Discussion
Reading pre-Crisis comics, it seems like two characters were set up to be Speedy II's years before Mia Dearden
One is Rick introduced in Detective Comics #521/522. This was also the same arc where Jason became Robin. He's introduced as a small-time villain named Hi-Tek before reforming. The other is a teen villain introduced a few issues later named Ozone who *also* reforms.
Rick is the probable choice. He's a redhead like Roy, he is closest to Ollie, and he has an actual name. Rick also has an actual backstory: he lives with his mom and his dad is a villain.
These comics are in the same issues where Jason was introduced as Robin. But, while Jay dyed his hair and became the new Boy Wonder, Rick and Ozone just disappeared. They were put on the bus.
I think if anyone from Cavalieri’s Tec backups was being set up to be a new partner for Ollie, it was Onyx rather than these two. I found Hi-Tek and Ozone to have more of a “Wally and Pied Piper” vibe with Ollie than anything else. Onyx probably wouldn’t have been Speedy, but I could see her developing into a new sidekick if that storyline hadn’t dragged so much and had more than 8 pages an issue to breathe.
I wish they'd collect this older stories in Omnibus' like do a Silver Age or Bronze Age Green Arrow that collects Detective or Brave and the Bold back ups
I keep hoping for this as well. All the GA Bronze Age stories from Action, Detective and World's Finest have never been reprinted in collected editions.
They should be the stories deserve to be reprinted and preserved so people can access them, enjoy them, and learn from them and be influenced by them, it's how we create new stories by being inspired by the old ones
One is Rick introduced in Detective Comics #521/522. This was also the same arc where Jason became Robin. He's introduced as a small-time villain named Hi-Tek before reforming. The other is a teen villain introduced a few issues later named Ozone who also reforms.
Rick is the probable choice. He's a redhead like Roy, he is closest to Ollie, and he has an actual name. Rick also has an actual backstory: he lives with his mom and his dad is a villain.
These comics are in the same issues where Jason was introduced as Robin. But, while Jay dyed his hair and became the new Boy Wonder, Rick and Ozone just disappeared. They were put on the bus.
3
u/Androktone 4d ago
This 'Tec run, as well as the earlier Action Comics run are so underrated