comicbooks.com Join Free
Home › Roy Harper
Roy Harper
Roy Harper

Roy Harper

421 appearances · Golden Age · 1941–2026 · 18 key issues
Who is Roy Harper?

Orphaned as a child, Roy Harper was raised on a Navajo reservation by the archer Brave Bow, who trained him into a world-class marksman. He later became Green Arrow's ward and crime-fighting sidekick Speedy, eventually forging his own heroic identity—first as Arsenal, then as Red Arrow.

Few characters can claim a Golden Age origin stretching all the way back to 1941 — but Roy Harper made his debut in More Fun Comics #73, brought to life by the legendary Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily, and he's been a fixture of the DC Universe ever since. With nearly nine decades of publishing history spanning World's Finest Comics, Titans, and Green Arrow, Roy has proven himself one of the most enduring figures in superhero comics, racking up close to 400 catalog appearances and 18 key issues that collectors actively seek out. He shares the page with an extraordinary roll call — Green Lantern, Dick Grayson, Superman, Robin — which tells you everything about the rarefied company he keeps and the corners of the DC Universe he inhabits. Whether you're a Golden Age devotee or a modern Titans fan, Roy Harper's remarkable longevity makes him a character absolutely worth following across the decades.

Identity

Real name. Roy William Harper Jr.

Powers. No superpowers; world-class archer and marksman, expert in hand-to-hand combat, acrobatics, and use of trick arrows/weapons. (Briefly gained cybernetic abilities as a Rann-Thanagar-era cyborg in some stories.)

Teams & affiliations
Daily Planet
★ First appearance
More Fun Comics #73
Nov 1941

Trivia

  • Roy Harper was a founding member of the original Teen Titans, making this legendary former sidekick a cornerstone of the team long before Raven or Beast Boy ever entered the picture.cbr.com
  • Roy's harrowing heroin addiction arc in Green Lantern #85 stands as a genuine landmark in the medium, one of the first mainstream superhero stories to confront drug use with unflinching honesty.cbr.com
  • Art Baltazar has written more of Roy Harper's comics than any other writer in our catalog — 25 issues.

Top series

Covers through the years — 1941–2020

More Fun Comics #73 1941
More Fun Comics #73
Adventure Comics #152 1950
Adventure Comics #152
Adventure Comics #210 1955
Adventure Comics #210
Adventure Comics #269 1960
Adventure Comics #269
Leave It to Binky #69 1969
Leave It to Binky #69
The Brave and the Bold #102 1972
The Brave and the Bold #102
DC Comics Presents #38 1981
DC Comics Presents #38
All-Star Squadron #59 1986
All-Star Squadron #59
Green Arrow #75 1993
Green Arrow #75
The Titans #31 2001
The Titans #31
Teen Titans #21 2005
Teen Titans #21
Wonder Girl #5 2008
Wonder Girl #5
Superman #28 2014
Superman #28
The Flash #750 2020
The Flash #750

Appearances (301–421 of 421, oldest first)

DC Universe: Legacies (2012)
Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011)
#10
The Infinite Crisis Omnibus (2012)
Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Omnibus (2013)
Tiny Titans: Aw Yeah Titans! (2013)
Adventures of Superman (2013)
#1
Alter Ego (1999)
Solo: The Deluxe Edition (2013)
DC Universe Presents (2012)
#3
Superman (2011)
#28
Worlds' Finest: Futures End (2014)
#1
Tiny Titans: Return to the Treehouse (2014)
Convergence: Infinite Earths (2015)
#1
Identity Crisis (2016)
Titans: Rebirth (2016)
#1
Detective Comics (2011)
Young Justice (2017)
Teen Titans (2016)
#8
DC Rebirth Omnibus Expanded Edition (2017)
Titans: The Lazarus Contract (2018)
Green Arrow (2013)
Nightwing (2016)
Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner (2017)
#2
Batman (2016)
Heroes in Crisis (2018)
Superman Special: Action Comics 1000 (2019)
Heroes in Crisis: The Price and Other Stories (2019)
The Flash 123 (Facsimile Edition) (2020)
The Flash (2016)
Justice League of America by Brad Meltzer: The Deluxe Edition (2020)
Future State: Shazam! (2021)
#1
The Other History of the DC Universe (2021)
Infinite Frontier (2021)
#0
Teen Titans Academy (2021)
Dark Crisis #0 FCBD Special Edition (2022)
Robin & Batman (2022)
Nightwing Infinite (2022)
#4
Dawn of Justice Society of America (2024)
#1
Flash (2022)
Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Rising Compendium (2023)
Adventure Comics 260 (Facsimile Edition) (2024)
Knight Terrors Sonderband (2024)
#1
Dawn of Green Arrow & Black Canary (2024)
#1
Batman / Superman: World's Finest (2023)
#3
DC Finest: Team-Ups: Chase to the End of Time (2025)
Batgirl (2025)
More Fun Comics 73 (Facsimile Edition) (2025)
Adventure Comics 210 (Facsimile Edition) (2025)
Supergirl (2025)
New Titans (2026)
#33