McDuffie's Original Red Arrow Romance

By way of "Lying In The Gutters:" Dwayne McDuffie was been talking about and deconstructing his work on "JLA" on the DC Message Boards. It's rare that a creator is so open and honest about the ins and outs of working on such a series:

My plan was for Kendra to break up rather painfully with Roy, in time for that to be the reason Roy left the JLA (to go to the other title he was supposed to be going to back when I planned this). Kendra would have stayed with the team, but been without a romantic partner for a while. Most of the League, friends with Roy since he was a teen, would resent Kendra for staying on when she was the one who hurt their friend. She was going to be pretty much a loner except for her relationship with Wonder Woman (which would eventually be good, although Kendra would misread her for a while, causing friction until Diana helped her through some tough times), and Black Lightning, who would treat her like a surrogate daughter (I'd also planned to have her go to Jeff's for Thanksgiving, and meet the rest of his family). Kendra was going to come out of all this with a new focus, and a slightly adjusted status quo that would keep her front and center in JLA. Roy and Kendra would reconcile in about two years, but never be a couple again, except for one night that they'd both be sorry for, and never mention again.

But continuity changed in other books (i was informed that Kendra would die in Final Crisis), so I had to toss it all. Actually twice, because my back up plan was derailed by Kendra's recent undeath.

It's such a shame that McDuffie has been hamstrung on this title. You would think DC would let him "do his thing" on the book, after writing such stellar episodes of JUSTICE LEAGUE and JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED.