Another day another archer! Marchery continues with the second Speedy to aide in Team Arrow, Mia Dearden. How’d she get involved with this weirdo family of sharp shooters? Let’s find out!
Mia Dearden was just a teenager and living a rather rough life, ran away from home and living with a scumbag boyfriend who pimped her out. When he was about to hit her, Mia fought back and severely injured him. While she was with a John she Green Arrow intervened to stop the John from hurting her. The Emerald Archer gave her a tip on heading to a youth center and asking for a man named Oliver Queen for help.
When Mia arrived, she saw that Oliver Queen was clearly just Green Arrow. Very few people where the Van Dyke facial hair style. Ollie gave her a safe place to stay and a job and the youth center. She kept asking if she could train to be a superhero as well but he drew the line at archery only with no prospects of heroics. Yeah, that’ll work out exactly as Ollie wants it.
Mia learns that she is HIV-positive and this pushes her to try even harder at being allowed to join Team Arrow officially as a field member. Ollie reluctantly agrees, worried of putting another kid in harm’s way in this lifestyle so he suggests she work with the Teen Titans for a support network. While she goes up against Robin and loses, the team agrees that Mia has real skill and invite her onto the team.
Roy Harper, the original Speedy who would go on to become Arsenal and then Red Arrow, would give Mia his old quiver of arrows from his days as Speedy. Including an arrow that was a one shot use for sending someone to the Phantom Zone. During the attacks of Superboy Prime, Mia would use this to try and stop him. Unfortunately the deadly Kryptonian was able to break free.
After the Infinite Crisis, Mia would join Ollie and the other members of Team Arrow on a year long retreat to recuperate and train to be better all around fighters. On her return she is kidnapped by Red Hood to try and prove something to Batman, she is able to fight him off and get away but during their fight Red Hood explains how their rough upbringings and lives as teen heroes make them more alike than different. This clearly is a uncomfortable idea to Mia and it sticks with her as a warning of what she could become.
The wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary just takes Mia and the rest of Team Arrow and throws them into all sorts of new adventures. It turns out that the Ollie who got married was actually the villain Everyman and this sets off a chain of events that gets Connor Hawke injured, kidnapped, and taken to London. Mia takes chase and is not only able to save Connor but also finds a boyfriend in a London-based vigilante. Sadly, this is short lived as she learns he’s a cad and returns back to Star City soon after. The Blackest Night has Mia helping Connor save Dinah from the Black Lantern Ollie.
One night while baby sitting Roy Harper’s daughter Lian, the villain, the Electrocutioner, attempts to transfer Star City with dimensional shifting explosives. Mia leaves the sleeping Lian so she can put a stop to this but it turns out that the bombs are just the traditional kinds and blow up chunks of the city. This includes Roy’s apartment where Lian was. This devastates Team Arrow, leading to much upheaval and Mia trying to protect Ollie from the Justice League. When they find the Electrocutioner she is ready to kill him but Ollie takes him into custody instead. At the funeral of Lian, Roy blames Mia for her death and the two have not spoken since.
Well, unfortunately that’s the end for Mia and Team Arrow in the pre-New 52 era Cry for Justice is pretty terrible. She has a small role in the New 52 but not much is there. The character of Thea from Arrow is very loosely based off her. She has the middle name Dearden and is proving to be quite the capable fighter. I hope she makes a real appearance at some point in the future. I’m starting to sound like an old record.
Suggested Reading
Green Arrow Vol. 3 #2
Green Arrow Vol. 3 #44
Black Canary and Green Arrow
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
I didn’t put it together that Thea was based off of her. Wow…I feel like a slacker now lol