One of the most frighteningly edgy stories in the DC Universe got called out in a Supergirl comic that wasn’t afraid to poke fun at an infamous moment in Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal.
The miniseries Cry For Justice showed a group of Justice Leaguers who decided to take a more proactive approach to crime fighting in the wake of several notable superhero deaths. However, they weren’t prepared for the villainous Prometheus’ plan to destroy the home cities of every major hero. No one in the series lost more than Red Arrow Roy Harper who lost his arm, his hometown and his daughter by the end of the series. The miniseries was followed up on in the wildly innapropiate Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal which featured Roy grappling with the loss, eventually succumbing to his old heroin addiction. In a moment that showed the depths the hero was sinking to, he beats up a group of thugs in a heroin-induced haze and cradles the body of a dead cat thinking it to be Roy’s daughter, Lian. The moment was so bizarre and over the top, commentary on the outlandish storyline popped up in other DC Comics.
Supergirl #57 by Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle notably featured a scene in which the Bizarro world is under attack from a fleet of space bugs and the Bizarro Justice League responds to save the day. Just like Bizarro’s status as a hero, villain, or something inbetween is unclear, his world’s League is also ambiguouos. As Bizarro Martian Manhunter rallies his team, a Bizarro version of Arsenal can be seen off to the side. Instead of a bow and arrow, the Bizarro Harper wields a dead cat, with several more stuffed inside his quiver.
The Bizarros operate on a broken form of logic compared to their counterparts. Aside from speaking in their backwards Bizarro patterns, their costumes and methods are generally flawed to an extreme degree. Bizarro Arsenal is armed to the teeth with expired felines not only because it fits the style of the Bizarros, but because it’s something no sane hero would ever do. With that line of thinking, Supergirl delivered a biting form of commentary over another DC character’s direction. The Rise of Arsenal angered a number of fans for its overwhelming bleakness and the trauma it forced upon Roy Harper. Some even felt that killing his daughter and turning him into a junkie was a massive regression for the character. Even when Rise of Arsenal was adapted by Arrow it was heavily reworked. While fans could only voice their concerns online, the depiction of Bizarro Arsenal in Supergirl #57 shows that it wasn’t just readers who thought the storyline was a bit outrageous.
Roy’s Bizarro and his collection of cats was so odd and out-of-character that even other creators couldn’t help but comment on how just plain weird it was. While it also serves as a decent off-color joke about the state of Roy Harper, Supergirl nailed just how overly dark certain corners of the DC Universe were becoming.
