From www.cnn.com :

<font size="3">The HIV-positive superhero sidekick</font s>

Green Arrow gets a friend with health struggles

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Along with fighting alien menaces and criminal masterminds, the "Green Arrow" comic book will now feature a sidekick engaged in a more personal struggle -- this one against HIV.

It's the first major comic book to deal with HIV, and a dose of hard-edged reality to the usually fanciful world of costumed crime fighters.

In the latest issue of "Green Arrow," set for publication Wednesday, a teenage runaway named Mia -- who has been in the care of the title hero for two years -- discovers that her time spent as a street-dweller and prostitute has resulted in her picking up the virus.

Writer Judd Winick, who oversees the "Green Arrow" story line, said this is a way to explore socially conscious themes while also giving the Mia character extra motivation to make a difference in the world.

"We've been hinting all along the way that she's interested in taking up the mantle, being a sidekick, getting out there in the streets and helping out," Winick told The Associated Press. "Green Arrow won't hear of it."

The news that she has HIV leads her to push Green Arrow even more. Fighting crime, Winick said, is what she wants to do with her life. "So he allows her to slap on a costume and become his sidekick, which has the silly name of Speedy," Winick said. "It's not as a death wish, but she can't fool around anymore. This isn't about an abbreviated life span. It is about life having focus," he added.

Speedy was originally a boy sidekick, but the character is now grown up and goes by the more mature name of Arsenal.

Winick may be known to some from his stint on MTV's roommate reality-show, "The Real World" 1993, on which he appeared with Pedro Zamora, who died the next year after a public battle with AIDS.

That experience, along with other friends who have contracted the virus, made the Mia story line a personal one for the writer. He said he wanted to approach HIV from the point of view of other young people.

"Mia is coming to terms with it in the way most young people are. It isn't about death and dying. Young people, for good or for bad, are still pretty fearless. With drug combination therapy people are living a very long time," Winick told the AP. "She seems to be unafraid of death, she's mostly feeling like no one is ever going to love her. She's HIV-positive and who's going to want to be with her now?"

Mia won't be lonely for long. As Speedy, she will later join the popular "Teen Titans" DC Comics series alongside Robin, Cyborg and Raven in the popular youth hero series.

Although some may perceive the HIV story line as a downer, Winick said it's important for comics to address real-world matters.

"Comics have a long history of telling lessons," he said. "They tell stories through metaphor, but sometimes I feel we don't need the metaphor. Why should it be that Mia contracts some alien virus?"

Judd Winick was on the Real World with Pedro? I guess I never made the connection to he being the same Winick.

And Speedy is going to join the Titans? I thought they were getting a Legionnaire or Aquagirl (Lorena) after they return from the future.

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Given the end of the crossover, the only Leggionnaires to make it out were Superboy and Shikari.

Rumours abound about the Titans recruitment.

For the arc following the TT/LSH special, they are 10yrs in the future, and Aquagirl is part of the team.

When they return, it gets a little messy. Geoff Johns said he's adding Bumblebee to the team, but didn't directly mention Karen.

During the hype for the special, it was mentioned that a Legionairre was getting stranded in our time, but not specifically joining the Titans.

Now this about Mia taking the name Speedy. That was a given. And, future issues of TT mention a visit from sone one in the GA family, tho' not necessarily joining the team.

It's going to be an interesting winter with DC.

Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy as senior Titans and mentors.

Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl, Aquagirl, Kid Flash, Speedy, Raven, and Bumblebee as the Titans-in-training.

Works for me! Team books with as rich a history as the Titans deserve large casts. And, as Johns proves every month with the JSA, he handles large casts well.

This would be a very femme-friendly team as well with 5 of the 11 members being female.

Guess Shadowhawk doesn't count. It may not be published anymore, but when it was it probably sold three times what Green Arrow is selling now.

Re: "Speedy" joining the Titans...

I wish that they had given her a different name. I know why they used it, but "Speedy" is a better name for a super-speedster.

And if I was Arrowette, retired or not, I'd be pissed.

This is so true. One Marvel book I liked back in the day. But do they ever mention it for stories like this? Probably because the press release was totally DC. They didn't want to mention Marvel at all.

Well in the article, it does mention Shadowhawk, from Image. Although, other than his motivation for fighting crime, it wasn't really dealt with.

As for Mia, I have faith Judd will handle it well. Granted, he's done the soapbox thing before, but in a thought-provoking manner. I'm looking forward to the book more htan usual.

Okay I did miss that but I thought Shadowhawk was Marvel?

Um, the article I posted above doesn't mention Shadowhawk. Which means, like they did with the Christopher Reeve story, CNN (and MSNBC and Fox News) failed to do a full fact check before posting the initial story.

The MSNBC article this morning was actually the same as the CNN one above, no mention of Shadowhawk or the Hulk character. When Chris passed away it was hours before they amended their articles to include the fact that he had appeared on Smallville.

Internet journalism is so not the way I learned print journalism. Today its more get the story out first then check your facts.

I think Malibu had an HIV+ character in Prime before they went under.

My bad.
I read the article on Newsarama; that one mentioned Shadowhawk. Created by Jim Valentino, when he joined Image.

Yeah, he was a gay teen wih superspeed codenamed Turbocharge. He had a crush on Prime and wanted to be his sidekick.

I fully expect to be slagged off here but...

isn't HIV a bit of an inappropriate subject for a super heor book? Don't get me wrong - Winick's book "Pedro And Me" is one of my very favourite comic-things ever - and I would recommend everyone here to read it as it's very moving. But! HIV is a serious subject yes? Mixing it with boxing glove arrows etc is somewhat incongruous innit?

And how can you lot have forgotten that for the first 4 issues of New Guardians they ALL thought they were HIV+ because of the offensively-named baddie The Haemogoblin?

I think the only one to die was the British girl Jet. But I seem to remember the gay one was HIV+ for the rest of the series.

I think Winikc's intentions are in the right place but giving a character HIV is in poor taste. Mixing up serious real world things with super hero soap operas isn't a good idea. (See also anytime any heroine gets raped. It's not on really is it?)

Comet King is right about the New Guardians.

I think tossing in realism to comics is a good thing. It seems to me that it all shows up in comics at the same time. One company will start a character with HIV, than another company will do their character with HIV.
Kinda like keeping up with the Jones.

One problem (for me) with subjects like HIV and rape in comics is that it's difficult to deal with the complexity they involve - they do tend to get sandwiched in between the action panels and their severity is thinned out, glossed over.

Perhaps such issues are better suited to graphic novels, where more depth and panel time is available, unless a series is committed to address them in a long-term and serious manner. In this case, however, maybe the comic becomes the issue, rather than the superhero story - spandex would take a back-seat to the human story.

i think it's a strange notion -- to have a sidekick who shoots arrows (those have sharp pointed edges, right?) also have an incurable disease that can be transmitted through blood

green arrow is a book with a lot of blood in it, right? those pesky arrows go through the skin usually, right? and Green Arrow and his cast are usually pretty bloody at the end of the battle?

i LOVE some of winick's stuff (Pedro & Me, The Adventures of Barry Ween) and Green Arrow has been a great book to read in trade format (the most recent trade had hostage Mia shot through the shoulder to hit the villain -- i suppose that this would mean that villain now has HIV also)
and i do think that more serious topics can and should be discussed as effectively as possible by artists whatever their medium -- and i'm sure that corporate needs will ensure that these topics don't rear their heads in their major liscenced products (just as the new Speedy's seedy hooker past & HIV status will probably not be part of any Titans appearances - in cartoon or comics) -- i just want the reality that enters comics to be done well, and not with melodrama and after-school special effects

which is what we tend to get in superhero books

Well, isn't murder serious? But that's the Joker's motivation these days. Drug dealing is serious, but that's the main crime in a Batbook these days. Mutants are labeled terrorists in the X-books, and that's a rather serious charge currently. I understand where you're coming from Comet King. If this were a novel, or a movie, would it be okay then?

Winick's work is less about colourful costumes, and more about heroic characters. That's the story he's going for with Mia. She has a serious disease, but she won't let it put her life on hold. Rather than say join the track team, or other school functions, she's going to dress up.

Granted, I haven't seen how Winick is going ot work the angle, but I can't see him treating this lightly, or finding a cure that doesn't really exist. But I do think he'll treat the topic with the severity it deserves.

Yes - if it would be a movie or novel then it would be OK.

The super hero comic format doesn't allow enough space too deal with serious subjects like this.

Drug dealing, murder. blah blah blah are all cool coz they're all crime stuff! Super heroes stop criminals! That's cool.

Super heroes do not go round curing terminal illnesses. HIV isn't like having a headache. Stuff like "she isn't going to let it put her life on hold" is a glib cliche that isn't appropriate for something like this. Yeah, cheer on plucky Babs - she can have a dip in the lazarus pit and grow her legs back but I'd hope no one at DC would be stupid enough to do th same thing with Arrowette (or whoever she is)

I can understand where you're coming from Comet King. I felt the same when reading "Identity Crisis" - that the crime was too incongruous with a story about people in tights with super powers. I think it's a big challenge, but I wouldn't say it shouldn't be done or couldn't be done right.

When Winnick outed Green Lantern's young assistant it made some news. When he had that same assistant get beaten by gay bashers it made more news. Winnick definitely has an agenda and the way he does it frequently takes you out of the story (it did for me anyway). He sacrifices story for getting a message across (others have done it better by making it more organic to the story). The same can be said for what O'Neil did with Green Lantern/Green Arrow but as great as those stories were, I still felt I was being preached to.

Paul O'Brien at ninthart.com has a short essay on the problems of portraying an HIV-positive character in comics:

Mia Dearden, the current Speedy, is the first HIV positive superhero.' Which gives rise to an obvious tension: the character grabs attention through her HIV status, but the story then has to convey the message that it's irrelevant. Success depends on convincing the reader that it's a non-issue. And that's the bit where stories tend to get into trouble.

full article at www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=939

I don't think HIV status is too serious for super-hero comics. I think presentation is what matters most. I'd rather it just be presented as a matter-of-fact situation rather than a major issue in itself. I don't see why it can't just be handled as routine for the character but not an issue on which to be focused.

The thing is I don't see how "matter of fact" it would be to someone who actually has HIV. You then have to get into the notion that this is HIV in the DCU where there's super-science and magic etc. Does she have more options than people in the real world? (no Winick pun intended) With Green Arrow's connections, I would think they'd try a few (I haven't read the issue so I don't know what they say about it in the story).

It's the same territory as famine and war. It exists here and it probably exists in the DCU, but it's too problematic to deal with in most comics in the DCU (or else you'd get something like "Authority" where they're allowed to recreate the world and make it different than the one we live in).

i don't know - i'm probably a little more sensitive about the subject than most

and i say: let's see what winnick comes up with

on the 1 hand, he has had a lot of experience with the daily and changing impact of HIV in people's lives (social, personal, sexual, romantic, familial, domestic, work) through the friends he continues to have who have HIV

on the other hand, it's a pretty mainstream DC book and there have been lots of times when a creator is given a green light that later changes to a blinking yellow before suddenly turning red

BUT the thing is: in terms of DC universe logic, it's pretty hard to imagine one of their urban vigilante types having HIV ... they're the ones who tend to get roughed up more in fights and transmission is a major concern for someone living with it ... i also wonder at how the other 'heroes' and 'villains' cope with the news ... it doesn't take *that* much savvy to find pharmacy, ADAP (basically Medicare for people living with HIV), clinic, organization or medical records, bills or documents to link a person with HIV (especially if you factor in DC Universe super-tech) and Oliver Queen is not the most secret hero id ... how long would it take anyone else to put it together? and what does someone like Batman think about making a uniform bleed-proof for the young archer? or the Bat-family's response to Robin being out and about in combat with the diseased & contagious hero?

lots of interesting possibilities; lots of ways to get lost, detoured or stalled

From my perspective of having dated someone who was HIV+, I think you can live you life without your status being the main focus. Sure, it's important, but why make it the main point of the character?

The reality is that famine and disease would have long since been wiped out in a world with super-geniuses - but that's not how it's played in comics, so I don't think HIV status would be any different.

I agree with Ferro-

We already have so much we face day to day. We all live our lives without forcing people to have to accept who we are..
Do you all think comics are forcing us to accept things..I know I like to read comics to escape reality.

Why can't there be a range of issues dealt with in comics? Some being more 'escapist' (or to put it another way, 'fantastic'), some being 'all-ages', some being 'experimental' and still others being 'closer to reality'?

OR another question is:
do you read Green Arrow already?
does this make you want to drop it or pick it up?

Here's my thing: why make this an "issue"? Just let it be part of the character's background.

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Interestingly, Mia has already been "introduced" as Speedy in the latest issue of Teen Titans. As the current team explores "their" HQ and come to realize that they're not really home from the future, one of the things they discover that is out of place is a picture of Mia as Speedy hanging on the wall.

If you found out a friend had HIV would you react the same as if they had said, "I was born in Ohio" and treat it as part of their background? I know I couldn't. The fact is, it is an issue partly because of the nature of the disease and also because Winick is the kind of writer to make it an issue rather than be subtle about it.

How is "costumed vigilante with bow & arrows" subtle? Especially when every battle she runs the risk of transmission if/when she's hit and bleeds from it?

in some states, that's considered attempted murder (and there are people doing prison time for it -- usually an extension of an already-existing prison term -- complaints filed by prison guards about exposure due to fights and subduing inmates)

i think GA is the appropriate superhero comic to bring up HIV/AIDS, especially when talking about a teenage prostitute working the streets of a major city, BUT i just don't know about the whole "and now she's a costumed vigilante!"

OK, maybe not at the start, but I've known enough people who are HIV+ that I can't see how it's the central theme of this person's life.

So, it's accepted and then they move on.

I don't know what Winick has planned, but storytelling wise I imagine that's what's eventually going to happen after Winick has made the statement he wants to make (it would just get boring if they made it an issue all the time). However, considering his use of Terry Berg it might not be for some time - I imagine he has a lot to say about folks living with HIV.

Good for you Ferro - but the fact is HIV isn't like having diabetes (no matter how many times people who have say it is) it's a lot more serious than that - as I'm sure you know!

Having an HIV+ character in a book that features boxing glove arrows is ridiculous. I don't think in the straight forward super hero medium it can be "just something about the character" - it'll become totally what that character is about. Just like Northstar isn't just some random X-Man, he's always refered to as the gay one.

I dont read Green Arrow but if I did I'd stop right now! It's ludicrous!

Dunno if sports are the same in the states, but over here in aus, the AFL and rugby leagues have a 'blood rule'. Any player freely bleeding is sent off.

i work in the medical support industry and have had to deal with police and medical staff (and bouncer friends) coming in for testing over needle stick and bite wounds. HIV is not as easily transfered as Hep C, but seeing how the odds go,it's not fun.

while this sort of story may be different, (and more interesting)if the character had super human powers, 'Speedy' just sounds like a bad idea.

After all it's not that she can't have a normal life, but the heroic lifestyle isn't normal and having a 3 month wait to see if she has passed on the infection every time her blood is in contact with a wounded teammate (people seem to bleed a lot more in the books nowadays) sounds unworkable and irresponsible.

I don't think it's the same case. He may be referred to as "the gay one" by people, but the stories themselves don't treat him as such. His snotty attitude usually comes to fore more than his sexual orientation (though it's not ignored either).

I don't think it takes three months anymore, Kid Psychout. I've heard they can find out a lot sooner these days.

Drake, I agree with you on the Northstar thing. I don't think that fact that he was gay was ever central to the character until he joined Austen's Uncanny X-Men. He attitude definitely overshadowed his sexuality.

Yeah yeah yeah! But he's still best known to people who don't read X-Men as being Marvel's gayest character.

It's the whole shoe-horning a worthy topic into a super hero book that I have a problem with! I really loved Winick's Pedro And Me but couldn't be doing with his ham fisted Green Lantern Hate Crimes issues...

Well, I read GREEN ARROW # 44 last night, the issue that deals with the ramifications of Mia's iscovery in issue # 43.

It's beyond me how anyone could have disliked that issue.

The Connor/Mia scenes at the end were SOOOOOO sweet.

I do know, but my ex was a pretty active guy, into sports, working out, and he was never idle. HIV didn't stop him from having a very active life.

I guess I just don't see it. GA may use boxing glove arrows, but the character is played straight. I always thought this book was more on the darker side if anything.

I think I find this plot so repugnant because Winnick's just including it so he can be a "good liberal" and paint some fairy tale picture about HIV not "ruining" your life.

The fact is if you've got HIV you're going to die sooner, have to take loads of medication and can kill people by f***ing them.

Let's see a more realistic approach! So lets look forward to Mia contracting pneumonia, going to the doctors a bit too late, and dying in the next 6 issues.

Well, it would have to be a concern to anyone that she goes into battle with, both hero and villian.

My aunt is a nurse. She has been accidentally stuck by needles twice. Once more and she is automatically terminated from her job. This is a hard and fast rule. No violating it. What does this mean in practical situations?

Well, it is designed to make nurses more careful. But even the most careful have accidents. So what it really does is set up a situation where if she or another nurse is accidentally stuck for the third time, what is the likelyhood that she/any other nurse will report it? Unless she is a paragon of virture, not likely, because this is the job she trained for. It's all she knows.

Cops. These guys and gals deserve so much respect. Even something so simple as searching a drunk at a routine traffic stop can result in their longterm sickness and death. Being stuck with a needle from a doper who shares can give them hepatitus, or hiv/aids. Imagine the fortitude it take for emergency workers to stick their gloved hands into the blood of someone injured in a car accident, or someone shot. Bones are sharp, and can easily pierce latex gloves.

I quit reading GA when winnick took over. His writing is more than a little ham-handed for me, but the big problem i have is that he writes anti-climatic stories, and they are more issue driven than what i want in GL and GA. But to say that the natural fears that people would have in possibly contracting an incurable disease when working with someone are ridiculas or even bigoted is to ignore reality. Its a harsh and depressing reality, but it is what it is.

That's definitely a valid point. I guess it's always a fine line between wanting to show some level of acceptance and making it acceptable to be careless in behavior.

Some info from a past life of mine:
In the US, most health departments use technology that can identify the presence of HIV antibodies within 30-60 days of infection in the vast majority of people (the presence of certain drugs, a pre-existing medical condition, or other genetic/metabolic factors could skew the time on the test a couple weeks in either direction).

In a private facility, that can be even quicker, depending on the technology (you can get a rough picture based on the amount they charge you -- a rapid test which is supposed to identify the presence of HIV antibodies within 24-48 hours costs roughly $200 per test).

Many US medical centers will use health dept labs to do the testing because they're cheap. Each health jurisdiction chooses their technology depending on several factors: their budget, number of tests conducted per year, their target population, and the various strains of HIV present in the jurisdiction (there are at least two distinct strains and at least seven molecular sub-types therein).

The Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) - consisting of a 30-day regimen of AZT - used in the US for health care professionals with needle-sticks has not been proven to be effective either through cost or community-impact. The one study conducted in San Francisco on the 'general' population (where HIV seroprevalence rates are significantly higher than the rest of the country) was phenomenally expensive and had no discernible positive impact on various community standards, practices or transmission rates. (The one study on PEP that justified the SF experiment was on health care workers who had suffered needle-sticks, and it wasn't clear whether they were ever actually exposed to HIV in those needle-sticks.)

Look at the new Speedy's career another way: New York City alone has about 1/3 of the US AIDS cases. Factor in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami and Newark with NYC, and this accounts for about 75% of the US AIDS cases. I don't know the relevant epidemiology for DCU cities like Metropolis, Gotham, Opal City or Star City, but I don't think Winick does either. I just hope the reality of HIV and its attenuated issues in living with, transmitting, and getting sick or even dying from the disease stay in a 'realistic' sphere for him and DC (when Winick moves on).

Yes, it's realistic for Mia to contract the disease when she's a strung-out street prostitute (blood-blood transmission, like with junkies sharing a needle, being the second most efficient way to transmit the virus). But let's see how it's possible to shoot arrows, bleed and traipse about rooftops when your blood is a deadly weapon and you're on a regimen of medications whose most common side-effect is diarrhea.

Hard-travelling hero indeed.

Anyone here already reading GA? Ollie isn't thrilled about Mia putting on a costume. Maybe he'll use this the fianl arguement to end her hero career. Or, Winnick will have her get hurt in a future storyline, and the issue of contraction comes up. How will Mia feel about adventuring when she risks infecting someone carrying her to the hospital? Perhaps we'll get a day-in-the-life issue, where we see her taking her medication and the burden it can be. Judd might write her as a hero, before succumbing to pnuemonia after being positive for ten years.

These are all realistic possibilities, mentioned right here in this thread. I like GA, and Judd's writing. I'm going to let him write his stories and read them before saying it's a dumb idea. Knowing Winnick's history, he will likely use the book to inform a generally ignorant populace about the realities of beinig HIV+.

I've seen more informative discussion here than anywhere else in pop culture. Whatever he writes, I give him props for getting people to talk frankly and openly about the topic.

AMEN!
couldn't agree more

it's turned into a very cold and scared world when it comes to HIV/AIDS

I'm sorry for the language, administrators, but BULLSHIT! Anyone with a history of comics knows that it was in THIS VERY BOOK. when it was known as Green Lantern/Green Arrow, dealt with lots of serious subjects. The famed "hard travelling heroes" stories of Denny O'Neill and Neal Adams were among some of the best comic stories ever produced. These stories dealt with drug addiction (specifically heroin addiction), racism, poverty, and class struggle in ways that no comic before, and damn few since, have had the vision or courage to. HIV is among one of our biggest "quiet" problems. Because of some advancement in treatment, many people think the disease has just "gone away" and poses no real danger to them. Comics aren't always for our entertainment, and socially relevant stories are just as necessary as superhero mega-fights.

Andy S: thank you for the information posted. The private pathology company i work for sends out it's results with the proviso that a test within 30 days of suspected infection may not show the virus and that a follow up test is recommended 60-90 days later to eliminate, in the wondrously euphimistic phrase, 'false negatives'.

There are also the legal complications of needle stick injuries that try to balance the rights of patient rights and the poor bastard that just got pricked. You cannot immediately check the sample of the patient's blood for HIV. permissions must be sought, Having dealt with intravenous drug users (who are buggers to find a workable vein in) who, even in the obvious cases, swear they hain't never done that sort of thing it adds to the problems.

i apologise for not replying to ferroboy and all for not replying sooner, but i didn't know the situation stateside and figured it was better to let it pass lest it become one of those arguement threads.

and after saying all that, if Winnick story turns out to be about some-one faced with the problem and finds they have to face realities about the condition then i'll retract my opinions.

If it's an 'You can overcome all obstacles including the HIV + sharp objects + other people' story then i'll let it stand.

TOTALLY late in the day -- i just picked up the issue this week along with lots of other things i had missed in a very good shop (wish it was closer to me, but it's all the way in Culver City by Sony studios)

wow

yes it shook me up

winick nailed a lot of the whole experience