Teen Titans #13

Beast Boys and Girls Part One: Concrete Jungle

Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Tom Grummett
Inked by Lary Stucker
Colored by Jeromy Cox
Lettered by Comicraft
Associate Editor Tom Palmer Jr.
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover by Ed McGuinness shows Superboy battling the "new" Robin. Spoiler alert (and I do mean that literally): It's actually Stephanie Brown. McGuinness has a very exciting style (and he is a welcome change from Mike McKone), but this cover has some issues. Most notably are Superboy's arms. They are way to veiny and seem out of proportion. I also think it's very odd for this scene to be the cover, when it's only a quick side-story in this issue.

Our story begins with a quick flashback to Beast Boy's origin. Short version: He was bitten by a green monkey in Upper Lamumba, Africa, 13 years ago. Fast forward to today, which is Friday at 3:13 p.m., and Cyborg has taken the Teen Titans to St. Luke's General Hospital to make sure none of them picked up any diseases after being exposed to so much blood in their fight against Brother Blood last week. Beast Boy in particular hates having his blood drawn, and even though he says he hasn't been sick since he was 6 years old, he clearly is sick right now.

Speaking of being sick, we cut over to Grattan Elementary School, where a little boy has reported to the nurse's office, complaining of stomach cramps. As the nurse takes his temperature, the boy's hand turns green and the nurse screams.

We check back in with the Teen Titans, who are enjoying an afternoon of shopping after the doctor's visit. Raven got a tattoo of a raven on her lower back, and Starfire likes it so much she suggests they all get tattoos. Cassie says her mom would freak out. But Bart doesn't have a mom, and he somehow convinced the tattoo artist to work on a 15-year-old.

Cassie points out that Bart got a Green Lantern tattoo, and he explains that was intentional. If he got a lightning bolt, that would reveal his secret identity. Cassie says his secret identity is already threatened by hanging out in public with the Teen Titans, but he says he's using Jay Garrick's trick of vibrating his face just enough to be unrecognizable in photographs. Suddenly, Bart's tattoo fades away. Cyborg explains that Bart's accelerated healing has treated the tattoo like an infection, and his dermis cells have quickly replaced themselves. Bart complains that he wasted all his money on this tattoo, so Raven tries to cheer him up. (Prompting the question of how Raven paid for her tattoo.)

Starfire asks Cyborg about the blood test results, and he says everyone's clean. Beast Boy reminds them that Robin and Superboy still need to be tested. Robin hasn't shown up today, and Superboy abruptly left at the mention of having his blood drawn. Starfire suggests they celebrate with pizza, and Bart offers to run to Japan for real Japanese food. Raven pulls Cassie aside, sensing her feelings for Superboy. Cassie can tell that Conner is hiding something from her, so Raven uses her emphatic powers to cheer Cassie up.

In Gotham City, at 7:43 p.m., Superboy has tracked down the "new" Robin, although he doesn't realize she used to be Spoiler. They fight for about two seconds, with Superboy demanding to know where the real Robin is. Batman intervenes and also refuses to tell Conner anything about Tim, but he does suggest Superboy try to track him down using his eyes and ears.

Back in San Francisco, the Teen Titans are walking past a school when a green elephant suddenly comes crashing through the wall. Bart quickly turns to Kid Flash, noting how odd it is to see a green elephant that isn't Beast Boy. The elephant rams into a school bus, which Cyborg quickly catches to prevent from landing on a little girl. The girl complains of a headache, however, and quickly transforms into a green rhinoceros.

As our heroes try to deal with these rampaging animals, Beast Boy's sickness takes a sudden turn for the worse and he has trouble standing up. A whole bunch of green buffaloes come blasting from the school, and Raven confirms these are also frightened children. Unable to avoid the stampede, Beast Boy tries to turn into a buffalo himself, but his skin turns white and his hair turns blond, leaving him a normal human.



This was a fun comic. I really enjoy Tom Grummett's art, and the main concept of this issue was pretty interesting. Just as Beast Boy loses his powers, dozens of nearby kids are infected with his powers. Of course, I do have my usual share of items to nitpick. Cyborg did show a degree of responsibility in taking the team to have their blood tested, but waiting a whole week to do so was rather reckless. As was his lack of concern with Robin and Superboy refusing to be tested. And was a general, public hospital really the best place for this? I'd want to make sure the Teen Titans' blood samples are kept in an extremely secure location.

The tattoo scene was pretty goofy and almost too much for me to take. Not only did Raven and Bart get their tattoos incredibly quickly, it is inconceivable that these two minors would be able to get tattoos without permission from a legal guardian. (I know Raven is technically like 25 or whatever, but this series has made it clear her new body is only 14 years old.) But if you can overlook those two things, then you can enjoy Bart's return to his impulsive roots. And now that I think about it, Bart probably could have gotten a full refund if he just walked back in the store and showed them the ink disappeared.

Next time, we'll take a very quick look at Superman/Batman #13.