leading up to Roy’s heroin addiction is that Ollie was neglecting him. However, it’s stated in the comic that Ollie’s not seen him in one month, and while Roy’s age isn’t specifically stated, he’s an adult at this point (I don’t have any sources for it, but I believe he was living on his own at this point). A parent not seeing their adult child for one month isn’t neglect. In Ollie’s eyes, he hasn’t done anything wrong. The aspect of neglect comes from Roy. I’ve talked about Roy’s fear of abandonment in my pinned post, so check that out for more. Roy has a need to be surrounded by the people he cares about- he’s very rarely a solo hero, and is the most vocal objector whenever the Titans disband. So what Ollie would have seen as giving Roy space and letting his now-adult son have his independence, Roy saw it as a sign that he was no longer wanted. Is this either of their faults? No. And not to keep bringing up the 70s again, but it was the 70s. Would a young-adult superhero tell his father/mentor that he was scared of being alone? Absolutely not, that would have been seen as emasculating, so he bottled it up meaning Ollie had absolutely no clue as to what Roy was feeling whenever he’d leave.

And then this is the page following the slap panel, which essentially sums up my point in my last snowbirds post. Ollie’s immediate reaction after “kicking Roy out” (another thing I commonly see Ollie haters using- again, Roy lived on his own at this point) is blaming himself, the fear of having failed Roy, and then the stifling of that blame, justifying it to himself mentally. Honestly I think this panel is more significant in art than dialogue in a lot of ways- the way Ollie turns his head away when Roy’s talking to him, he knows he’s in the wrong, but admitting he’s wrong would go against the “father knows best” ideology of that time. And then in the third panel, the conflicting emotions is visible in his eyes. He doesn’t know what to think, the illusion is broken, and he can’t ignore Roy’s issues any longer.

And then there’s Hal, the narrative foil to Ollie in this comic. Unlike Ollie, Hal doesn’t have that illusion, at least not as strongly as Ollie does, since he’s always played the role of a supportive uncle figure, but never a father. He’s able to recognise that Roy was speaking from experience, or at least had a hunch, and actively sought out Roy afterwards. However, he also doesn’t have a saviour complex. He knows that he personally doesn’t have the skillset necessary to help Roy, so he brings him to someone who does, recognising that its more important that Roy gets the help he needs rather than Hal stepping in and doing it himself in typical “hero” fashion.

This panel doesn’t tie into my overarching argument, but I just wanted to take a moment to criticise Roy’s recovery story in the New 52. The idea that Roy was suicidal before Killer Croc (???) dragged him to rehab/AA, and would not have gotten better without being forced, is a major disservice to Roy’s character (then again, what in RHaTO isn’t?) Roy made the decision to get clean himself, and you can feel his resolve even despite him clearly not being in his right state of mind. Roy Harper got clean because he accepted help, and because he himself made that choice. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

And then, of course, there’s the most significant person in Roy’s recovery; Dinah. Keep in mind Dinah and Roy barely even knew each other at this point, I’m pretty sure in Arsenal #1 it’s shown she didn’t even know his name was Roy until Snowbirds (though there may be other sources that contradict this). Dinah was 100% Roy’s biggest supporter in his recovery- she took him in when he was at his lowest, and as a result they developed such a strong bond and relationship. While I disagree with the concept of Dinah as the ‘Arrowmum’, mostly because A) she didn’t even know Roy until he was already in adulthood and B) it’s a gross oversimplification and diminishment of her character, there are undeniable aspects of their relationship which are mother/son-coded, and I believe she has referred to Roy as “my boy” in later comics, though again I don’t have sources to back this up. Either way, Dinah and Roy’s relationship started with Roy’s lowest and has continued as mutual care and respect and I love them a lot.

And finally, the ending page. Ollie *listens* to Roy at the end of Snowbirds. Now that the illusion’s already lifted, that there aren’t lies and rose tinted glasses separating them, Ollie’s able to actually listen to what Roy’s saying without immediately shrugging it off because it conflicts with his own perception. And he feels *proud* of Roy, proud of his recovery, and proud of his beliefs. If Ollie were truly the neglectful, abusive guy some fans paint him out to be, he wouldn’t be proud. Hell, he wouldn’t even be there. Keep in mind this final scene takes place at the funeral of one of Roy’s addict friends who overdosed earlier in the issue, a funeral Ollie attended.

Snowbirds Don’t Fly was written to show the audience addiction through someone they’re familiar with- Green Arrow’s sidekick, Speedy, someone we know is a hero and one of the good guys. It’s made to contradict the belief that addiction is a moral failing, that anyone could develop an addiction under certain circumstances. And what it shows the readers, it also shows Ollie. Ollie sees someone he cares about going through addiction, and it causes him to reevaluate his own biases and beliefs.

In conclusion, while the slap was definitely not justified, it was also not the part of the comic readers should focus on. The story of Snowbirds Don’t Fly, at least for Ollie, is one of a hero being forced to face one of his own beliefs, to struggle to reconcile said beliefs with new information, and eventually to change his beliefs as a result of new experiences. It’s called character growth, and that’s what Snowbird’s about. So stop calling Oliver Queen an abuser.

Hm…. I was talking about this with someone the other week and they said I should write a fic about it.

I was talking about how I love Roy so much in part to do with how he was able to get and stay clean for Lian (I’m aware that’s not the exact timeline, but you know) and how that parallels with MY dad not being able to. (He was an alcoholic but still) And how it’s partially a wish fulfillment thing because I wish my dad had been able to do the same.

But someone told me I could write something about that using Jason and Cathrine as a vessel and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Bc while my situation isn’t similar to Jason’s I could definitely be able to use my own feelings about addiction. And I’m always thinking about Jason and Catherine so…

Anyway, jayroy fic from Jason’s POV reflecting on all of that using my own experiences coming soon!

this started out as just a bored doodle but then i ended up spending like 5 hours over the course of 2 days on it lmao

(scene from LJS ive been wanting to draw for a real long time lol @thelavendercatalogue / @dukeswonderousmenagerie)

also heres 2 alt crops bc i have no idea how i want to crop it lmao