Teen Titans #17

Titans Tomorrow Part One: Big Brothers and Sisters

Geoff Johns Writer
Mike McKone Penciller
Marlo Alquiza Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Jeanine Schaefer Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Mike McKone shows our Teen Titans all grown up. Cassie is now Wonder Woman, Conner is Superman, Tim is Batman, Gar is more animalistic and apparently naked, Raven is darker and angrier, and we have a new Aquawoman. And in this future, when Bart became the Flash, he decided to forego the traditional Barry/Wally costume and simply modified his Kid Flash mask. This uniform does have a slightly odd feel to it, but it has the benefit of distinguishing this Bart from all other Flashes.

Our story begins in Gotham City, 10 years from now. Commissioner Gordon has come out of retirement to help Commissioner Montoya battle Joker's daughter, whom she says is even worse than her father. However, the police don't actually do anything, as the Tim Drake Batman arrives to battle Duela Dent for the last time. This was the battle the Karate Kid said he'd studied and memorized, but I'm not sure why. The fight itself isn't particularly noteworthy, and the ending is rather gruesome. Batman pulls out a gun and shoots Duela in the face, symbolically splattering her blood all over a portrait of Bruce Wayne.

After the fight, the Conner Superman calls Batman, saying their alarm signal has indicated someone has come to their island while they were all out and about. And apparently the tower's security system has been shutdown, even though it's programmed to only respond to their DNA. Batman is troubled by this, and he says they should all approach the island together.

We then check in on our Teen Titans at Titans Tower in San Francisco. Everyone instinctually feels like something's not right. Superboy suggests they're all dizzy from their time travel, but Bart says time travel never bothers him. Conner says that as a Flash, Bart is supposed to be able to handle time travel. Cyborg notes that the tower doesn't show any of the damage from their fight against the Persuader, but their biggest clue that they're not home yet is the statue out front. Instead of honoring the original Teen Titans, this statue is of themselves as they currently are. Against their better judgment, everyone heads inside to find a new area called the Hall of Mentors, which includes a statue of Max Mercury.

Bart explains that Max watched over him before Jay Garrick, and he taught Bart everything books couldn't, before disappearing into the Speed Force a while ago. Beast Boy draws attention to a statue of Ares, and Wonder Girl adamantly denies that the god of war is any kind of mentor to her. Cyborg points out a statue of Superman standing back-to-back with Lex Luthor. Bart asks Conner what this means, and Conner, in turn, asks Cyborg, but he remains silent. Raven notices the Batman statue has been mostly destroyed, leaving only its feet on the pedestal. Robin finally suggests a rational course of action — they should get out of here.

But before our heroes can leave, the future versions of themselves (the complete group from the cover) shows up. Batman announces them as the Titans, calls our heroes trespassers, and orders Superman to use his telekinesis to get the trespassers out of the building. As the Titans race out to meet the intruders, they speculate whether they're dealing with clones or synthetics. Flash tells his teammates that although time travel played havoc with their memories, his are still intact. He remembers their battle against the Fatal Five Hundred 10 years ago and how they all got sidetracked afterward.

Kid Flash is the first to recover from Superman's attack, and he charges straight at the future version of himself, saying he'll take the air away from the Titans. Flash tells Kid Flash that he'll steal his speed, and our young Bart trips and falls on his face when he gets too close to the Flash. Superboy and Robin are shocked that Flash was able to take down Kid Flash just by looking at him, so Starfire urges them to "look back."

A full fight breaks out, with everyone instinctually taking on their counterparts. The adult Gar Logan, now Animal Man, takes on both Beast Boy and Cyborg, shocking them by transforming into two separate bulls. Wonder Girl and Superboy try to simply talk to Wonder Girl and Superman, but Superman knocks them down with another telekinetic blast, mocking the "silly children" for their innocence. Raven battles her future self, now known as Dark Raven, and the two of them do ... something ... that knocks out both of them. Flash checks on the two Ravens, telling them they're just hurting themselves. Aquawoman agrees, saying her telepathy detects the same brainwaves in Robin and Batman, preemptively stopping their fight.

So everybody manages to calm down and head back inside, where our heroes tell their story to the future Titans. Beast Boy and Wonder Girl are impressed with how all the Titans defer to Batman on everything, and Kid Flash wonders where the future versions of Cyborg and Starfire are. Batman concludes that the less the time-travelers see of their future the better. He offers to let them stay in the tower for the night, while they work on sending them back home in the morning. Cyborg says that sounds acceptable, and they all go to bed.

Robin and Superboy are sharing a room, and Robin complains that the room doesn't have any computers. Tim and Conner talk about how weird this whole experience is, and Conner tells Tim that his future self is "totally hardcore." But Tim despises his future self, saying he'll never be Batman. Superboy then says he wants to talk to his future self about his Luthor DNA to find out if it's going to screw him up somehow. Tim thinks this is a bad idea, but Conner insists on this, referring to the troubling statue they saw earlier. So Tim lets Conner go, using the time alone to think more about what could ever cause him to become Batman.

Superboy quietly flies down the stairs, passing a portrait of a girl archer named Speedy, yet he can tell it's not Cissie King-Jones. Conner's super hearing picks up the Titans' conversation. Wonder Woman says they can't put their younger selves in the Phantom Zone, referring to problems caused by Brother Blood and Brainiac. Batman insists they do things his way, promising it won't hurt the kids, but will get the job done. Superboy then finds the Titans, down in a room with Deathstroke chained up and missing an arm. Batman tells Deathstroke to give them intel on Victor and the others, or Superman will burn off his other arm.



This is a pretty interesting comic. We're given a future version of the Teen Titans, showing most of them with more developed powers and a mysterious darkness shrouding everything. At first glance, this looks like this is what happens when our heroes give in to their darker desires. Cassie and Conner becoming corrupted by Ares and Luthor, respectively, Raven being consumed by her natural darkness, Beast Boy by his animal instincts, and who knows what's going on with Tim. However, Bart seems to have a level head. He erected a statue of Max Mercury (I'm shocked that Geoff Johns remembered him) and has seemed to continue living his life following Max's principles, even as his friends fall off the deep end around him.

This is the second time Bart has met a future version of himself. The first time was from a reality where Bart, still as Impulse, retreated to the future with Carol after Max's death. That was a harsh world ruled by President Thawne, forcing Impulse to beef up to survive the daily battles. This future Bart comes from a reality where he had already become Kid Flash, and essentially continued that same costume design. And although he's living in a dark time, he's not the only hero around and doesn't need to carry such a large burden. Therefore, he's not the muscle-bound hulk from before, but still has a relatively small runner's body. However, this future Bart still has demonstrated incredible control of his powers, stealing the younger Bart's speed just by looking at him. I'm looking forward to learning more about these future Titans. And as I'm writing this in 2018, the Titans of Tomorrow have returned once again to the DC Universe.

Well, we have already finished reviewing every Bart Allen comic that was published during 2004. Next time, we'll review the year and hand out some awards.