Teen Titans (vol.3) #36 (July, 2006) "The New Teen Titans, Part 3" Writer - Geoff Johns Penciller - Tony S. Daniel Inkers - Kevin Conrad, Andy Lanning & Norm Rapmund Colorists - Tanya & Richard Horie Letterer - Travis Lanham Assistant Editor - Jeanine Schaeffer Editor - Eddie Berganza Cover Price: $2.99 Can even Geoff Johns hope to repair the post-Byrne Doom Patrol? I guess a Superboy-Prime reality-shattering punch can do the impossible! --
In Paris... we know it's Paris because the Eiffel Tower is visible... the Brain and Monsieur Mallah are discussing the Brotherhood's latest plot. The former wants revenge on the Doom Patrol... and everyone they love... he'd also like an actual organic body, but we'll get to that later. Speaking of the Doomies, they take the Titans to their creepy new digs. They're surprised to see Mal Duncan is among their number. They're even more surprised when he doesn't greet them... because, ya know... he can't. Robotman, Vox, Bumblebee, and Negative Man port-out to follow up on the Brotherhood. In a cool bit, when the Negative Entity flees Larry's body, he slumps into a wheelchair.
Beast Boy explains Mal's "issue". During his time in space with Vic and Bumblebee, they ran into some problems. Vic was 'sploded... Mal's weapons blew up in his face, costing him his lungs and vocal cords... and Bumblebee was permanently shrunken to six-inches tall, and is now reliant on a special drug from the Chief to keep her tiny heart from exploding. Gar then offers Vic a spot on the Doom Patrol.
Meanwhile, the Chief and Elasti-Girl are operating on Kid Devil... in a secret room behind The Painting That Ate Paris. Caulder is really cold and matter-of-fact... he talks down to Rita, and seems to be treating her like she's no more than a simple tool for him to use. It's really quite sad. We also learn that Niles is responsible for Rita's rebirth in the first place (because he reminds her). Turns out he took her skull from Codsville, and treated it with proteins until he could re-grow her body.
The surgery is interrupted by the ringing of Tim's cell phone. An angry Caulder evicts him from the operating theater. On the line is Blue Devil... and he has some very surprising news for the Boy Wonder.
Elsewhere, Beast Boy is checking in with his adoptive father, Steve Dayton... who's wearing the Mento helmet, and appears to be quite mad. Gar asks him for some help in locating the Brain and the Brotherhood... but Mento is too busy writing novels for Rita.
We join Cyborg, Wonder Girl and Ravager who are taking in the odd sights of the Doom Patrol's headquarters. For any long-time fans of the franchise, this is quite the treat. There's Brotherhood of Dada stuff, a Mister Nobody portrait... just some cool visuals.
Niles Caulder rolls in to inform them that Kid Devil is recovering... and that he'd like to discuss his future. Tim says first things first... before they talk about him, he wants to talk to him. In recovery, we learn that Blue Devil and Kid Devil are estranged... they haven't spoken in years, and Cassidy didn't even know that Eddie was a Teen Titan! Robin asks who Kid Devil has been checking in with over the phone... Eddie says "Nobody".
Niles interrupts the discussion to suggest that Kid Devil doesn't belong with the Teen Titans... instead, he should be part of the Doom Patrol. Robin says "no dice", to which Beast Boy takes exception. Tim brings up how the Chief was responsible for causing the accidents that made the Doom Patrol into... the Doom Patrol. So, I guess that's still part of continuity here. Rita says they've all forgiven him for that... which is kind of them.
Suddenly the Negative Entity returns... turns out Cliff, Mal and Karen have been captured. The Titans head to Paris and find their friends.
Wonder Girl and Ravager run in and slip in a bit of wet-stuff. Turns out it was the fluid where the Brain kept his... brain. Turns out the cloning was a success... and we can see the Brain has found a body... with a very butt-shaped head!
-- This was a grim... and uncomfortable read. The Chief here is especially sinister, and the entire time I was waiting for that other shoe to drop. He's made it so the Doomies are so beholden to him... he can talk to Rita like she's an object... he can convince Steve Dayton that he has to stay in the Mento helmet in order for Rita to remain in love with him. It's really quite creepy. Creepy... and interesting! This might not be a Doom Patrol I'd want to read on a regular basis, but it's cool enough for a guest-spot. It also helps us to learn what is (and isn't) in continuity. In the 2004 John Byrne reboot, we were made to assume that the Doom Patrol were a "brand new" concept in the DC Universe. None of the stories before it happened... not the Morrison, not even the Arnold Drake! Here, we come to find that many of the Morrison concepts actually did happen! The Painting that Ate Paris... Mister Nobody... the Chief "masterminding" the accidents of the Doom Patrol members... it's really cool, and satisfying for long-time readers/fans of the franchise. A Kid Devil mystery is introduced here. If he wasn't calling into Cassidy, just who has be been talking to? Could he (and Vic) wind up leaving the Titans for the Doom Patrol? What's the Chief's plan here? Does he have an actual endgame in mind... or is he just lonely? A lot of neat questions here... and that's without even mentioning the Brain in his butt-head! A worthwhile read... one I'd certainly recommend. -- Interesting Ads:
Teen Titans (vol.3) #35 (June, 2006) "The New Teen Titans, Part 2" Writer - Geoff Johns Penciller - Tony S. Daniel Inker - Kevin Conrad Colorists - Richard & Tanya Horie Letterer - Travis Lanham Assistant Editor - Jeanine Schaeffer Editor - Eddie Berganza Cover Price: $2.50 This one might be a bit light on the analysis... by the time you're reading this (if you're reading this on the day it's put out), I'm somewhere back on the East Coast. Got a big family thing back home... it's sure to be a busy weekend! Now, for the comic... Did somebody say Doom Patrol? Yes... we did, yesterday! Gar Logan's back with the band... let's see how this shakes out! -- We open at the headquarters of... the Doom Patrol! Our old friend Gar Logan is chatting up the newest Doomie, Vox. We know him better as the Hornblower... or the Herald... or the Guardians... or Mal... it's Mal Duncan, by the way... only now he can't talk lest he blow out Beast Boy's eardrums. They see that they've got a voicemail, and Gar is overjoyed to see that his pal Vic Stone is back among the living.
Back at Titan's Tower, Robin's latest attempt to reclone Superboy is... unsuccessful. Defeated, he heads back to his room... and soon finds himself mounted by his new teammate Rose Wilson! She's nekkid annnnd a little bit drunk, by the way.
Suddenly there's an intruder. This interloper uses an outdated security password (Jericho) which triggers an alarm to sound, The New-New Titans all head into the war room to see who's invaded. It's totally Wonder Girl, by the way... and she and Ravager proceed to beat the hell out of each other.
Cyborg breaks in and is able to separate the furious females. Wendy and Marvin pop their geeky heads in to survey the damage. As care-keepers of Titan's Tower, repair and upkeep is going to fall to them.
Later that night, Ravager sorta "teases" Kid Devil. It seems like he's got the "hots" (pun!) for her.
Back in the war room, Vic, Cassie and Robin talk strategy. She's looking for information on the Brotherhood of Evil (who had recently destroyed Bludhaven). Also, it turns out that the Blastocyst Map they had stolen has something to do with cloning... hmm.
We shift scenes to the Brotherhood causing some some trouble in New York City. Before long, the Titans arrive on the scene. After a few pages of pretty even fighting, Plasmus grabs Kid Devil... and burns his chest.
While the Titans attend to their fallen member, the Brotherhood escapes. EMTs arrive on the scene... while Eddie babbles incoherently about "phone calls". Ravager appears to be especially torn up over this. The EMT's are called off, however, as some specialists in the bizarre arrive... hold on to your hats, it's the Doom Patrol!
-- A fine "bridging" issue... putting more pieces in place to move the story forward. Some pretty good character work here... I appreciate the fact that Cassie is still at-odds with the team, and while she's almost immediately swept back in their world here, there's still a discomfort... and plenty of contention. The battle with the Brotherhood is pretty boilerplate until poor Eddie gets his lung crushed by Plasmus. He mentions something about a phone call... something that will pay off a bit later. The fight scene wasn't so long that I felt like it overstayed its welcome... and it did facilitate the next stage of this arc. We'll discuss more about our "guest stars" tomorrow, as we pay their headquarters a visit. Sorry for the brevity today... we'll hit up more analysis later on! -- Interesting Ads:
Teen Titans (vol.3) #34 (May, 2006) "New Teen Titans, Part 1: One Year Later" Writer - Geoff Johns Penciller - Tony Daniel Inkers - Kevin Conrad & Art Thibert Colorists - Richard & Tanya Horie Letterer - Nick J. Napolitano Assistant Editor - Jeanine Schaeffer Editor - Eddie Berganza Cover Price: $2.50 What the crap... more One Year Later? What can I say, I'm hooked. Well, not so much "hooked" as intrigued. As hit-or-miss a proposition that this is... it hasn't yet failed in making me scratch my head. It's pretty ambitious to take an entire comics universe and shift it ahead in time. I also noticed that not only is this our tenth "One Year Later" in a row... it's also our tenth Geoff Johns book in a row. Damn, this dude was everywhere, wasn't he? --
We open on a caption which reads "One Year Later"... even though it appears as though we're getting glimpses (from Cyborg's point of view) from the "missing" year. This is his system "rebooting" and catching up with the "present" day. We hear hints of new team members joining... and quitting. We see Raven and Beast Boy breaking up. An odd team of mishmashed Titans including Zatara and Offspring... and finally our first look at the Wonder Twins, Wendy and Marvin. They appear to be working on Cyborg... and finally, Vic Stone lives again!
He stumbles out of the... wherever the hell he was kept, and overhears some chatter from a pair of people he doesn't realize are currently on the team... Kid Devil and Ravager.
Considering the last time he saw Rose, she was trying to kill the Titans... he immediately goes on the attack. While the battle rages, Wendy and Marvin pop their geeky heads in to admire their work. In a cute bit, Kid Devil tries to tell him that they are the "New" Teen Titans... to which, Vic informs him that he was one of the "New" Teen Titans.
Finally Robin walks in to calm Vic down. The pair walk the grounds as Tim fills him in on everything he's missed. Starfire's gone (she's currently lost in space with Animal Man in the pages of 52)... Speedy quit... Bart retired... Raven quit... Gar rejoined the Doom Patrol... and Kon is dead.
Vic asks about Wonder Girl... and so, we shift to S.T.A.R. Labs San Francisco where the Brotherhood of Evil are stealing a Blastocyst Map (which is actually a real thing... has to do with mammalian cells). Anyhoo, Wonder Girl has arrived to dispense justice... and it looks like they're on the street from Full House.
The Titans arrive to give her a hand... but only really serve to distract her so Gemini can get away. She's overjoyed to see Vic back among the living... but a little less pleased to see Ravager. Robin ask her to rejoin the team, but she's all "no dice". We learn here that following Infinite Crisis, Robin ran off with Batman for a year of globetrotting... leaving her to pick up the pieces.
Back at the Tower, Vic is trying to get a hold of Gar over at Dayton Manor. He gets the video answering machine, and is surprised to see that Bumblebee has also gone over to the Doom Patrol. He and Tim have an uncomfortable chat about the state of the Titans before Tim leaves to head to his lab.
Once down there, we see what he's working on... and it's pretty dark. He's mixing the DNA of Lex Luthor and Superman in hopes of cloning him a brand new Superboy!
-- I remember being really disappointed by this one when it first came out. I quite dug the pre-Infinite Crisis Teen Titans... thought they really worked well together. I didn't see much in adding Ravager and (especially) Kid Devil. Really saw this as a step down for the team... and it wasn't long before I sorta walked away from the title. I'd check back in semi-regularly (until I lost my job in 2008, anyway)... and was never enticed to stick around. This is the tail-end of the Johns run... after he left, we were in some really dark times as Titans fans. It wouldn't be until the J.T. Krul run that I decided I was "back" (and of course, went back and bought everything that I missed)... and oddly enough, I've been "back" ever since... even though Teen Titans has gotten horrendously terrible since The New-52! Now... this time around, I thought this issue was pretty great. I guess over a decade of hindsight can really alter the way we receive things. We get the impression that ever since Infinite Crisis, the Titans have had a really rough time of it. I remember learning that they added (and subtracted) like dozens of new members in this year alone. I think that really opens things up for future exploration (though, I can't say for sure that they took full advantage of it). It's a bit jarring, sure... but that's sort of the name of the game for One Year Later. I think we're supposed to be uncomfortable, and walk away with more questions than answers. For all the grief I give the "big two" about continuity of late, this was an actual attempt at making everything feel as though it were occurring at the same time. From what we've learned since, this Infinite Crisis/52/One Year Later project was one that Didio and company took very seriously. In reading it all these years later, that's pretty clearly the case... of course, reading it in 2006 felt like sort of a mess. Overall, this was a really good time... and damn, it's a pretty book to look at. Tony Daniel really kicks this book's ass... it's just looks so good. Not really a fan of Tim's emo haircut, but at least it's well rendered. I'd say this is one worth checking out. -- Interesting Ads:
Green Lantern (vol.4) #10 (May, 2006) "Revenge of the Green Lanterns, Part One" Writer - Geoff Johns Penciller - Ivan Reis Inker - Marc Campos Colorist - Moose Baumann Letterer - Rob Leigh Associate Editor - Michael Siglain Editor - Peter Tomasi Cover Price: $2.99 Waitasec, more One Year Later? It's weird... when I was wrapping up my notes on "Up, Up, and Away!" yesterday, I thought to myself how this era of DC is just so muddy in my mind. I honestly can only remember blips and blops of it... none of which I could go on about at length (minus, the Superman books now). Then I remembered Green Lantern's One Year Later book having a wonderfully striking cover. Not a cover that tells you much, but a beautiful one nonetheless... I mean, just look at it! That's a nice cover! This was also during DC's push to sorta "boutique up" the Green Lantern book a bit... so the cover is of a much nicer/thicker stock than everything else on the shelf. Anyhoo... I guess I'm taking the scenic route all to say that I'm reacquainting myself with this post-Infinite Crisis era... and if you'd be so kind as to indulge me, you're more than welcome to come along! --
It's One Year Later when we join Hal Jordan. He is in Russian airspace attempting to detain the Igneous Man. His internal monologue suggests that something pretty heavy went down five months earlier... but doesn't say much more than that. His attempt to snag the I-Man is unwittingly thwarted by... the Rocket Reds?! Well, we did say he was in Russian airspace...
The Reds are pretty ticked off that Hal is breaking some sort of treaty (more on that in a bit). Jordan comments that while he's in uniform he doesn't represent the United States, but the Green Lantern Corps... and they really ought to back off and let him do his job. He then smacks one with a construct hammer and sickle for good measure.
Remember the Igneous Man? Well, he's still lingering... and he's decided to use his powers to melt the wings off some Russian jets... and also start cooking the Rocket Reds inside their armor. Hal is able to capture the baddie in a bubble... while keeping a jet in the sky... and fighting off a gaggle of angry Reds. Wow, Hal Jordan is the coolest guy ever! I mean, that's what we're going for right? More on that later...
Suddenly we're swept into an emerald flashback... a jet crashes in the woods. Out crawls a ring-less Hal Jordan... he never wears his ring when he flies, donchaknow. He calls out to a fellow pilot before collapsing before some masked terrorist-types.
He then wakes up in a panic... I'm assuming back in the "present". Well, what happened to the Rocket Reds? Did he land that jet? I guess that's for us to find out. On the television, the... ay yai yai, Global Guardians are being interviewed about Green Lantern having violated the Freedom of Power Treaty by heading into Russia. You'd figure if they wanted folks to take the treaty seriously they'd have a better spokesteam than the freaking Global Guardians.
In case you forgot how cool Hal Jordan was, a woman enters the room. She calls him by the wrong name... and he replies in kind. I guess one-night-stands are cool... right?
Jennif-- Julie leaves to go to work, and Hank... er, Hal is now joined by the Mayor of Star City himself, Oliver Queen. The Hard-Traveling Homeboys go out for a stroll, so Ollie can do what he does best... lecture Hal. We learn that there's a price on Hal's head... and with an enemy list as long as his, he doesn't even know where to start. It's alluded to that Alan Scott has had a rough time of late, but they don't go much further. The contentious chat wraps up with Ollie telling Hal that he should have never taken his ring off.
Next, a brief aside to space Sector-674 where Arkillo of the planet Vorn is welcomed to the Sinestro Corps.
Back on Earth, Hal and a few fellow pilots are being awarded Prisoner of War Medals at Edwards Air Force Base. I'm guessing this has something to do with what went down in that flashback five months earlier. Hal is joined by Colonel Shane "Rocket Man" Sellers and Captain Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman... they each have a short length of chain to show their bond.
The ceremony is interrupted by a jet crash-landing right in the middle of the proceeding!
Hal approaches the smoldering craft and is shocked to find it inhabited by... Tomar Tu! Ya know, the birdfaced Lantern Hal "killed" during Emerald Twilight!
-- Wow, Hal Jordan is the coolest guy ever... ... is something I could say if I wanted to be pithy. I mean, at first blush... Hal has gone "full Fonzie" here. Taking care of business in and out of costume. If we look a bit deeper, however, we can see that he's actually processing some pretty heavy stuff here. From the flashback scene and the awards ceremony we can likely deduce that at some point during the "missing year", Hal was taken Prisoner of War. He chooses not to wear his ring when he flies (jets), and finds himself unable to protect he and his fellow pilots when the masked terror-types took them captive. So, what we have is perhaps a Hal Jordan who is dealing with a bit of Post-Traumatic Stress. A different lady every night to keep his mind off things... all the while trying to keep his Sector of the universe safe. It's a much deeper story than I think I'd initially given it credit for. I'm pretty sure I dismissed it completely my first time through. Back then, I was a Kyle guy... and really saw Hal as something as a usurper. The fact that he was constantly depicted as the coolest guy in the room really compounded my disinterest... I hated that this dude who did really bad stuff was able to just stroll back in like nothing happened. Kyle, who actually "grew up" in the costume was just shunted to the background... and really never got his due. It's only after really "getting to know" Hal that I can truly appreciate this volume. When you come right down to it, Hal is still a very broken individual. It's just that he doesn't really project that brokenness like he used to. This isn't a slump-shouldered Hal who needs to crash on your couch... this is a Hal who keeps his insecurities on the inside, and projects (exudes really) a confidence and aloofness. Hal really isn't a stranger to being on the wrong side of the law. The Powers Treaty is an interesting wrinkle... one I'd either forgotten about or never knew of to begin with. I think this is another bit that I likely dismissed as Hal being "too cool for rules" or something the first time through. This time, however, I was cool with it. The Igneous Man was trying to collect a bounty... and after the year Hal has had, he really doesn't appear interested in dealing with anybody's/any country's crap. We get a bit of Claremontian subplot-dropping here, which is always good to see. I feel like in recent years we've become so accustomed to the "six and done" method of storytelling... with subplots being a relic of the late 20th Century. Having the Sinestro Corps scene here really excited me, and shows that this series is an ongoing narrative and not just a collection of six-part vignettes. The ending was pretty cool too in bringing back Tomar Tu. I suppose this serves to add to the Corps, and to assuaging Hal of his murderous guilt. Like I've said before, this is a bit of a cop-out, but one I'm willing to allow. Overall, had more fun with this issue than I expected... I definitely recommend checking it out. -- Interesting Ads:
