DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #4

Our cover by Phil Jimenez shows Donna Troy heroically leading the Teen Titans and Outsiders into battle. Right beside her is Wonder Woman, who has been inexplicably absent this entire story. And don't let this cover fool you. Diana will make an appearance in this issue, but not until well after the battle at hand is finished. But other than that complaint (and the six Beast Boys for some reason), this is a pretty decent cover, announcing to the world that Donna Troy is back, once and for all.

Our story begins with Donna Troy and her superhero friends leading the forces of Minosyss against the titan gods and their army of thousands. The first three pages of my digital copy are silent, and I only point this out because it doesn't feel like an intentional choice. It looks like room was left on the art for text bubbles, and characters' mouth are open like they're talking and pointing at each other. And when they do start talking on page 4, it feels like we're jumping into the middle of the conversation.

Anyway, Donna flies ahead of the other to take on the titan gods directly. Her "husband" Coeus is torn up by this, but Donna merely tells him she wants a divorce after this war is over. Nightwing loses  track of Donna with his binoculars, so he has Raven start searching for her, while the rest of them engage the ground troops. But Cyborg is horrified to see the mass of opposing forces goes two miles deep. Arsenal breaks ranks to go look for Donna on the back of a horse-like creature, and Raven is attacked psychically by the titan god Crius. Nightwing sees Raven fall and has Kid Flash save her, while Cassie nearly falls into a trance, saying being in the presence of the titan gods feels like looking into a mirror.

Donna is easily overpowered by the titan gods and knocked unconscious. Our heroes on the ground are having an equally tough time, especially when the ocean-based titan gods create a massive tsunami that drowns most of the natives. Cassie eventually makes her way to Coeus, wraps her lasso around him, and tells him they don't need the sun-eater. Coeus admits the sun-eater was never their goal — they just needed Donna. And sure enough, we see Hyperion and his wife, Thia, taking off away from the battle with Donna in tow.

Arsenal follows them underground to the sun-eater factory, which you think our heroes would have made a priority to protect. Coeus begs Cassie to release him, saying he needs to ask Donna for her forgiveness before the titan gods' plan is enacted. The fighting on the planet's surface grows worse, with Nightwing noting that there aren't many Minosyssans left to protect. Kid Flash passionately cries out at the ocean titan, demanding to know why they have to kill all these people.

At the factory, Hyperion explains to Donna that they don't care about the sun-eater, but are actually more interested in the device built to teleport the sun-eater to any targeted galaxy — the nexus point. Hyperion says this nexus point can take them outside of the universe, to what was once the multiverse (before Crisis on Infinite Earths), and Donna is the key to operating this device. To help Donna understand fully, Hyperion restores all of her memories from all of her thousand previous lifetimes on the different worlds of the now extinct multiverse.

In a dense two-page spread, Donna narrates her entire history in perhaps the most clear way possible. On Earth-1, she was an orphaned infant, saved from a burning building by Wonder Woman and raised on Paradise Island to become Wonder Girl. But on Earth-7, Donna was saved by the Anti-Monitor and raised to become his harbinger of doom, Dark Angel. When the multiverse was collapsed into one world in the fight against the Anti-Monitor, Donna's very nature was altered in a most complicated manner. As she explains, "This new universe didn't quite know what to do with some of the more complicated holdovers from the multiverse. So it improvised." Substitute the word "universe" for "DC creators" and you get exactly what happened.

In this new universe, Donna was created as Diana's twin sister from a magic mirror. But Dark Angel managed to escape the compression of worlds and subjected Donna to an endless cycle of torture. Eventually, Donna was reincarnated as an orphaned infant once again, but this time, she was saved by Rhea, the queen of the titans of myth. Rhea knew that Donna was the sum total of all her past lives — Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, Troia, Darkstar, Dark Angel and even Harbinger. This makes Donna a unique connection to every universe that had ever existed, and the only being capable of sending the titan gods to a new universe.

Once Donna understands this truth, Hyperion summons all the titan gods to him, putting an abrupt and stunning end to the war. Coeus congratulates Donna on saving them all, but she asks if all the death was necessary for this. Coeus regretfully explains that the titan gods derive their power from the worship or fear of mortal beings, and they staged this interplanetary war to gain as much power as possible before journeying to a new universe. Donna tearfully asks Coeus how long he knew she was the key to this plan, and Coeus says that Rhea died before she could tell the titan gods the truth about Donna. They didn't realize she was the one until she was killed by the Superman robot back in Graduation Day. The titan gods "called out" to Donna's soul, and she responded and was reborn. Thia interjects, saying Donna's memories of her past lives impeded their mission, which was why they tampered with her mind. Hyperion is impatient, though, and he commands Donna to open the stargate.

Donna complies, creating a large portal of light that the titan gods excitedly leap through, salivating at the planets and galaxies they will control. Coeus asks Donna to join them, but she refuses. One of the titans manages to stick his head back out of the portal long enough to warn Coeus, Hyperion and Thia not to enter. Donna had tricked them, opening the portal to Tartarus, a place of eternal torment designed for the vilest of deities. Hyperion orders Donna to bring the titan gods back, but she says she knows they will never stop conquering and killing, which is why they deserve eternal punishment.

Hyperion and Thia attack Donna, prompting Arsenal to leap out of the shadows in a foolish, yet valiant attempt to save his former girlfriend. But while Arsenal fails to damage the titan gods, he does manage to turn the heart of one of them — Coeus. Inspired by Roy's love and willingness to sacrifice himself, Coeus turns on Hyperion and Thia by unleashing the sun-eater on them. Since they are living embodiments of the sun, this monster is one of the few creatures in existence that can harm them. The sun-eater begins consuming Hyperion and Thia, who try to escape through the portal, but have their bodies torn to pieces instead.

All this fighting causes the cavern to begin to collapse. Coeus willingly journeys to Tartarus, vowing to make sure the other titan gods never leave. Wonder Girl and Athyns fly down to save Donna and Arsenal, as the landslide becomes the perfect prison for the sun-eater, which is unable to penetrate the unique ore of Minosyss (which is why it became the site of the sun-eater factory in the first place).

Donna kisses Roy, embraces Cassie and reunites with all our heroes. Beast Boy comments on the sexiness of the two Wonder Girls in a stupid Jar-Jar Binks voice. Bart is the only one who calls Gar out on his inappropriate timing. Donna remembers how she always thought Bart was immature, but now she sees him as the new heart of the Teen Titans. The remaining soldiers of the titans' army surrender to the Minosyssans and vow to help them make sure the sun-eater never escapes, working under the leadership of Athyns. The travelsphere then takes the Teen Titans and Outsiders back to Earth, but Donna chooses to remain behind. To my surprise, nobody even asks her to consider coming home with them.

Donna returns to New Cronus, the now abandoned home of the titan gods. Wonder Woman visits Donna here and presents her with a glowing red sphere from the priestesses of Themyscira. Donna instantly recognizes it as Harbinger's History of the Universe Orb, realizing it is now her destiny to be the keeper of all these mysteries and knowledge. After Diana leaves, Donna activates the orb and tells it to show her everything. She watches the past, the creation of the multiverse and the ensuing crisis. She watches the present and the future, but the future horrifies her. Donna finally understands why the titan gods were so desperate to leave this universe. Donna realizes this impending catastrophe is going to be too big and she needs help.



Well, I think that actually makes sense now. It's still convoluted, but I think I understand the basics of who Donna Troy is. Even more importantly, I understand now how her history became so complicated. The creators at DC just couldn't decide what to do with her and kept making things more complicated. What Phil Jimenez did here feels almost like salvaging the character — turning her weakness into a strength. But is this new position ideal for Donna Troy? Basically removed from everyone and everything, watching the history of existence unfold around her? Seems like a waste of her skills and strength.

As a whole, this story was a grand, sweeping epic. It was a little frustrating working through it, though, as so much crucial information was withheld until the very end. All this fighting was caused by the titan gods' fear of the upcoming Infinite Crisis. But we didn't find that out until literally the last page. And to learn that truth, we had to learn about five other things first, with each bit of essential information pointlessly being delayed as long as possible. Like the sun-eater factory. Kid Flash saw it, but we the readers didn't. He then went back and told the others about it, but we didn't hear what he said. We had to wait like four or five pages before we finally knew what Bart knew. And that's how it went with everything in this story.

The pacing was also problematic. So much of the first three issues felt like scenes were being unnecessarily prolonged and drawn out. Fights that could have and should have been resolved quicker were stretched out. We were given scene after scene of the titan gods sitting around saying the exact same things over and over again. And when we get to the final issue, we suddenly have too much to do and not enough room to do it. The climax with the sun-eater and Hyperion was almost entirely relegated to caption boxes, as the art simply didn't have enough pages to actually show what was happening. And I still can't believe we didn't get a scene of the heroes saying goodbye to Donna and/or asking her to come home with them. They were quickly pushed away so the precious amount of limited space left could be devoted to setting up Donna's role as Harbinger. She didn't even have time to say more than two words to Wonder Woman.

I actually really liked Bart's arc in this story. He forged a strong bond with these aliens, and it strongly effected him to see them senselessly being slaughtered. This was a great way to show that not only has Bart matured, but he really is the heart of the Teen Titans.

Next time, we're going to take a break from the world of Donna Troy and tackle something completely different with Gotham Central #34.

DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #3

Our cover by Phil Jimenez shows the brainwashed Donna Troy pinning down and trying to strangle Wonder Girl with her own lasso. It's actually a rather frightening image. If Cassie hadn't managed to get her left hand around the lasso on her neck, she probably would be dead. This cover also draws attention to Cassie's star-shaped belly ring, which was also present last issue, but I totally missed it. Cassie hasn't had this ring in any issues of Teen Titans yet, and I actually think it's a ridiculously stupid accessary to her superhero uniform. Setting aside the impracticality of charging into battle wearing a belly shirt, putting such a large piece of jewelry on her belly button is sure to get caught on something — strength of Zeus or not.

Our story begins with several of the titan gods celebrating Donna Troy being freed from her cage, even though they had warned Coeus not to interfere. Hyperion is especially excited, exclaiming that Troia will now destroy her former companions and lead the titan gods into their new existence beyond this universe. And sure enough, the second Donna is free, she immediately attacks Athyns. Kid Flash panics and turns to Cyborg, just as he has been doing all day. Cyborg tries to tell Bart to get behind him, but he's hit hard by Donna, as well.

Donna quickly knocks down Jade before taking on Starfire. Nightwing notes that she's going for their strongest members first, and Raven says they need to reach her mind, but she hesitates for some reason. (I will never understand the powers and limitations of Raven.) Cassie recognizes Donna's moves as a lethal Amazon attack pattern, and she begs Raven to stop her before she kills Starfire. Several native aliens begin to grab Bart's attention and Raven tells him to follow the aliens, saying she senses they have the secret to ending Donna's madness.

One of the titan gods, Mnemosyne, begins to have doubts about killing these heroes, who actually have helped them in the past. But she's shot down by Crius. Nightwing tells Cassie that with Athyns and Cyborg down, she's the only one strong enough to stop Donna, but Cassie's still reluctant to fight her. Arsenal fires seven arrows at Donna, but she catches them all and throws six of them back at Roy. The seventh arrow was actually Shift in disguise, and he immediately wraps himself around Donna's arm. Cassie blocks five of the arrows from hitting Roy, but one of them does land in his shoulder.

Shift blinds Donna with a blast of phosphorus, which gives Jade enough time to create some metal bands around Donna. At Cyborg's urging, Cassie wraps her lasso around Donna, but she immediately breaks free of both the lasso and Jade's construct. Cassie charges in for a direct attack, saying the Donna she knows would never act this way. But Troia insists that the Donna Cassie knew was merely a figment of her imagination.

Meanwhile, Bart is led to an underground cavern and shown something very shocking. Raven and Athyns have followed Bart down there (instead of trying to get into Donna's head), and Bart says they need to hurry back and tell the others. Cassie's fight with Donna becomes even more intense, and Cassie again tries to show her old friend the photo of them with Wonder Woman. But it has no effect. Bart, Athyns and Raven return to the battle, and Nightwing orders Raven to enter Donna's head, which she finally — finally! — does.

Raven forces Donna to see the truth of all the suffering she has caused by waging this war on Minosyss, while Bart and Athyns fill in the rest on what they saw. Nightwing has everyone create a tunnel to the underground cavern, and after Raven becomes ... exhausted? ... after entering Donna's mind, Cassie shoves Donna down the tunnel. Everyone follows them to the cavern, which contains a lot of ominous machinery. With her senses restored to her, Donna recognizes the machinery as a sun-eater factory. And to her horror, she remembers the truth — the titan gods aren't trying to destroy the sun-eater factory, but seek to use it.

Now that Donna is back to normal, everybody can lick their wounds, tend to the struggling Minosyssans and prepare to battle the titan gods and their army. As Donna checks on Cassie, we learn something that has not been mentioned in Teen Titans yet — Cassie is the daughter of Zeus. But we don't have time to dwell on what that means, as Cyborg has detected thousands of shocktroopers heading straight toward them. As our heroes set up defenses for the Minosyssans, Donna is impressed by how Kid Flash has connected so well with the younger Minosyssans, and Wonder Girl's resolve to stop the carnage around her.

As the battle edges even closer, Nightwing naturally falls into the leadership role. Kid Flash tells him these people are scared, and he asks if Donna is ready. But first, Donna and Athyns must attend to the funeral of their "sister" Sparta, who had also been brainwashed by the titan gods and was killed at the beginning of this war. Donna vows to avenge Sparta's death and bring the titan gods to justice. Right on cue, the titan gods themselves descend to Minosyss, leading their army of thousands. To the dismay of Coeus, his beloved Troia has flown up to meet them in battle.




The story is starting to come together. We have a clear villain with a clear purpose, so I can focus on that. I'm still really hazy on the nature of these titan gods and exactly how they brought Donna back to life, but that's not really important now. I saw what a sun-eater can do back in Final Night, and I'm excited for an upcoming battle to keep this machine out of the hands of insane, devious deities. The path to get to this point, however, was a bit of a chore. As fun as the fight against Donna was, it felt stretched out, especially considering how Raven might have been able to end it before it even began. Right? I mean, why didn't she just enter Donna's mind right from the start, before Donna was even freed from her cage? I don't know. Raven is even more mysterious to me than Donna Troy is, so I'm pretty helpless here.

But I do know Bart Allen. And I found it interesting that he has bonded with these aliens. As I said last time, Bart really doesn't have any friends with him on this adventure, leading him to want to spend more time with these people. And even though all our heroes are moved by the plight of the Minosyssans, Bart seems to be the hardest hit. He and Cassie have the least amount of experience dealing with actual war, but Cassie is completely wrapped up with the business of Donna, leaving Bart alone to wonder how these supposedly benevolent beings could be responsible for such a tragedy.

Next time, we'll conclude this four-part special.

DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #2

My digital copy of this comic doesn't have a credits page, but it was written by Phil Jimenez, drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and inked by George Perez. I can't think of a better team to bring Donna Troy back to life, as they've all had extensive experience with Donna and the Teen Titans. One might call their style old-fashioned, but in this case, I prefer to call it classic.

Our cover shows Donna Troy in silver armor and seemingly charged with electricity. And this is more or less a direct scene from the story inside. Surrounding her are the Teen Titans (Bart's in the bottom left corner) and select members of the Outsiders. Superboy is absent, as he's still working out his identity in Smallville. Robin is also missing, presumably sitting at home with his broken arm. Nightwing, however, is present, even though he technically quit the Outsiders fairly recently. But in all honesty, the story of Donna Troy's return simply could not be told without Dick Grayson.

Our story begins at Outsiders headquarters, where the sudden appearance of a small glowing sphere has spooked Shift. Believing this to be connected to Brainiac, he tries to destroy the sphere before Starfire and Nightwing stop him. Shift is surprised to see Nightwing back in Brooklyn, but Dick doesn't have time to explain his appearance. Arsenal bursts in with his daughter, Lian, and Jade, and Roy immediately draws an arrow on the sphere. But Nightwing stops him, too, as both he and Starfire recognize the sphere and believe it's a sign that Dona Troy is alive.

On the other side of the country at Titans Tower, Cassie is looking at photos of her with Conner, wishing he'd come back to the team. She then pulls up a photo of her with Wonder Woman and Donna, wishing she could talk to Donna about the recent reveal of her father's identity. Beast Boy comes running by as a gazelle, telling Cassie to follow him. They meet up with Cyborg and Raven, standing in front of Donna's statue. The same glowing sphere from earlier is floating in front of the statue's face, and all the older members of the Titans seem to recognize this.

Bart comes running in, saying he saw the sentry alarm go off, and he asks if Brainiac, Luthor or even Superboy have returned. Suddenly, the sphere opens up into a bright portal of light. Arsenal pops out of the portal, asking the Titans if they're coming or not. Bart asks Cassie what's going on, but she's just as perplexed as he is. Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven, however, are just as excited as they can be. So they all get inside the sphere, which is much larger on the inside, and seems to resemble a giant heart with large, red arteries going off in all directions. The sphere itself is hurtling through space, much faster than the speed of light.

As they travel through space, Raven learns of a horrible war being waged between Rann, Thanagar, Colu and Throneworld. The old Teen Titans reminisce of their first adventure to space, and Cassie is having a hard time believing Donna might be alive. Ever the detective, Dick begins to wonder why Donna sent the sphere to them instead of coming to them herself. Bart spends his time exploring the sphere, noting it must be some sort of tesseract (something he's had experience with), but he can't quite figure it out.

The talk about Donna turns to the titan gods and Donna's past association with them. And by titan gods, we're talking about the actual titans that battled Zeus and everything in Greek mythology. Everyone seems to agree that these gods are responsible for Donna's resurrection. Bart confirms with Cyborg that he's met these gods before, and he asks if they're anything like Orion and Darkseid. Vic confesses ignorance on the nature of deity, but one thing he can say for certain is that being a god doesn't automatically make one good. Both Raven and Cassie somehow sense that Donna is in terrible trouble, and before long, our heroes land on an alien planet called Minosyss.

As they all get their bearings straight, Wonder Girl spots a city up ahead and Kid Flash takes off to check it out and look for Donna. Bart quickly returns, but before he can report on what he saw, all the rocks around our heroes are revealed to be soldiers in disguise. Bother Cyborg and Bart are shocked they missed this, and Nightwing orders everyone not to hurt the natives, since they are technically trespassing on their land. Our heroes retreat to the city, but fall right into an ambush. As they try to defend themselves without causing too much damage, Bart asks Cassie if she thinks these aliens did something to Donna. But once again, Cassie is just as clueless as Bart.

The fighting is suddenly put to an end by a large male alien named Athyns (which Bart thinks sounds like Athens). Athyns is able to speak the other aliens' language and convince them the Teen Titans and Outsiders mean them no harm. The older Titans have a past history with Athyns and are on friendly terms with him. Cassie realizes that he must be a titan seed like Donna, and asks him to take them to her. So Athyns reluctantly leads our heroes to Donna, and we're treated to basically the same image we saw on the cover. Except we realize that the electricity around Donna is actually a cage.

All this is being watched from afar by the titans. They have essentially brainwashed Donna and sent her into the middle of this war. While the titans ultimately believe their cause is just, they are worried that if Donna is shown the truth, then their plan will be imperiled. One of them, Coeus, struggles with this act of dishonesty.

Back on Minosyss, Beast Boy has turned into a bat to quickly survey the surrounding area, reporting back there's only smoke and dead bodies for miles, presumably caused by Donna and her "pals." Bart says he saw lots of kids hunched over their parents' bodies or fighting over scraps of food. He's read about places like this, but seeing it firsthand is a completely different experience. Bart asks Cyborg why the gods — the people with all the power — do this to people without power. Shift says the nature of life is big people spitting on little people, and that will never change. Cyborg responds by saying if he believed that, he would give up being a hero.

Athyns explains to our heroes that he sent the travelsphere to them in hopes that they would be able to snap Donna out of the insanity caused by the titans. Arsenal tries reasoning with Donna, saying he knows she would never allow anything to happen to all the innocent children around them. Cassie shows her a picture of the two of them with Wonder Woman, begging Donna to remember who she is. During all this Donna has been ranting and raving about the justification of this war. But her old friends do make a compelling argument, causing Donna to become confused. She cries out to her "husband" Coeus, who defies the other titans and interferes by freeing Donna from her cage.



This is the second of a four-part story. It is dense, deep stuff, calling back characters, places and ideas from old stories I've never read. So I feel exactly like Bart in this situation — armed only with a slight knowledge of who Donna Troy is, and otherwise completely out of his element. Bart does feel rather isolated in this issue, with both Superboy and Robin sitting this adventure out. He's never really had that strong of a relationship with Cassie, so he invariably finds himself turning to Cyborg with all his questions. However, Cyborg is unable to make this story any less overwhelming for Bart or me.

Next time: Part Three of Donna Troy's return.

Teen Titans #26

Soul Searching

Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Tony S. Daniel
Inks Marlo Alquiza
Colors Jeromy Cox
Letters Comicraft
Assistant Editor Jeanine Schaefer
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover is by the new penciller of the series, Tony S. Daniel. On a whole, I'd say Daniel is superior to Mike McKone. But I know realize that a large part of my problems with McKone's art can be attributed to Marlo Alquiza's inks. I've seen Daniel's work with different inkers, and it usually looks better than this. Anyway, this cover is pretty straightforward, showing us that Raven is going to help Superboy recover and confront all his previous versions.

Our story begins one month after Superboy was brainwashed. Conner's hair has mostly grown back, and he's taking a peaceful stroll through the Kents' cornfield. But he's still haunted by the images of him attacking Tim and Cassie. This brings back his worries about being a clone and not having a soul, and once the Kents leave to go shopping, Conner slumps down on the front porch and wonders aloud why he exists. Raven suddenly shows up, apologizes to Conner, and engulfs him in her darkness.

Conner then begins bouncing around through a series of visions. First up is Lex Luthor programming Superboy, while he's still in the tube at Cadmus. Next is Batman and Superman in the Batcave, arguing about how dangerous Superboy is. When Conner tries to talk to them, he's confronted by his future self, who says that he'll be proud to be a Luthor. This vision shatters away to show the brainwashed Superboy attacking Wonder Girl. Conner tries to stop his past self, but he's punched into Titans Tower and met by the lifeless forms of his teammates.

Conner is most worried about Tim. But his grieving is interrupted by his bald self attacking him again. Conner eventually defeats this version of himself, shouting, "I'm not a monster!" Everything fades away after this, and Raven talks to him directly. She says that when Conner asked if he had a soul, she didn't answer because she couldn't see it — it was buried so deep. But when Conner broke free from Luthor, his soul rose to the top. Raven says Conner made his own soul — it wasn't created by scientists or doctors.

Raven tells Conner that she's sorry he has the same feelings of being cursed that she has. But Conner is more worried about how his teammates are doing right now. Raven tells him Robin's arm is nearly healed now, and Cyborg has been repaired. Conner asks how Cassie is doing, but that's a bit more complicated. Raven assures Conner no one blames him for what he did, and Cassie's feelings for him haven't changed. She urges him to rejoin the Titans and allow the whole team to help him get through this, but Conner says he's not ready to come back yet. Raven accepts this answer, hands Conner a Titans communicator and delivers a message from Bart: "You'll always be a Titan."

Elsewhere, in a land of smoke and carnage, Brother Blood feels the mystic realms being threatened and the barrier back to the real world weakening. He still believes Raven will love him and the world will be unified in the faith of Trigon. So he begins making preparations with his new mother.



It was necessary to have an introspective issue after that crossover. And Raven definitely is the right person for this kind of assignment (even if I still don't fully understand the extent of her powers). I like the idea that Superboy has a soul because he chooses to have one, because he has fought to have one. And it is also refreshing and realistic to have him still need some more time to process all this. Sadly, this issue does reinforce the fact that Conner's best friends are now Cassie and Tim. Bart has been relegated to a mere afterthought.

I am excited to see what Tony S. Daniel does with this title. But I'm not too excited for the return of Brother Blood. He's just too abstract for me. I mean, we don't even know where he is right now. It's just "Elsewhere." Oh well. At least he doesn't have that stupid skull thing on his head anymore.

Next time, we're going to take a look at the long, convoluted process of resurrecting Donna Troy.

The Flash #224

Rogue War Chapter 5

Geoff Johns – Writer
Howard Porter – Penciller
Livesay – Inker
Pat Brosseau – Letterer
James Sinclair – Colorist
Michael Wright – Assoc. Editor
Joey Cavalieri – Editor

Our cover by Howard Porter shows Zoom battling Flash on the Cosmic Treadmill. Last issue showed the Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne) showing up on the treadmill, but as we'll soon see, Hunter Zolomon will also take a turn on the time machine. As a whole, I find this cover rather underwhelming, especially with the background. A high-speed journey through time should look a bit more exciting than this.

Our story picks up with Wally in an interesting dilemma. On one side, a bunch of the Rogues are lying unconscious on the ground, courtesy of Zoom, who currently is holding Kid Flash by the throat. On the other side, Eobard has just appeared on the Cosmic Treadmill, with Jay Garrick chained to the machine. Bart can't believe that that's the real Eobard Thawne. Hunter reveals that he had trouble controlling the treadmill's precision, but by siphoning Jay's speed, he was able to send it to the right moment to set up this elaborate death trap for Wally. Zoom asks Wally if he's willing to go as far as the Rogues to protect his family.

Wally immediately charges toward Eobard, who says the last thing he remembers is racing Barry to kill Iris on their wedding day. But before Barry could snap Eobard's neck, Hunter recruited him to help in his battle against Wally. To Eobard's surprise, Wally ducks his attack, rolls between his legs and frees Jay. Wally then throws Jay's helmet like a frisbee straight at Bart's head, trusting him to do the one thing he can do that Zoom can't — vibrate.

Bart does vibrate, and Jay's helmet hits Hunter square in the face. Eobard and Wally exchange a few punches, and Wally asks Hunter what he wants, just as Eobard brings down a building on top of him. Hunter repeats his old refrain of how he wants to educate Wally and punish him for refusing to travel back in time to prevent him from being paralyzed. Jay tells Zoom to stop dwelling on the past and learn to deal with the misfortunes of life, as he takes on Eobard and Bart battles Hunter.

Hunter says he's learned from Eobard that Bart, the son of Thawne's descendant, Meloni, will betray his lineage. Bart insists that Allen blood runs through his veins, so Hunter asks to see Bart's blood. Hunter and Eobard manage to hurt Bart and Jay just enough to buy themselves time to grab the unconscious Wally and take off on the Cosmic Treadmill. Wally quickly comes to and begins battling Hunter, while Eobard guides them past several key moments in Wally's life, including him joining the Teen Titans and Barry Allen sacrificing himself in the fight against the Anti-Monitor.

We then cut to Wally's house, where Hunter had dropped off his wife, Ashley, in front of a perplexed Linda Park and Pied Piper. Ashley blames herself for not being with her husband when he needed her, causing him to turn into a super villain. Pied Piper wonders if Hunter dropped her off at Wally's house to try to keep her safe. Linda suddenly doubles over in pain, clutching her stomach.

Our time-traveling trio cruises past an old fight between Captain Boomerang and the Elongated Man, and then a scene of Bart Allen before he got his Impulse mask. Wally gains an upper hand in the fight, knocking the treadmill slightly off course. This sends a bolt of pink lightning at the young Captain Boomerang, causing him to go tumbling through the time stream. He ends up sometime in the future, coming face to face with Meloni Thawne. And the time travel appears to have given Digger temporary amnesia, as he is unable to tell Meloni who he is.

Hunter manages to pin Wally, freeing Eobard up to guide them to the exact moment Hunter wanted to revisit — the first time he fought Wally. Hunter forces Wally to watch and relive the pain of seeing Zoom injure Linda badly enough to cause her to miscarry her twins. After witnessing the horrific scene, Hunter asks Wally if he'd do anything to change that one second, and if he does, then he'll understand why Hunter wanted Wally to change his past so badly. Hunter then has Eobard "rewind" the scene to show it to Wally again. But before the tragedy can be replayed, Barry Allen suddenly arrives right next to them on his own treadmill.





So it seems like the Rogue War is now over, making way for another showdown between the Flashes and Reverse Flashes. This would have been a great opportunity to bring back Rival and Inertia, but I guess we'll just have to enjoy what we were given. I was very happy to see that Johns remembered Bart's vibrational ability, although Porter did draw it very strangely. Sadly, Bart didn't do anything after that vibrating trick. There was a setup for an interesting conversation on how he's half-Thawne and half-Allen, but that was dropped as soon as it came up.

Speaking of Thawnes ... I do have a major complaint with this issue. In Identity Crisis, we learned that Captain Boomerang had an adult son, Owen, whom he had never met. After Digger tracks down Owen and teaches him how to throw a boomerang, we see that Owen has limited super-speed abilities. It's heavily implied that these abilities come from Owen's mother, but Digger doesn't tell him who his mom is before he's killed by Robin's father, Jack Drake. Well, here we have finally learned the convoluted truth. As a young man, Digger was inadvertently sent to the future, met Meloni Thawne, and somehow impregnated her before returning to his own time. And instead of raising her son, Meloni somehow sent him back to the 1980s, where little Owen grew up a troubled youth in foster homes.

I have so many problems. Did Digger fall in love with Meloni? I know he temporarily lost his memory, but Meloni should have recognized him — he was wearing his full Captain Boomerang outfit. Didn't she ever go to the Flash Museum? So either Meloni did know that Digger was a villain and chose to still sleep with him anyway, or Digger forced himself on her. And I don't want to go down that road. In either case, I want to know why Meloni sent Owen to the 1980s. And did she have Owen before or after Bart? Before or after she married Don Allen? These are important details. Also, how did Owen get super speed? Meloni doesn't have super speed. Her dad, Thaddeus Thawne, doesn't have it. You'd have to go back quite a few generations in the Thawne family to find someone who could pass that trait down to Owen. None of this makes any sense. I don't know if this was Geoff Johns' idea or Brad Metzler's, but it certainly feels like it wasn't thought through at all.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Superboy's recovery in Teen Titans #26.

Outsiders #25

The Insiders Part Four

Judd Winick Writer
Carlos D'Anda Artist
Guy Major Colorist
Phil Balsman Letterer
Tom Palmer Jr. Assoc. Editor
Jeanine Schaefer Assist. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Mike McKone shows all the Outsiders defeated and strewn around Brainiac 8. As is usual for McKone, the emotional expressions don't come through very well. So my attention is immediately drawn to Brainiac 8's outfit, which is much more modest and practical than what she's been wearing in the previous three issues (and inside this one, as well). So it is a mistake, but it's a very odd one, because McKone also drew the cover of Outsiders #24, which featured Brainiac 8 in that ridiculously skimpy garb. So this is probably the fault of the colorist, and none of the three editors working on this book caught it. Don't worry, we'll have a few more mistakes in this issue that also slipped through their fingers.

Our story begins with a quick flashback to three weeks ago, where Shift and Indigo slept together and had an introspective discussion on the nature of reality. We cut back to today, where Brainiac 8 has Wonder Girl in her grasp as the original Brainiac descends from above in his large, head-shaped ship. Shift tries to talk to Indigo, but the robot insists she's Brainiac 8 now, and the only to stop her is to kill her. Starfire attempts to do just that by blasting her in the back, and Nightwing orders the heroes to spread out so they're not a sitting target. And Lex Luthor unleashes Superboy on them again.

Beast Boy joins a few of the Outsiders in attacking Brainiac, and they even manage to pull him out of his ship. Luthor starts to get his hands dirty, by hitting some heroes with a sonic disrupter. Arsenal throws a bomb at Luthor, but this draws the ire of the brainwashed Superboy. Wonder Girl attacks her boyfriend again, pleading with him to fight off the mind control. Luthor sees this is starting to work, so he shoots a rocket at Wonder Girl, determined to eliminate Superboy's achilles heel. But Luthor's plan backfires. As Superboy watches Luthor attack Cassie, he regains control of his senses and says, "Leave her alone, 'Dad.'"

We then see that Cyborg has suddenly joined the fight, even though it seemed like he was still being repaired last issue. Robin's arm also has seemed to heal in record time, as he has apparently removed his heavy-duty cast mid-battle. Robin comments that they're not causing any actual damage to the Brainiacs, so Nightwing orders Starfire to stop holding back. She reluctantly agrees, and Nightwing gives everyone a hasty order to steer clear of her impending attack.

Conner has begun to rip apart Luthor's armor piece by piece, shouting that he'll never be Luthor. But after pulling off one of Luthor's gauntlets, he exposes himself to three Kryptonite stones Lex has on his glove (red, green and blue). Disgusted, Lex says he'll kill Superboy and make him stronger. Kid Flash suddenly zips in and takes off with Cassie and Conner to get them away from Starfire's attack.

Starfire has flown up above Brainiac's ship and lit up the whole sky with a blinding light. She unleashes her full power in a blast that directly hits the ship, presumably knocking it down right on top of Brainiac and Luthor. But it is unclear what exactly happened to those two classic villains. Brainiac 8, however, is still up in the air, vowing to kill everyone. And at this point, we're given a quick panel of Kid Flash and Speedy to remind us that they're here.

Nightwing calls in everybody with a ranged attack to hit Brainiac 8 at the same time. But their combined might isn't quite enough to take her down, especially since Starfire is exhausted after her big blast. But Shift finally has a breakthrough, attacking his former girlfriend, which prompts the old Indigo to begin talking to him again. She explains that she is a real, separate personality inside Brainiac 8, and she has temporarily regained control. Indigo says that the plan all along was to send Brainiac 8 back in time to kill Donna Troy, but because of the fluid nature of time, they created the Indigo personality to take over after that murder and hide among the heroes. Indigo begs Shift to kill her, saying Brainiac 8 will soon regain control and will force Indigo to watch as she kills everyone. So Shift sadly complies, transforming Indigo's circuits to dead, inanimate flesh.

This touching scene strongly effects Nightwing, who is reminded that they're all standing on the spot where Donna Troy was murdered. Dick says when he joined the Outsiders, it wasn't supposed to be personal (whatever that means), but now that is is, he no longer wants to be a part of it. So he quits the team on the spot. We then end with a quick epilogue of Donna Troy watching from some mystical location, saying it's time to come back.




Ugh. What a disappointing conclusion. We had two competent teams get together to battle two classic DC villains, and they were basically defeated off screen. What happened to Brainiac and Luthor? They surely couldn't have been killed in such a lackluster manner. And I don't think we were meant to believe that, either. So it's frustrating that this issue just glossed over those two. You'd think someone (possibly Kid Flash) would at least try to look for them at the end.

I'm also disappointed in the sloppy art and storytelling, as well as the minor continuity problems that easily could have been prevented by our editors, who were also in charge of the Teen Titans issues. I'm sick and tired of Nightwing being a major drama queen every time he shows up. And I'm sad that Bart had nothing to do in the finale. But my biggest gripes come from the set up of this story as a whole.

Judd Winick introduced Indigo in Graduation Day, and while I haven't read all 24 issues of the Outsiders between then and now, I do have to say that this story feels like revisionist history on Winick's part. What was clearly set up as a freak accident (Donna's death) is now suddenly a deliberate and convoluted plot. This crossover failed to explain why Brainiac wanted to kill Donna Troy in the first place, let alone why Brainiac 8 was suddenly reactivated from the Indigo shell. I think it would have made more sense for Brainiac 8 to not come back until after Donna came back. But that's just me.

Geoff Johns planted the seed of Superboy being "related" to Luthor in Teen Titans #1. This also required some revisionist history, but it could be explained away. Luthor, a patient man, willing to play the long game, covertly had a hand in creating Superboy, then left him alone for a few years while he ran for president and whatnot. Now he's back to being a full-time super villain and has decided that now is the right time to reap the reward of all that patience. And this is what we got? Superboy's surprise attack was the perfect time to kill somebody, but Luthor called him off. They met up with Brainiac, but didn't do anything together. They were just two separate villains that happened to be in the same place at the same time. I don't see how Brainiac's involvement helped Luthor at all. It actually hindered him, since Brainiac brought in the Outsiders. I just don't get it.

I did kind of like the fatal flaw in Luthor's plan. As he is essentially incapable of understanding love, he was unable to anticipate the effect Wonder Girl would have on Superboy. But where Johns was searching for an emotional payoff after two years of teasing us, I don't think that delays was necessary. I would have preferred to see this story in place of Graduation Day. Superboy finds out he has Luthor's DNA, then immediately goes into that brainwashed rampage, perhaps even killing Donna Troy, if that was necessary. Even without that murder, Superboy's rampage could have been a stronger motivator to split up Young Justice than the Indigo attack was.

Next time, we'll return to the Rogues War in The Flash #224.

Teen Titans #25

The Insiders Part III

Geoff Johns Writer
Matthew Clark Penciller
Art Thibert Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Jeanine Schaefer Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Mike McKone is a variation of the classic Titans charging into action pose. But this time, they're all rushing forward to save Robin from being killed by the brainwashed Superboy. Starfire's inclusion is mostly a nostalgic factor here. She is technically a part of this story with the Outsiders, but it is kind of odd that none of the other Outsiders were included on the cover. You'd think DC would want to play up this crossover. I also have to complain about Beast Boy's decision to turn into a small chimpanzee. C'mon, Gar, do you really think you're going to stop Superboy with that animal?

Our story begins in Metropolis, in the long abandoned first headquarters of Cadmus Labs. Lex Luthor and Superboy have separated from Brainiac and Brainiac 8. Lex shows Superboy the tube he was created in and explains that after spending years of studying Superman, Lex decided the best way to destroy him was not with Kryptonite or magic, but by attacking something he loved. So Lex played the long game with the creation of Superboy, working underneath Cadmus' nose to implant his DNA and his brainwashing programming into their clone of Superman. And Lex waited patiently for Superman to grow to love Superboy before Lex decided to activate him. Now he plans to use Superboy to kill the Teen Titans and truly devastate Superman. Superboy gradually calls Lex his father, which surprises Lex, although he gladly accepts the title. He then leads Superboy away, saying Brainiac can worry about Donna Troy and the future, but they need to worry about the present.

We then cut to the S.T.A.R. Labs in Palo Alto, at 5:44 p.m. on a Saturday. The Teen Titans and Outsiders have been attacked by a bunch of Superman robots, but they're doing a much better job against this batch than the one they faced during Graduation Day. Kid Flash explains to Speedy that these robots are just like the one that killed Donna Troy, and Starfire adds that Omen was also killed that day. The Outsiders continue their debate about Indigo/Brainiac 8, with some of them seeing this attack as proof that Indigo intentionally unleashed the original Superman robot on them.

Wonder Girl is worked up into an emotional rampage sparked by the memory of Donna' murder. She becomes unstoppable, taking out several robots by herself. Ares appears before her in the reflection of a car window, urging her to focus on the emotion of rage rather than love. Cassie smashes the window and nearly attacks Robin, when he tries to calm her down. Tim has his arm in a cast but still decided to come out to see if he can help. Cassie collapses on Tim's shoulder, crying and wondering what happened to Conner.

Back in Metropolis, we learn that Brainiac 8 originally did come back in time with the express purpose of killing Donna Troy, as her actions had set back the development of Brainiac's home world by thousands of years. Once Troy was killed, Brainiac 8 disguised herself as the hero Indigo, but now she has returned to her true form to make sure Troy does not return.

We return to California, where all the Superman robots have been defeated with relative ease. And Robin has used the sudden calm to tell everyone what Superboy had wanted to tell them that morning. Cassie and Bart are furious that this secret was kept from them. Bart tells Tim that he's shutting them out like Batman. Tim says he and Conner never thought it'd get this far, and Bart retorts that the Justice League never thought their secrets would go as far as they did. He maintains that they can't be like the JLA and need to stick together.

Bart then calms down and looks at the situation rationally. He says that Superboy's genetics don't necessarily mean he's a bad guy, using Raven as an example, since her dad is basically Satan. Raven appreciates the comment. Beast Boy points out Superboy's bizarre behavior, including shaving his head, and says there's no way he did this on his own. Arsenal speaks up, saying the actions of Superboy and Indigo are part of a coordinated attack by Luthor and Brainiac, which is why the Outsiders should handle this. Nightwing protests excluding the Teen Titans, and Robin sides with him, saying one of their teammates is in trouble and they won't stop until he's safe. Tim says that Bart's right by saying they're not the Justice League and they need to respect their personal relationships.

Lex Luthor interrupts this stirring speech by flying down with Superboy, whom he commands with a simple order: "Kill." Beast Boy and Starfire avoid the initial attack and fly directly at Luthor. Beast Boy (as a pteranodon) demands to know what Luthor did to Superboy. Luthor says he said the magic words and his "son" finally showed his true colors. As he blasts Beast Boy and Starfire away, Raven prepares an attack, accusing Luthor of demanding to be worshipped like all the other demons. Luthor clarifies that he only seeks respect, claiming he has the ability to stop famine and cure cancer, but he can't as long as Superman is taking up his time. Robin tells Kid Flash to take down Superboy, but Bart wants to talk first.

To Bart's credit, he does manage to talk while fighting, getting in a few kicks and punches before hanging onto Superboy's back. Bart opens with a boring, scientific theory on inherited memories and traits, but ends his argument strong, by reminding Superboy that he's a rebel and encouraging him to rebel against Luthor. Superboy flies backward into a garbage truck and knocks out Bart. Robin throws a useless batarang and Superboy and tries to remind him of their trip to the future and how they want to change that reality. But Superboy knocks him down, too.

Bart is quickly back on his feet, and Cassie hands him her lasso, ordering Bart to wrap it around Superboy and then run far away. Bart complies, although instead of running away, he turns to help fight Luthor. With Superboy in her lasso, and tears in her eyes, Cassie reluctantly unleashes the full power of her wrath on her boyfriend. Superboy happens to step in a puddle of water that Ares has appeared in, and the combined effect of the water and lightning finally snaps Superboy out of his trance. His eyes return to normal and he immediately begs Cassie to get away from him. Conner says he saw everything he did, and even though he didn't want to hurt anyone, he now believes he's a monster. Cassie tells him he's not a monster and leans in to kiss Conner.

Luthor sees this, knocks Kid Flash aside, and repeats the key phrase: "aut vincere aut mori." Superboy's eyes instantly glow red again, but before he can attack Wonder Girl, she's dragged away by Brainiac 8. She begins ranting about how she killed Donna Troy to save the future and now wants to take out this "Wonder Rag." Shift tells Brainiac 8 to let Wonder Girl go, and Brainiac 8 says she will, if Shift kills her.



This was another exciting issue, continuing the emotional beats from Teen Titans #24. There was a lot of action, but unfortunately, Clark is just as unclear with his action scenes as McKone is. I don't know how all those Superman robots were defeated, nor do I understand how our heroes were able to defeat them so easily. Heck, I still don't even know where they came from in the first place, so there's plenty of questions to go around. But the biggest weakness about this crossover is that even three issues in, it still feels like two separate, unrelated stories that were forced together. Arsenal did say they're facing a coordinated attack, but Luthor himself basically said that he and Brainiac have their own goals and will go their own way. And with only one issue left in this story, I'm not confident that problem will be resolved before the end.

Next time, we conclude this crossover with Outsiders #25.

The Flash #223

Rogue War Chapter 4

Geoff Johns – Writer
Howard Porter – Penciller
Lives – Inker
Pat Brousseau – Letterer
James Sinclair – Colorist
Rachel Gluckstern – Asst. Editor
Joey Cavalieri – Editor

Our cover by Howard Porter proclaims "The Reverse Flash vs. The Rogues!" When I think Reverse Flash, my mind goes to Barry Allen's rival, Eobard Thawne. But from this cover (and the inside story), we see we're really dealing with Wally West's rival, Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom. Their costumes are nearly identical, but the key difference is their eyes. Eobard's eyes are normal, Hunter's are black. Moving past this unnecessary confusion, this cover does portray an exciting setup. Zoom taking on Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard and the new Captain Boomerang.

Our story begins with a tense standoff over the corpse of the original Captain Boomerang, Digger Harkness. On one side is Zoom and his wife, Ashley. On the other is the original Trickster, Weather Wizard and Digger's son. While they fight, Wally has his hands full trying to prevent basically all his villains from destroying the city in their war. He throws Girder into the river, punches out Plunder, and builds a cage around Murmur.

We then cut to the Garricks' home, where Joan, Bart and Iris are watching the Rogue War unfold on the news. Apparently Central City is being evacuated, and the Flash pulled a quarter of the city's population out himself before returning to the fight. Sensing Bart's desire to help, Joan tells him to wait for Jay. But Bart reports that the JSA said Jay never showed up for their meeting today, and Bart believes his absence must be connected to the war. Iris agrees with Bart, saying Wally needs his help. So Bart throws on his uniform, saying that even though Wally will never admit it, he really needs Kid Flash right now.

Back to our first fight, Zoom has knocked out Weather Wizard and decided that his wife isn't safe. So he rushes Ashley over to Wally's house, where Linda is tending to an injured Pied Piper. Zoom tells Ashley she should talk to Linda before smirking at Linda and saying her "future is at hand" and quickly taking off.

Wally, meanwhile, is nursing a twisted ankle while trying to dodge Doctor Alchemy's attacks. Captain Cold creates a larges sheet of ice, which Mirror Master uses to bring Gorilla Grodd into the battle. Grodd smashes Wally through a bunch of walls before Bart shows up, calling the ape "Kong." Bart jokes that Mario wants his barrels back, and he jumps on Grodd's back, claiming he can vibrate through the ape's attacks. But Grodd is able to take down Bart with a psychic blast to his mind.

Doctor Alchemy then tries to turn Wally's blood to formaldehyde, but Wally manages to push Grodd into the path of Alchemy's blast. Wally pulls Bart out into the streets and even thanks the teen for his help. As Wally and Bart face down all the remaining Rogues, Zoom suddenly shows up and throws Captain Cold through his own ice sheet. He knocks all the other villains down with one of his patented supersonic snaps, saying this fight isn't about the Rogues anymore — it's about the Flash.

Wally tells Bart this is too big and he needs to leave. Bart says he's here precisely because it's too big. They both charge at Zoom, who punches Wally down and grabs Bart's throat. Zoom tells Wally he still wants to push him harder and make him a better hero. Bart calls Zoom "Speed Freak" and says he's not scared of him. But Zoom says he'll twist Bart's neck just like Barry did to Eobard years ago. There's suddenly a big flash of pink light, and Jay Garrick emerges from it, urging Wally to run away. We then see that Jay is chained up to the Cosmic Treadmill, and riding on that treadmill is the original Reverse Flash, Eobard Thawne.



This was a pretty exciting and wild issue. Everybody you could imagine is involved in this free-for-all some way, and it's enough to make anyone's head spin. And I'm glad Geoff Johns decided to bring in Bart for this crazy story. Unfortunately, he didn't let Bart do much more than be a "damsel in distress." He did drop a line about being able to vibrate, but we didn't see him actually vibrate — even when Zoom was holding him by the neck. It's kind of frustrating how Kid Flash is less powerful and innovative than Impulse was. At least Bart has been toning down the useless fact-spouting recently.

Howard Porter is a very uneven artist. Some pages and panels are absolute gold, while others can be cringe-worthy. Luckily, he brought his A-game for that glorious shot of Kid Flash rushing off to the rescue. It's easily one of the best images of Bart as Kid Flash. I just wish that heroic shot was followed by something better than teasing Gorilla Grodd and nearly being killed by Zoom.

Next time, we'll return to the Insiders storyline in Teen Titans #25.

Outsiders #24

The Insiders Part Two

Judd Winick Writer
Carlos D'Anda Artist
Guy Major Colorist
Phil Balsman Letterer
Tom Palmer Jr. Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Mike McKone follows the same pattern as Teen Titans #24. One of the team's heroes has suddenly turned evil and has altered their appearance to mimic that of a classic villain. Superboy became Lex Luthor, and Indigo has become Brainiac. I haven't been reading Outsiders, so this cover doesn't have nearly the same impact on me. I've never known Indigo as a hero — only the stupid robot that caused the Graduation Day disaster. I also find it odd that this robot, Brainiac 8, would be so concerned about looking so sexy, having its "clothes" barely hanging on to a perfectly idealized frame.

Our story begins with a quick recap of Indigo's origin. She was a damaged robot from the future, desperately teleporting around the world to find compatible technology that could repair her. In this journey, she nearly destroyed Cyborg and inadvertently activated a malfunctioning Superman robot that killed Omen and Donna Troy. S.T.A.R. Labs repaired Indigo, and she became a heroic member of the Outsiders. Until now.

Indigo has transformed into what is likely her "true form," Brainiac 8, and begins attacking the Outsiders. Arsenal had a fail-safe emergency shutdown installed, but Brainiac 8 has overridden that. She then proceeds to beat the crap out of each and every Outsider. Finally, Arsenal targets her with a massive bazooka, and Brainiac 8 teleports away, saying she's already accomplished her goal: "A first shot across the bow."

The Outsiders gather themselves together and fly across the country to meet the Teen Titans at the S.T.A.R. Labs Medical Facilities in Palo Alto. The recovering teens relay their story of how Superboy seemed to be possessed. Wonder Girl says he didn't seem to know or care. Raven adds that she couldn't sense any emotion in him and he seemed like another being altogether. Kid Flash laments that another being would have been nice — Superboy was strong enough to nearly kill them.

Nightwing can't help drawing the comparisons to their recent episode with Indigo, although there is some debate among the Outsiders whether Indigo was actually being possessed by an outside force or merely revealing her true nature. The Outsiders' argument becomes quite heated, and Nightwing tries to calm everyone down. But they only stop fighting amongst themselves when dozens of Superman robots begin descending on the medical facility.

We then cut to a secret bunker three miles below Lexcorp Towers in Metropolis. Brainiac 8 teleports into the lab and is greeted by Lex Luthor, wearing his power armor, with Superboy standing dutifully by his side. Also in attendance is the original Brainiac, who congratulates his "granddaughter" on her work so far, saying their mission to eradicate an entire generation of "heroes" is going according to plan.



The Outsiders sure are a miserable lot. They spent more time fighting each other than actually fighting Brainiac 8. Anyway, I am happy to see these two stories coming together with the Luthor-Brainiac team-up — that pairing always has a lot of potential. But my main problems with the first issue of this crossover persist. Why hasn't anyone called in Superman? He is Superboy's mentor. Luthor and Brainiac are his villains. And those are his robots preparing to attack all our heroes. I mean, at least make an effort to contact Superman. That's all I'm asking for.

Next time, we'll take a break from this crossover to see Kid Flash actually get involved in The Flash #223.

Teen Titans #24

The Insiders Part One

Geoff Johns Writer
Matthew Clark Penciller
Art Thibert Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Tom Palmer Jr Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover is a striking, powerful image from Mike McKone — one of his best on this series. Fulfilling a plot line Geoff Johns has been teasing since issue #1, Superboy has finally gone full Luthor mode. He's shaved his hair, cut an L into his shirt and looks downright evil.

Our story begins in San Francisco at 9:24 a.m. on a Saturday. Conner has stayed up all night in the Titans library, reading books about genetics, memories and Lex Luthor. Robin checks in on the exhausted Superboy, lecturing him about staying up too late and reading books that won't help him. Conner admits that he asked Raven yesterday if he has a soul, and to his distress, Raven became flustered by the question and couldn't give him a straight answer. So Conner's been worrying ever since if he, as a clone, really has a soul.

Robin believes Superboy has a soul, but that just brings up more worries for Conner. The scientists at Cadmus weren't able to properly clone a Kryptonian without stabilizing it with human DNA, which turned out to come from Lex Luthor. Conner says Luthor's DNA is corrupted and he claims he can feel that. However, he is finally ready to tell the rest of the team about all this. Conner asks Robin to gather everybody downstairs, while he takes another minute to gather his thoughts. Robin happily complies.

Conner returns to his room to grab a drink of water, when his laptop suddenly begins emitting a high-pitched screech. He looks at the screen, which displays a small message: "Audio connection established." A voice addresses Superboy, complimenting his "greatest invention" on how much he's grown. The voice then says "aut vincere aut mori" (Latin for "either to conquer or to die). This phrase puts Superboy into a trance. His eyes glow red, with heat vision seemingly boiling out of the sockets. He methodically walks into his bathroom, shaves his head and cuts an L into his shirt, just like on the cover.

Downstairs, Beast Boy wonders if anyone else heard that sound like a dog whistle, but he was the only one. Unconcerned, he begins joking about what Robin's meeting is about, saying he can't be blamed for his dirty laundry, since Bart broke the washing machine. Apparently Bart decided to wash Speedy's quiver for some reason, and failed to remove a glue arrow that was left inside. Cyborg says he thought they got all their secrets out in the open last week, but he is glad that Conner is willing to talk now. Cassie asks Tim what this is about, and before he can answer, Superboy walks down the stairs. Raven says she can't feel any emotions in him. The first thing Bart notices is Superboy's hair — or lack thereof.

Beast Boy is worried about a more pressing concern — Superboy's glowing eyes. Raven begins to warn the others, but Superboy immediately blasts her away with his heat vision. Everyone begins scrambling around in disbelief, and Superboy quickly takes out Bart and Beast Boy with two more heat vision blasts. Cyborg orders the Titans still standing to restrain Superboy, and Speedy prepares an arrow. But before she can loose it, Superboy rips out a large chunk of the wall and knocks her out with it. Cyborg steps in front of Superboy, aiming a large gun at his face. But Superboy digs his hand into Cyborg's chest and takes Vic apart piece by piece with his tactile telekinesis.

Robin tries reasoning with Superboy, but he's only answered with another heat vision blast, which he barely dodges. Wonder Girl wraps her lasso around Superboy and begins to cry as she begs him to just talk to her. She hits Superboy with a blast of her lightning, but it doesn't seem to bother him, and he throws her out the window. Superboy follows Wonder Girl outside and pins her up against a tree. Weeping, Cassie begs him to remember his friends. Superboy pauses, and a couple of tears trickle down his cheek. But the moment soon passes, and the brainwashed Superboy knocks out Wonder Girl.

Robin, being the only Titan left standing, launches a desperate, yet futile attack on Superboy and has his arm broken for his trouble. Once Robin is down, Superboy hears another high-pitched screech and flies away toward the voice that tells him the end is beginning.

We then cut to the headquarters of the Outsiders in Brooklyn, New York. Arsenal has accused Shift (formerly Metamorpho) of betraying the team, but nobody else seems to share that theory. While they argue, Robin appears on the monitor, begging Nightwing for help. Starfire asks where Victor is, and Robin says he's ... everywhere, and that Superboy has attacked them. Shift says they should go help the kids, but Indigo suddenly hits him with an energy blast from her mouth. Her body begins to change and she announces herself as Brainiac 8 — the Outsiders' destruction.




This was a good issue. Two years after planting the seed of Superboy's DNA, we finally got the payoff. And it was great. It just took one Latin phrase to turn Superboy into a mindless instrument of destruction. His teammates were too shocked and heartbroken to properly fight back, as he methodically took each of them out one by one. It was emotional, shocking and satisfying, in an odd sense, to see the nearly invincible Superboy let loose like this.

I do have a problem with Robin calling Nightwing first. Yes, the Titans did learn of the JLA's dark secret just last week, but both Robin and Superboy maintained trust in their mentors, Batman and Superman. And when Superboy is acting up, there's only one person that you should call, and that's the Man of Steel, himself. Nightwing and the Outsiders are on the other side of the country, and I'm not sure if they have the ability to teleport over to San Francisco faster than Superman, Batman or the Flash could get there. I'm fine with having a crossover with the Outsiders, but right now their involvement feels kind of forced.

I'm also sad that usual fill-in artist Tom Grummett did not draw this issue. Matthew Clark does have a very similar style to Mike McKone, which is a problem for me. He has the same weaknesses as McKone, amplified by even rougher, less consistent artwork. It's not terrible, by any means, but I really wish I had something stronger for such a powerful story.

Next time, our adventure continues in Outsiders #24.

Teen Titans #23

Lights Out • Part Three: Secrets and Lies

Geoff Johns Writer
Mike McKone Penciller
Marlo Alquiza Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Tom Palmer Jr Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Mike McKone shows Doctor Light doing ... something ... with his hands, as he's surrounded by all the Titans (past and present) who have gathered to fight him. But instead of fighting, all our heroes are merely standing around with blank looks on their faces. I would say Doctor Light has hypnotized them, but nothing even remotely like that happens in this issue, leaving us with an odd, bland cover.

Our story picks up at 12:12 a.m. Saturday in Philadelphia. As Superboy and Captain Marvel Jr. catch the crashing helicopter, we see that Cyborg didn't bother sharing his and Starfire's plan with the rest of the team, as Superboy is shocked to see so many heroes have arrived. He flies back down to join in with the attack, but first he checks on Wonder Girl, who says her lasso is still "out of juice." She asks how his eyes are, and he says his vision is still fuzzy, but he can see well enough to fight.

Kid Flash still wants to fight, but Flash forbids it, saying if he tries to run on his knee now, he'll do permanent damage. As Wally takes Bart to a doctor, he surprisingly expresses pride in the teen, saying the fact that he's still willing to fight says a lot.

Tempest begins the fight by freezing the water in Doctor Light's eyes. Starfire tosses the villain into the side of a cab, and Bumblebee tries to hit him with her stingers, but Light deflects with a shield. The Herald hits him with a blast from his horn, then Duela Dent pushes Herald aside to squirt some acid from her flower at Doctor Light, but only hits his cape. Doctor Light responds with a big blast of light that knocks down a bunch of heroes and sends others scattering. Arsenal begins looking for Speedy, as he and Nightwing are struggling to understand how Doctor Light is so powerful now.

Raven begins healing Dove, and Mirage tries to intimidate Doctor Light with an illusion of Superman, but he sees right through it. Superboy and Wonder Girl attack Light, but he knocks them down with another blast. One hero is able to withstand Light's attacks, Red Star, who lands a punch on the villain's jaw and holds his arms back, while Pantha and Wildebeest begin attacking him. But Light is able to push them off.

Doctor Light sadistically calls for more, and when the heroes respond, he sucks in all the nearby ambient light for one massive attack that puts everyone on their backs. Light contentedly walks back into the museum, where he sees Speedy has untied Green Arrow and is dragging him away. Once Speedy sees Doctor Light, she panics and pulls out Roy's old mysterious blue arrow, meant only for emergencies. But before she can fire it, Cyborg comes crashing through the doors and tells her to save it.

Cyborg punches Doctor Light out through a window, follows him, and activates his solar shields, which essentially make him immune to Light's attacks. Doctor Light does manage to blow a small hole through Cyborg's side, but it doesn't bother Vic, who manages to land some ferocious blows. Starfire gets in a shot, as well, finally putting an end to the fight. But Doctor Light is satisfied with the events of the evening, saying, "Everyone saw ... I already ... won."

The police and paramedics arrive, tending to all the wounded heroes. Superboy congratulates Cyborg for taking on Light one-on-one, but Cyborg gives credit to everyone else who softened him up. Superboy also reports that Nightwing and Starfire are arguing over who invited Duela Dent, and even he believes she's more delusional than Ravager. He asks what they're going to do with Light now, and  Cyborg says Nightwing has called someone to pick him up. Right on cue, Batman and Batgirl step out of the Batwing. Superboy is impressed that he didn't even hear the plane, and Batman says that's because he's not supposed to hear it. Superboy tells Batgirl she's always welcome at Titans Tower, but she doesn't respond. Batman picks up Light, and says he's taking him to Belle Reeve. As they fly away, Superboy complains that Batman's rude.

Cyborg then confronts Green Arrow about the tale Doctor Light told them. Green Arrow angrily asks if it matters, and Cyborg says, yes, it does matter because the Justice League essentially created a monster and put the lives of all these kids in danger. This heated discussion, however, is momentarily interrupted by Speedy celebrating Green Arrow's safety, and Nightwing and Starfire announcing they need to return to the Outsiders headquarters, which has apparently been broken into during the fight.

We then cut to the Titans returning to Teen Titans Tower in San Francisco via the T-jet. Bart is with the team, hobbling around on some crutches, implying that after Wally took him to a doctor to repair his artificial knee, he brought him back to Philadelphia so he could fly back with his teammates. We also learn that Cyborg managed to get the whole story out of Green Arrow off page. Bart's first concern is whether his grandpa, Barry Allen, participated in the mind wipe. And Cassie is worried about Wonder Woman's involvement. Vic says that, according to Green Arrow, Wonder Woman was not there when it happened, but the Flash was.

Beast Boy wonders who they're supposed to look up to, and Cyborg says they look up to each other. Robin insists that Batman wouldn't do this, and Superboy adds that Superman wouldn't, either, and they shouldn't write them off. Cyborg says this is all a matter of trust, and to avoid the JLA's fate, he says he doesn't want there to be any secrets on the Teen Titans.

Speedy speaks up, finally telling everyone that she is HIV-positive. It's tough for her to say this, and everyone is pretty quiet after this news. Beast Boy eventually breaks the silence by telling Speedy that he also is technically infected with a disease. He briefly recaps the Beast Boys and Girls storyline and admits he's afraid that he'll become Animal Man when he's older. Raven confesses she still can't stop feeding off the emotions around her, especially when everyone's sleeping in the tower. Wonder Girl reveals that Ares gave her the lasso to prepare her for some war, and she wants to throw it away, but can't bring herself to do it. For a moment, it looks like Superboy is about to say something, but Bart cuts through the tension by joking that he ran out of underwear, so he stole some of Beast Boy's.

Despite all this, Speedy is still a bit apprehensive. Cyborg assures her they're not going to kick her off the team, and they will take the necessary precautions to keep Mia and the Titans safe. He adds that he will want more details from Mia, and she promises to answer any questions. Cassie takes her hand, saying they all joined the team because they know what it's like to be different. Gar reminds her that he and Vic live in the tower seven days a week and are always available to help. Bart kind of dances around Mia on his crutches, telling her that she's now a Titan for life, just like all the other heroes they fought alongside. Everyone finally heads to bed, feeling much better. Except for Robin, who glares at Superboy, upset he didn't come forward with his DNA secret.

We then check in on Batman, Batgirl and Doctor Light, flying high above the clouds. Doctor Light asks where they're going and insists once again that he didn't lose that fight. Batgirl pulls off her mask, revealing herself to be Ravager. Deathstroke also pulls off his Batman mask and congratulates Doctor Light, saying he's been invited into "higher society."




Last issue I complimented Geoff Johns' handling of villains' motivations. This issue, I'm going to criticize his big fight scenes. Green Lantern Rebirth ended with the Green Lanterns repeatedly blasting Parallax for the whole issue, with absolutely no effect. Until the very end, when they somehow win by blasting him just a little bit more. The Doctor Light fight was fairly similar in that regard. The Titans kept punching Doctor Light over and over again, which didn't seem to faze him at all, until the end, when he was defeated ... by being punched just a little bit harder. Thankfully, Johns did do a better job of including all the other heroes in this fight than the Green Lantern Rebirth debacle. But at the same time, I still felt all these diverse heroes with their vast skill sets were severely underutilized. Their attack lacked any planning or creativity, and the whole fight became rather repetitive. A handful of heroes would charge Doctor Light, he'd blast them, then repeat the process with the next group.

Johns is working very hard to make Cyborg the ultimate hero. But Vic comes off as a horrible leader in this issue. He refused to tell his team the plan to bring in a dozen other heroes as reinforcement. And instead of waiting for that reinforcement, he charged right in with his team, directly leading to Bart nearly being crippled for the second time since joining the Teen Titans. And Cyborg let his team loose on Doctor Light, despite all the warning signs and strong hints he received from Wally. He also failed to provide his team with any basic preparation against Doctor Light, while conveniently withholding his own solar shields until the very end. And to top of his night of failure, he allowed Deathstroke to walk away with Doctor Light right under his nose.

The Deathstroke reveal was quite odd. On one hand, it's nice to know why Batman was drawing a sword last issue. But on the other hand, this raises a few questions. How was Deathstroke able to fool Cyborg? I can see him getting one past Superboy, who's easily distracted, but Cyborg should know better. Also, how did Deathstroke get a super-silent Batwing? I know I should be wondering what this higher society is, but I'm having trouble working past the implausibility of this disguise, which really was wholly unnecessary. I don't see Deathstroke and Ravager running the risk of being discovered by Nightwing or Robin. Couldn't they have disguised themselves as D.E.O. agents or something?

So, yeah, this was a disappointing issue. Mike McKone is still struggling with heavy action sequences, and Johns' script was rather lackluster. I don't care about Speedy being HIV-positive, and I am still stunned that nobody is doing anything about Wonder Girl's evil weapon from Ares. So, did I like anything about this issue? Well, it was nice to see Wally treat Bart well — an event that happens far too rarely. Of course, Wally still should have told Jay Garrick, Bart's guardian, that Bart has suffered another serious injury. Even better, Wally probably could have defeated Doctor Light in half a second before taking Bart to the hospital. Just saying.

Next time, we begin our first crossover with the Outsiders, beginning with Teen Titans #24.

Teen Titans #22

Lights Out • Part Two: War and Peace

Geoff Johns Writer
Mike McKone Penciller
Marlo Alquiza Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Tom Palmer Jr Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Mike McKone shows Doctor Light maniacally creating an image of light of the Teen Titans squirming and struggling. He looks pretty insane and evil, which is great. The Titans look rather bland, but I'll allow that, as this is merely Doctor Light's interpretation of them. All in all, a pretty solid cover from an artist I tend to criticize much more than I compliment.

Our story begins at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where it's already 11:48 p.m. on this Friday night. Doctor Light has ambushed the Titans with a blast of blinding light that has knocked them all down. He gives them all time to get back on their feet so he can tell them that their mentors, the Justice League, are false heroes.

Kid Flash complains he can't see, but Robin claims that his mask mostly protected him from the flare. Beast Boy says he can still fight using sense of smell. Speedy tells Doctor Light to not hurt Green Arrow, but this prompts him to unleash another devastating blast of light that knocks everybody down again. Light warns the Titans that they need to be careful around the Justice League or they'll take their minds, too. He walks over to Superboy and somehow pulls out his heat vision, forming it in a floating ball of red light. Wonder Girl wraps her lasso around Light, but he repeats the trick and pulls out the lasso's lightning, turning that into a yellow ball floating over his other hand.

Speedy shoots an arrow into Light's shoulder, although she says she was aiming for something lower. Light throws the lightning ball and Speedy and Robin, who just manage to avoid the blast. Beast Boy turns into an alligator and bites Light's chest. Robin, Kid Flash and Cyborg all join Beast Boy, who has now suddenly turned into a little squirrel or something for some reason. Not that it matters, though, as Doctor Light uses Superboy's heat vision to blast everybody off him.

Kid Flash is first to recover, and as he runs toward Doctor Light, the villain wonders aloud which knee is Kid Flash's bad one. He guesses correctly, shooting a thin beam of light through Bart's right knee, causing him to collapse in pain. Raven then tries to attack with her soul-self, saying she'll absorb Light's hate. But Light resists her, saying hate is all he is at this point, after having years of his life taken away from him. After he knocks Raven down, he picks her up and shoots some light from his mouth into her mouth, knocking her out for the count.

We cut to the Batcave, where Batman and Batgirl are watching the fight on the news, although the cameras aren't able to see exactly what's happening. All the reporters can confirm is that Doctor Light is still standing, and with the power out in Philadelphia, rioting is spreading through the city. Batman assures Batgirl that Starfire's plan is already in motion. She asks about Doctor Light, to which Batman dramatically pulls out a sword and says, "They want him."

Back in Philadelphia, Doctor Light drags Speedy up to the chained Green Arrow and throws one of her arrows into Green Arrow's shoulder. Light says he's been wondering which other villains had their minds wiped by the Justice League, suggesting Doctor Polaris, Felix Faust and the Tattooed Man. But now he's wondering if they did the same thing to other heroes as well. Light accuses Green Arrow of altering the minds of their sidekicks, too, to keep them in line. Green Arrow calls him a coward for taking on an unconscious 17-year-old girl, so Light knocks him out to shut him up.

Two teenage girls suddenly enter the museum, Dawn and Holly Granger, who reveals themselves to be Hawk and Dove. They've grown tired of waiting for everyone else to arrive and have decided to attack Doctor Light now. However, they're so wrapped up in their copious amounts of expositional dialogue that they're unable to focus on the fight. Light grabs both the girls and blasts them up through the roof and damages one of the news helicopters hovering overhead.

It turns out that Hawk and Dove only needed to wait a few more seconds. The museum is soon full of every available former Titan, led by Starfire and Nightwing. Captain Marvel Jr. and Superboy catch the falling helicopter, and Flash is kindly tending to the injured Kid Flash. Doctor Light is actually pleased by the sight of this small army, and he even urges Nightwing to shout that cheesiest of battle cries. Nightwing complies: "Titans together!"




One of Geoff Johns' strengths is his ability to clearly lay out a villain's motivations. When he really wants to, he can make the bad guys quite sympathetic. In this issue, Doctor Light's anger is almost justifiable. Almost. He did commit the heinous sin of raping someone, after all. But one could argue that the punishment the Justice League gave him went a bit too far. In any case, he is now quite an intriguing villain. He does seem a bit overpowered, but I'm not too upset by that. He has spent a few weeks plotting this revenge, and he is positively seething with hatred. I just wish his powers were better defined. Stealing Superboy's heat vision and Wonder Girl's lightning didn't make much sense.

The Teen Titans really need to improve their battle planning. They knew they were going to fight Doctor Light, yet not one of them thought about protecting their eyes from his attacks. Also, their grand plan was to just stall until the rest of the former Titans arrived. Why couldn't they have waited a few minutes for everybody to show up? Somebody could have been seriously hurt or killed during this stalling period. So far, the worst injury seems to belong to Kid Flash, who basically had a laser cut through his artificial kneecap. Of course, that was a rather frustrating and completely avoidable injury. I know Bart was blind, but he could still hear Doctor Light, right? And why didn't he vibrate the attack through him? Oh, I know. It's because Johns has completely forgotten about Bart's ability to vibrate. I don't think he's done it once in this series.

Next time, we conclude this battle in Teen Titans #23.