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I’m going out on a limb here by saying that I think I’m in the minority here, but I won’t miss Lian Harper and she may just be a better character dead than she was alive.
Over the past ten or fifteen years, very little has been done with Lian and Roy’s relationship aside from some scenes where Lian says something cute, meets Roy’s latest squeeze, is responsible for Roy feeling guilty about spending time super-heroing, or is the object of a tug of war between Roy and Cheshire.
The most interesting thing that was done with her was towards the end of the last Titans book where it seemed she was inheriting some of her mother’s proclivities, pushing a bookcase onto some of the kids who were hanging out with the Titans at the time.
Or I may be inventing that.
The point is that no writer has really used the character, or her relationship with her father to any great effect.
It’s difficult, writing a superhero as a parent. Balancing the fact that they have responsibilities to their children as well as to the world at large takes some finesse and, more crucially, isn’t always that interesting. I think it’s the reason that the last take on Wally West didn’t really take off sales-wise.
I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just can’t think of a time when it’s been done consistently and interestingly.
Off the top of my head I can’t think of any other superheroes who lost their children aside from Donna Troy (I’m probably just being a little dense and there’s dozens of them[EDIT: I am dense; Aquaman was just pointed out to me] ). Whereas before, Roy’s philandering and running around in tights could be construed as immature and potentially irresponsible when he should be home looking after Lian, now there’s the opportunity to have him come through the other side of this as a much more interesting, mature character.
I’m not sure it’ll work, of course – a lot depends on how well written the Rise of Arsenal miniseries is, and how much those who hate the idea of killing off a child character are willing to give it a chance.
I am – and for the first time in years, I’m interested to see what Roy Harper’s future holds. Although I do think the losing of the arm on top of Lian was overkill…
but your analysis proves the biggest problem I have with the death: It’s a cheap ploy to push the character into a specific direction. You should be able to make any character interesting in a way that does not involve murder. Death is not a prerequisite of drama or character development.
It isn’t – but it’s a very good catalyst for change; there are few better. And the fact is that changing Roy to a more responsible father wouldn’t have left much room for superheroing on his part.