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Roy Harper Comics Reading Order (Team Arrow)

While Robin is the most iconic sidekick in the DC Universe, he is not the only one. Speedy made his first appearance alongside Oliver Queen in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941). The duo shared similarities with the famous dynamic duo for many years. Like Robin, Speedy would also go on to live many stories far away from his mentor. In fact, Roy Harper built most of his heroic career away from Green Arrow.

Still, Roy Harper’s journey started as a sidekick. Green Arrow took him under his wing and acted as a mentor and father figure for the young man. Roy has been trained in archery and combat, laying the foundation for Roy to become the Superhero Arsenal, and later Red Arrow. Roy also became one of the founding members of the Teen Titans.

One of the most pivotal moments in Roy Harper’s life happened in the early 1970s, in the two-part classic Snowbirds Don’t Fly (Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85–86). Written by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams, the story explores Roy’s fall into addiction. He battles to overcome it and chooses to go solo afterward, to find his path in life.

From then on, Roy Harper has been a recurring member of the Titans, being on and off the team, worked many times with Nightwing including during their time as Outsiders, and been an Outlaws with Jason Todd, the second Robin. He even had a stint in the Justice League! But nothing has ever been more important to Roy Harper than his role as a father since he discovered in the eighties that he had a daughter named Lian.

While Roy is one of the oldest DC characters, he has spent most of his history moving between titles, rarely starring in his own. From The Golden Age to today, explore the many comics featuring Roy Harper, One of DC’s finest archers!

This reading order has been suggested by one of our readers, The Author!

Where to start Reading Roy Harper? Your Essential Reading List

While Roy Harper have over eighty years of history, there aren’t many comics with Arsenal in the title. He’s often shared the spotlight with others, from Green Arrow to the Titans. This can make it difficult to navigate his history and pinpoint his most important stories. Without further ado, here’s a short selection of some essential reading for Roy Harper, containing some of his standout comic book moments!

Roy Harper Comics in Order

Credits where credit is due, this reading order wouldn’t have been possible without the great work of bestofarrowfam.

Roy Harper is a member of Team Arrow. If you’re interested in exploring more stories about some of them, we have a few guides at your disposition:

He is also a core member of the Teen Titans/Titans and you can check out the reading order for the team here.

The Speedy First Years (Golden Age)

Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, Roy Harper was introduced in More Fun Comics #73, during the Golden Age of DC Comics. While we will not recommend jumping into this era for new readers, it can be interesting to discover the first years of Green Arrow and Speedy working together in some Batman-lite adventures! Now only available second-hand, DC Comics reprinted the first stories in an omnibus:

  • Green Arrow: The Golden Age Omnibus
    Collects More Fun Comics #73–107; Adventure Comics #103–117; World’s Finest Comics #7–28.  While uncollected, Roy Harper continues to appear in World’s Finest until issue #94 and Adventure Comics (1938) until issue #249 (for the Golden Age!)
Green Arrow and Speedy facing the bad guys in More Fun Comics #89

In the early 1940s, after introducing the world’s first super-team with The Justice Society of America, DC Comics created a second super-team: The Seven Soldiers of Victory featuring Green Arrow and his sidekick, Speedy, as well as the modern Western hero called The Vigilante, The Crimson Avenger, The Shining Knight, The Star-Spangled Kid, and Stripesy.

Roy Harper: Titans Member, Addiction & Fatherhood (Silver Age And Beyond)

The adventures of Green Arrow and Speedy continue in the Silver Age and some have been reprinted in the following collection:

  • Showcase Presents: Green Arrow
    Collects Adventure Comics #250–266, #268–269; Brave and the Bold #50, #71, #85; Justice League of America #4, World’s Finest Comics #95–140.

More importantly, Roy Harper became a member of the Teen Titans! The team made its first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964), and obtained its own title not long after.

  • Teen Titans: The Silver Age Omnibus
    Collects The Brave and the Bold (1955) #54, 60, & 83, The Hawk and the Dove (1968) #1-6, Showcase (1956) #59 & 75, and Teen Titans (1966) #1-24.

    • Teen Titans (1966): #4, #11, #19-43
  • Teen Titans: The Bronze Age Omnibus
    Collects The Batman Family (1975) #6 & 8-9, The Brave and the Bold (1955) #94, 102, & 149, Teen Titans (1966) #25-53, and World’s Finest Comics (1941) #205.
    Stop reading this omnibus after issue #43, as the team disbands shortly after and goes on a “two-year” hiatus. You can finish this volume later.

This period has been revisited several times since. Teen Titans: Year One from Amy Wolfram, Karl Kerschl and Serge LaPointe is a retelling of the origins of the Teen Titans while the more recent World’s Finest: Teen Titans from Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino revisited this era in a more contemporary setting.

Green Arrow has left Speedy behind to explore the dark side of America with Green Lantern in Neal Adams & Dennis O’Neil’s classic run. The Teen Titans have disbanded. Roy Harper was left alone, facing many challenges by himself that led us to his most essential story: The Classic 2-part Snowbirds Don’t Fly from Green Lantern (1960) #85-86. The story follows Green Arrow and Green Lantern as they fight drug dealers and discover that Roy Harper has become a drug addict

The aftermath of this story for Roy and Ollie is explored in the following issue:

  • Action Comics (1938) #436
  • Green Lantern (1960) #100
  • World’s Finest (1941) #251

After a two-year break, the young team is reformed in Teen Titans (1966) #44, you can finish reading Teen Titans: The Bronze Age Omnibus. Following his recovery, Roy Harper worked as a counselor for teens with drug problems and joined the CBI, a clandestine government agency focused on drug trafficking and terrorism. And once Mark Wolfman’s run started on the Titans, Roy Harper appeared on and off on the comic title.

Nightwing and Speedy on the Prowl!

Speedy needs Dick’s help to track down Cheshire… the mother of his child! Now a father, Roy Harper tries to leave a quieter life but discover he can’t escape the superhero life.

Roy Harper is Arsenal, leader of The Titans!

The Nineties were not a good time for the art (and some plots), but delivered some fresh material and evolution for Roy Harper. He took up some new spy work in the first years of the decade and became a member of Checkmate. At first a reserve member of the Titans, he rejoined the team full-time and chose for the occasion to took on a new mantle: Arsenal! Soon after, he found himself against his will the new leader of the team.

This period of New Titans has not been collected yet but is available on Kindle.

  • Deathstroke The Terminator (1991) #18-20, collected in Deathstroke, The Terminator Vol. 3: Nuclear Winter. Roy is introduced as a member of Checkmate here!
  • The New Titans (1988) #97-107
  • The New Titans (1988) Annual #9
  • The New Titans (1988) #108-113
  • Showcase ’94 #7, Story “Arsenal: Weapons”
  • The New Titans (1988) #114
  • Green Arrow (1988) #75, collected in Green Arrow Vol. 9: Old Tricks
  • The New Titans #0, part of Zero Hour
  • The New Titans #115
  • Green Lantern (1990) #57 & The New Titans (1988) #116-117, Collected in Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Rising Compendium
  • The New Titans (1988): #117-121
  • The Crimelord-Syndicate War storyline starts in Darkstars #31, and continues in Deathstroke (1991) #48, New Titans (1988) #122, Darkstars #32, and Concludes in Deathstroke (1991) #49
  • The New Titans (1988) Annual #11
  • Green Arrow (1988) #97-101, with issues #100-101 collected in Green Arrow: 80 Years of the Emerald Archer The Deluxe Edition.
  • The New Titans (1988) #123
  • The Siege of the Zi Charam Storyline starts in  The New Titans (1988): #124, continues in Green Lantern (1990) #65, Darkstars #34, Damage (1994) #16, and concludes in The New Titans (1988) #125
  • Showcase ‘95 #8, story “Lian’s Present”
  • New Teen Titans (1988) #126-130.
  • Arsenal Special #1 (One-Shot)
  • Batman Plus Arsenal #1 (One-Shot)
  • Teen Titans (1996) #12-16 (Then and Now)
  • Teen Titans (1996) #17-18
  • Millenium Giants storyline starts in Superman (1987) #134, continues in Teen Titans (1996) #19, Adventures of Superman (1987) #557, Action Comics (1938) #744, Superman: The Man of Steel (1991) #79, and concludes in Superman (1987) #135
  • Teen Titans (1996) #20

From writer Devin Grayson and artist Rick Mays comes the limited comic series Arsenal! Roy’s daughter, Lian, has a fatal disorder–and the only one that may be able to provide the cure is the villainous immortal, Vandal Savage! After this short solo adventure, Roy is reunited with the Titans!

Oliver Queen is back in action! It’s now time for the Archer and his ward to renew their friendship.

While Ollie came back from the dead, a Titans member has fallen leading to the group’s disbandment. Roy is inspired to take a new approach to crimefighting and convinces his friend Nightwing to be the leader of a new incarnation of the Outsiders, a team that would be worked-based only instead of the family dynamics that defined the Titans.

Roy Harper as Red Arrow Reading Guide!

Created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, Red Arrow first appeared in the out-of-continuity story Kingdom Come. Under the supervision of writer Brad Meltzer, Roy Harper became a member of the Justice League after the events of Infinite Crisis, and took on the Red Arrow identity in the DC mainstream universe in Justice League of America (Vol. 2) #7.

Judd Winick follows up his stint on The Outsiders with a new Titans series starring Nightwing, Starfire, Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Red Arrow and Raven.The team reunites when an enemy from their past makes a return with a vengeance, aiming to destroy anyone who’s ever been a Titan.

New 52 Roy Harper Reading Order

Following the actions of The Flash in Flashpoint, the DC Universe was rewritten and relaunched as The New 52, a grittier era for its heroes and villains. Warning: Fans of Roy Harper did not like—at all—his representation during this time. Our red archer was part of The Outlaws, a small group of anti-heroes led by Red Hood.

Rebirth Roy Harper

As a new era of DC Comics started, Roy Harper was part of the Titans book when the team was reunited with their friend Wally West. He developed a romantic relationship with Donna Troy during this period and also led the team to take out a drug operation. He was then reunited with the Green Arrow to help him in his fight in Star City. But Roy was also personally struggling during that time and sought help at Sanctuary, being present for the quite panned Heroes in Crisis comic book story. The following issues then deal with the fallout of this story.

Infinite Frontier/Dawn of DC Roy Harper Reading Order

Roy Harper is back from the dead but chooses to stay hidden at first before being reunited with the Titans and the whole Arrow family!

This short era comes to an end with the Absolute Power event that pits Amanda Waller against the superhero community. The Arrow Family must deal with Ollie’s action, a man ready to do anything to protect his family.

Coming Soon… Roy Harper during DC All In!

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