Though he's got enough white-hat-wearing, gun-slinging, bad-guy-stomping attitude to make even John Wayne proud, Roy Harper is more Indian than Cowboy. He's also been a child sidekick, a drug addict, and a drummer in a rock band. And now he's a bona fide super-hero, a loner, a team player, and a dad. Sensing some discrepancies, Devin Grayson goes in to get the answers.

DEVIN GRAYSON: Okay, let's start with some history.

ROY HARPER: Yeah, let's clear up this Christopher Columbus nonsense once and for all--

DG: YOUR history.

RH: Oh, that.

DG: You were orphaned at a really young age, right?

RH: Yeah. My dad, Roy Harper Senior, was a forest ranger, and he was killed in the line of duty before I turned three. I wish I remembered more about him, but honestly, I just mostly go on what people have told me, which is basically that he was a really great guy.

DG: What about your mom?

RH: I don't even know. I mean, I'm sure my dad did, but I can't go ask him. I've always just assumed that she died even earlier than my dad did. I guess I should try to find out once and for all one of these days, but I don't know -- most of my friends are orphans, and it just never seems that strange not to know.

DG: And after Roy Senior died, you were raised by a tribe of Navajo?

RH: Right. My dad was tight with them, I guess. Belican Nez, they called him -- the tall American. I was B.B.'s problem 'til I was about thirteen.

DG: B.B.?

RH: Brave Bow. Well, that's what you bela gona guys call him, but that wasn't his Navajo name, of course. His English name was Raymond Begay. But, well, names are kinda a big deal with the Dinne --

DG: Dinne?

RH: "The People" in the Navajo language, Dinne Bizzad. That's what we -- uh, they, call themselves. Names are sacred in my tribe. You don't just go around sayin' "yo, Raymond!" The language makes it really easy to say something like, "yo, son-of-the-last-chief's-second-sister-who-lives-next-door-to-the-highest-mountain-I-can-see-from-my-hogan." Obviously, it doesn't translate real well in English.

DG: I want to talk about names, actually, because you've had quite a few in your time, but first, I'm curious did you know that in, um...earlier tellings of your life you were raised by the Sioux instead of the Navajo?

RH: No lie? That'd make more sense actually, since the Sioux are hunters --- archers, you know. The Navajo are primarily herders. Tons of 'em never even pick up a bow.

DG: But obviously you did.

RH: Obviously, I did. B.B.'s tribe, the Tachini --we were way out there in Arizona --past El Capitan in the Tsegi, under the cliffs of Sleeping Mountain, near this place called Oljato, " land of the moonlit waters." We did some hunting and I always really liked the way a bow felt in my arms. Doesn't compare to a WOMAN, of course, but---

DG: ---Yeah, yeah, yeah, watch your mouth, Harper, kids are reading this. Okay, so Brave Bow taught you archery, and I assume you were good at it right off the bat. And so basically it was a happy childhood?

RH: Oh, are you kidding? It kicked a--uh, it rocked. I mean, it was beautiful part of the country, and a right-on way of life. It all comes back in flashes now: turquoise and shell and heron's feathers, white corn and sand paintings, squash, silver bracelets, cotton wood, the high red mesas, the sheep skin by the hogan. I remember laughing a lot, and running --man, we were always running. Sani Thlani, the old ones, they used to have us run east as the sun rose, 'cause that's where the daughter of the Goddess of the Sunset was going -- we'd run east in the morning to be strong. And we had chores -- real responsibilities. No one was afraid of work. We'd get up and work, go to school, get home and work some more. I think a lot of my friends think of me as super laid-back, but I do know how to work.

DG: Hm...how else would your friends describe you?

RH: Heh. I probably don't really wanna know. "Crack-head," comes to mind {laughs}. Ah, you know -- cool, kickin' party-guy, ladies' man, irresponsible dog, the last guy you wanna get advice from.

DG: {laughs} Mm. Well, back to the reservation -- it sounds perfect; for kids, especially -- really healthy and engaging.

RH: Well, I mean, it's not like the whole thing was a picnic. We're talking about a people here who've been persecuted to the point of extinction. We had our problems. Everything from tribal wars to alcoholism. Like everything else, life on the reservation had its dark side.

DG: What was the darkest side it ever showed you?

RH: {After a long silence} Well, I was asked to leave.

DG: That wasn't voluntary?

RH: I was thirteen. "Voluntary," as a concept, didn't really exist. I don’t know. Later in life I learned that Brave Bow was really sick -- liver cancer -- and he probably felt like I wouldn't do as well there without him to protect me. Maybe that's why he called in G.A.

DG: "G.A." That would be Green Arrow -- Oliver Queen -- who at the time was a bow-and-arrow-wielding super-hero, and probably the world's best archer, no?

RH: Yeah. And as thrilled as I was to hook up with him, at the time I was afraid I was being kicked out of the tribe because I was well, Hassasi --"enemy of our people." I mean, it sounds so stupid, but I didn't really realize I was white before that, that I was different from the other Dinne. I just never thought about it. And as long as I was a kid, I was no major threat to anyone, but when I started running my mouth off about getting married some day, to someone in the tribe, you know, or some such -- well, suddenly they've gotta pull me aside and say, "yo, you ain't a homeboy, homeboy." And I felt so ashamed. These were my brothers and sisters and suddenly I'm being told I've gotta leave. And B.B. -- he was a genius, man! 'Cause I'm not sure I WOULD have left with anyone but G.A. I mean, Green-frickin'-Arrow. Color me IMPRESSED. This guy was my HERO! I guess that sweetened the deal enough for me to overlook the rest of it.

DG: So you were a Green Arrow fan before you met Ollie?

RH: Oh, yeah. Big time.

DG: How did you hear about him on the reservation?

RH: Oh, we went to school with Missionary kids who brought in magazines and stuff. We lived apart from the world in a lot of ways, but it's not like we were ignorant.

DG: What did you think of Ollie when you first met him?

RH: Oh, I "got him" right away. I mean, usually you meet a hero, you're expecting them to be larger than life, you know? And then they kinda disappoint you or whatever and you come back down to earth. But Ollie WAS larger than life, twenty-four, seven. He just never did anything halfway. Or really, he did MOST things LESS than halfway, because he was concentrating on this other stuff that he was just giving a hundred and twenty to. I was ready to be amazed, and he never ceased to amaze me.

DG: So it's fair to say you two clicked?

RH: Oh, absolutely. I worshipped him, and he seemed to get a big kick out of me. I mean, he loved the idea of it, the sidekick thing. Batman had Robin, and Ollie wasn't one to be outdone. {Laughs}. I once asked Ollie what he said when Brave Bow first asked him to take me -- I mean, that's a major thing, raising a kid, right? I was just wonderin' if he hesitated at all. So Ol goes, "Oh, I said 'sure, why not?' " Sure, why not? You wanna raise a teenage boy? "Sure, why not?" Man, I love that crazy old coot....

DG: But as amazing as he was as Green Arrow, he wasn't always...well, the best father-figure, was he?

RH: I dunno, I dunno...I mean, I see what you're getting at -- my whole thing with drugs, and how maybe Ol wasn't always there for me around that. And I admit, he was a flake and a half. Knew that man for over half my life and I'm not sure I ever heard him finish a sentence. But you gotta understand -- I mean, when he was there, he was all anyone could ask for. We had such good times, and I swear, that's what stays with me. S'okay -- ten minutes after he shows me his house for the first time, he's out the door to who-knows-where, and he probably had me be "Speedy" because the only time he could work a kid into his schedule was between midnight and three, but I look at what some of my friends have been through, and I still feel real frickin' lucky. He taught me stuff I'll never forget. Archery stuff, sure, but I'm talking about life, too. He always let me be myself. And isn't that really what good parenting's all about?

DG: Well, I want to get to that too, since you're a father yourself these days. But I'm not gonna let you skip over the dark period. If Ollie was all that, then you explain the drugs. How does a bright, skilled, junior hero become a heroin addict?

RH: Hey, becoming was the easy part! Getting OUT of it, that was -- the worst thing I've ever been through in my life. And I've been up against some pretty ugly super-villains! {Takes a breath}. Look, I hurt. I hurt in the ways that I think a lot of kids hurt. I was lonely all the time whether I was with other people or not. And I didn't know where I was going, I didn't have any clarity. Ollie told me to go out with him to hero, so I went out. I was supposed to go to school, so I went to school. The Teen Titans said there was an emergency, so I showed up to help out with the emergency. It was like it was all mapped out, and none of it was leading anywhere. Everything caught up with me at once -- the way I counted and dreamt in Dinne Bizzad but worked harder than anyone I knew to sound "hip" and natural in English, the way I had no clue whatsoever who my parents really were, the way I didn't really fit in. I just knew I didn't fit in. {Smiles suddenly and starts singing} Born under a bad sign -- been down since I began to crawl. If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all...{Laughs and then straightens}. I didn't start with heroin, I tried a lot of other things first. I was trying to hurt myself, trying to break myself down so that I could finally see what that THING was at my core that was so wrong it was keeping anyone from...caring about me. Really quickly it gets to the point where the only thing you can feel is that pain -- nothing else registers. Well, except for that warm drug-rush. Pain and chemical heat. I mean, this is how far gone I was, I thought heroin loved me. When I was jacked-up, I felt embraced somehow, I felt safe. And then even that slipped away and I was just maintaining, just trying to stave off detox. And the moment when you realize just how much trouble you're in -- it doesn't happen once in one big epiphany. It's a nightly occurence, this lead-cold panic that spreads through your chest every single night and fills you with dread. How am I gonna get OUT of this? And the only way out is right back through all of that pain you've been running from in the first place -- and now it's not just emotional, you've given it a physical dimension too. And the worst part, the absolute worst part is knowing how stupid you are. You're in HELL and you purchased the TICKET with your own hard-earned cash.

DG: But you did survive it. You were one of the lucky ones. You detoxed and managed to stay clean, right?

RH: Well, I didn't really do it alone. Dinah -- Black Canary, you know, she was Ollie's girlfriend at the time -- she was there for me every step of the way. And Hal, Green Lantern, he checked up on me a bunch. And in his own way, Ollie was watching too. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have let me go all the way down, though I got closer than I ever want to get again.

DG: And then take us through the next period -- you joined the Drug Enforcement Agency?

RH: Well, I had mandatory Teen Titans attendance for awhile -- like that was supposed to make me sane. {Laughs} And then, yeah, sort of as a segue from public service work, I hooked up with the D.E.A. It was the only way to make my connection to the drug world pay out. And from there I kind of graduated to the C.B.I.

DG: The C.B.I. being the Central Bureau of Intelligence.

RH: One of those great oxymorons, yeah.

DG: And somewhere in there is where you met the supervillain known as Cheshire, right?

RH: Wipe that smirk off your face, wouldja?

DG: Sorry. But, um -- {laughs}

RH: Yeah, yeah -- I met Cheshire. And I was sort of supposed to take her down, 'cause she was sorta WICKED.

DG: Roy -- she NUKED a small COUNTRY!

RH: Yeah, um, so I uh...sorta...{Laughs}...well, I took her down...'cause she was really WICKED...

DG: {Laughing helplessly} Mm. Who wouldn't have? Now, you're on record saying it was just a hormonal thing --

RH: --Uh huh --

DG: --but every now and then you make it sound like a LOVE thing --

RH: -- Uh huh --

DG: So I'm just wondering --

RH: -- Uh huh --

DG: Well, it can hardly be BOTH --

RH: Well...I don't know about that...

DG: Look, you either love her or you don't.

RH: Yeah, I guess so.

DG: So?

RH: Oh, that was a QUESTION? I thought it was the ANSWER.

DG: You redheaded son-of-a ---

RH: --hey, the kids, remember?

This last section of the interview was stolen with permission from Devin Grayson from Scott McMullar's Green Arrow Compendium, an excellent Green Arrow site with loads of info...I highly recommend this site (shamless plug on behalf of Scott!) Thank you, Devin, for giving me permission to run the final part of this interview on the RoyToy site, and thank you for bringing the Ace Archer back to us! So here's the final installment of "Born Under a Bad Sign: The Green Room Interview".... messed up in Arsenal #4 by DC accidentally over-selling ad space and not leaving room for the interview...

DEVIN GRAYSON: Okay, I can see we're getting nowhere fast with this one, so I'll move on. However you do or don't feel about Cheshire, she did play a fundamental part in hooking you up with the one female in your life who you absolutely, hands-down adore, no?

ROY HARPER: {Grins} Yeah. That would be Lian. Three-and-a-half-and-two-days. Light of my life.

DG: Cheshire didn't want to raise her herself?

RH: {Face darkening for a moment} I didn't ask. I just went and got her. And the fact that I'm not dead today because of it suggests to me that at some level, Chesh is okay with things as they stand.

DG: Which is that you're raising Lian on your own full-time now, right?

RH: Yeah, basically. She spends some time with my buddy Santos and his family when I'm tied up, but I don't want to miss any more of her childhood, you know? I don't want her to grow up wondering where her daddy is, 'cause I went through that, and it ain't fun.

DG: But having a superhero daddy does put her at risk.

RH: Hey, life ain't safe. That's just how it plays.

DG: You're saying you take chances with her safety?

RH: No! I'm sayin' it doesn't seem to matter WHERE she is, there's always something going down. So I'd rather have her close, where I can at least get a good shot in at defending her. If I could leave her somewhere and actually have her be SAFE there, well, that'd be one thing. But it just doesn't seem to work that way. I've tried it.

DG: Okay, fair enough. Do you ever think about - I don't know - having another kid? Maybe even getting married? Settling down?

RH: I'm not much on long-term planning.

DG: Yeah, that's apparent. Oh, hey - I hate to ask you things like this because um, well, I don't want to fry your brain. But Lian's HAIR, well, it kind of, uh -

RH: -- was reddish when she was really little and got darker, like her Mom's, as she starting growing up. What's the problem, here?

DG: Ooh! Good save! Thanks! Let's -

RH: {Mutters} trippin' over her frickin' HAIR COLOR, what next?

DG: Let's talk about your work and your costumes and your names -

RH: {interrupts} -- The most important thing to me with Lian is never to lie to her. I know I don't always know what I'm doing, so I want to be real up front about that. She's got the brains, but she'll only know how to use 'em if she's gettin' good info.

DG: So you're gonna tell her you used to run around being called "Speedy"?

RH: {Grins} What's wrong with "Speedy"?

DG: You tell ME, "Arsenal."

RH: Oh, well, you know, sometimes you just need a change.

DG: I've noticed that most of the former sidekicks have changed their names. Do you think that's a necessary part of growing up? A way to differentiate yourself from your mentor or something?

RH: Yeah, probably. I dunno, maybe it's just peer pressure. Or keepin' up with the times. I just don't want Connor turning around in four years and going, "got that, SPEEDY?" That'd just make my HEAD hurt. Lots of Native American cultures use names to celebrate major life changes. I'm not super hung up on it, but there is something cool about that first time you get to glare at one of your friends and say in that real dark don't-mess-with-me voice, "that's ARSENAL to you." {Laughs}.

DG: Do you ever have trouble remembering who's called what on any given week?

RH: Sure, but that's what nicknames are for! Gillhead can call himself whatever he WANTS - Aqualad, Tempest, whatEVER -- he's still Gillhead to me.

DG: {Grins} But you mean that in a NICE way.

RH: Oh, hell yeah. Fish-face knows I've got nothin' but love for him. Actually, you know who's GREAT at it? Lian never misses a beat. You can't trip her up. "Look, princess, it's Wobin!" - {Mock-sternly} "That's Wightwing, daddy." {Laughs}

DG: How about the costumes? You've been through more than a few of those.

RH: {mock-glaring} Yeah, and who's fault is THAT?

DG: {laughs} What, you're saying you just stand there and POSE?

RH: Yeah, pretty much {winks}. I don't know - like I said, I'm not a long-term planner. Everything looks good on me, so I don't worry about it too terribly much.

DG: Well, what about this thing the villain Haze came up with for you? The so-called "Red Arrow" suit?

RH: I like it, actually. I'm just not sure I'm READY for it. It brings up so much OLLIE stuff, you know, and I don't know if I'm quite THERE yet in my head. Maybe LATER.

DG: We'll talk {winks}. Okay, last little bit of ground to cover. You're actually a very connected guy. I'm gonna throw out some names, and you tell me a little bit about your relationship with these people. Okay?

RH: Shoot.

DG: Green Arrow.

RH: Well, G.A. raised me - oh, or do you mean Connor?

DG: Say there's someone reading this who doesn't know the whole history. YOU explain it.

RH: Oh, man, I - okay, well, Oliver Queen used to be Green Arrow. He raised me since I was thirteen, and as Speedy, I was his sidekick when he went out as G.A. Then I grew up and moved on, and later, not so terribly long ago, actually, Ollie well, he died. But Ol was - well, he had a way with the ladies, right? So it was no big shock to find out he had this son, Connor Hawke. Wouldn't be surprised to run across a few more Ollie-juniors before all's said and done. But anyway, Connor's been G.A. since Ollie's demise. That clear enough for you?

DG: Now, some people have been murmuring that since you were actually raised and trained by Ollie, you would have been a more logical choice to replace him as Green Arrow.

RH: Nice of them to think of me, but I'll pass, thanks. I wouldn't have minded being asked, I guess, but I've been workin' all this time to become my own man, you know? This passing on the mantle thing kinda creeps me out, actually. I mean, for some of my friends it makes a lot of sense - with Wal, for instance, it was obviously totally the way to go -

DG: By "Wal" you mean Wally West, AKA, the Flash, right?

RH: Fleet feet, yeah, AKA KID Flash, once-upon-a-time. {Chuckles} Hey, I knew him when! He took over the Flash-mantle after his mentor, Barry, sacrificed himself to save the world, and overall, I think it's been really good for him. He's in the JLA now and everything - one of our sidekick success stories! Still, it's gotta be hard sometimes. Wal really looked up to Barry. We all did. Part of the reason I don't want to run around as G.A. is because it just plain makes me sad. I MISS him and I'd rather remember him over a bowl of chili than in his costume. Ollie wasn't just a superhero to me, he was a man I really admired. We played booby-trap-the-mansion together, sang B.B. King songs in the car, memorized Errol Flynn movies, terrorized our butlers. THAT'S what I remember about him.

DG: Speaking of sidekick success stories, you have quite a history with the Teen Titans, don't you?

RH: Oh, yeah. Go up to Wally and remind him that I was one of the "original five." {laughs} I was there for their original case, but really it was just him and Dick and Garth at first, and later Donna joined, and later still I was sworn in, or whatever. But people call us the "original five" now and Wal just starts vibrating in place! {Laughs harder} But yeah, I go way back with that team. I've come and gone and followed and {waves dissuasively}

DG: led. You actually took over the team once awhile back.

RH: Hey, look, that was NOT my idea. Sarge Steel forced my hand, I wasn't proud of that.

DG: Sarge Steel?

RH: Brass from the CBI. Big, official guy you don't mess with. Bossy as hell.

DG: Okay, but even if he forced your hand, you did eventually have a team that looked up to you.

RH: Yeah, and a bunch of friends who didn't want to TALK to me.

DG: As I recall, most of them stood by you. Would you consider leading a team like that again?

RH: Under different circumstances, maybe. But it's not something I'm real hung up on or anything.

DG: How about Black Canary? How do you know --

RH: {Grins, interrupting} Yeah, how ABOUT her, huh? {Wolf-whistles and then grins sheepishly} Well, I know Dinah from way back - she was dating Ollie, remember, kinda like a step-mom thing, I guess, though - well, not that I'm capping on Ollie, but she's closer to MY age than HIS. I guess honestly she does play kind of a mom-like role in my life sometimes - but one of those REALLY hip, foxy, COOL moms!

DG: Okay, last question.

RH: Yeah?

DG: Would you kindly take your hand off of my thigh?

RH: Huh? Oh! {Flashes one last grin} Sorry. Sure.

This interview was conducted by Devin K. Grayson for the Arsenal kick-butt miniseries. PLEASE NOTE: I was not given permission to use this interview, but it's just so gosh darn informative and funny, that I'm sorry DC Comics, I hadda use it. If you want it off the site, please email me and we'll do a deal. (Which means I'll still be able to afford to buy comics and the interview will be off site, i.e. no competition, you win hands down! *grin*) Thanks again to Devin and Scott for the fab use of the last part of the interview and one, two, three, DROOL!! Sorry to the men reading this..I don't know where that came from (yeah I do *wink*)