Background
Adams stated that during the 1960s, the Green Lantern comic book was on the verge of cancellation, which gave Adams and O'Neill a great deal of creative freedom, since many thought the book would not survive anyway. They decided to concentrate more on "socially motivated" topics, and in spring 1971, Adams decided to "make Speedy into a heroin junkie." Then, Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 (May-July 1971) was published by rival comic publishing house Marvel Comics, which featured Spider-Man tackling crimes related to drug abuse. It was the first comic to be published without the rigid Comics Code, which prohibited the depiction of drug abuse, even in a totally condemning context. Adams said: "We could have done it first and been the ones to make a big move. Popping a pill and walking off a roof isn't the sort of thing that really happens (referring to a drug crazed man featured in that Amazing Spider-Man arc), but heroin addiction is; to have it happen to one of our heroes was potentially devastating. Anyway, the publishers at DC, Marvel and the rest called a meeting, and in three weeks, the Comics Code was completely rewritten. And we did our story."
His colleague Dennis O'Neil added that in his opinion, drug addiction was the worst social problem, so it fit well into the more socially oriented stories Adams and himself wrote. Concerning the choice of the drug abuser, he said that "we chose Roy for maximum emotional impact. We thought an established good guy in the throes of addiction would be stronger than we some character we'd have made up for the occasion. Also, we wanted to show that addiction was not limited to "bad" or "misguided" kids. O'Neil also added that nobody vetoed this choice up in the DC hierarchy.
Read more about this topic: Snowbirds Don't Fly
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