DC Comics has produced some incredible stories over the years, but one story stands out as one of the worst, most messed up comics ever published. Arsenal once tarred in a book that had him back on drugs and pretending a corpse of a cat was his dead daughter... yes, really.
Arsenal, whose real name is Roy Harper, is one of the oldest DC Heroes. Originally known as Speedy, Harper first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 back in 1941 and has been mostly featured as Green Arrow's sidekick. One of the best DC Comics stories ever told is Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams's "Snowbirds Don't Fly" arc, which revealed Roy had a secret heroin addiction. While that story carried an important conversation for readers, another story where Harper is back on heroin might be DC's worst story ever.
In Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #3, Roy is recovering from losing his arm in a fight with Prometheus and the subsequent death of his daughter, Lian, at the hands of the villain. The grief leads Arsenal, now with a cybernetic arm, to the streets, where he beats up on criminals to feel something. However, after becoming overwhelmed with the death of his daughter, Roy decides the best way to cope is with some heroin. The drugs serve as an escape, as Harper imagines his daughter is still alive, but after seeing a handful of bad guys trying to kill her, he takes them all down. The hallucination ends with Harper standing above unconscious bodies, sweating while holding the corpse of a cat.
While the story's theme carries weight, the messed up moment is unintentionally hilarious as Harper holds a dead, smelly cat with a bizarrely drawn look on his face. Batman pops up to remind him his daughter is dead. The fact Harper is on drugs again is way less powerful than it should be due to his heroin-fueled rampage. Instead of a story focused on relapsing after experiencing extreme tragedy, what you get is a half-handed attempt that buries the comic completely. It's not supposed to be funny, but it is. Holding a cat's corpse at the end of his hallucination is one of the biggest WTF moments in comics. It doesn't help that the art ranges from solid, to laughably bad. The whole comic is all over the place. And considering how good the original drug story was, it's a real shame.
The book ends with Batman kicking the crap out of Arsenal and the sidekick getting institutionalized. In the next issue, Arsenal sees a zombified version of his daughter, escapes, kills people, and burns his own house down. It's needlessly edgy, unintentionally hilarious, and memorable for all the wrong reasons. Revisiting his drug problem could have been very impactful - instead, it's treated as a complete joke. It takes the top spot as not only the worst Arsenal story ever told, but one of DC Comics' worst ever.