Teen Titans #21

Lights Out • Part One: The New Kid

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 is a classic example of him trying to do too much and ending up with a mess. Front and center is Speedy, arrow drawn at the ready. The background is a giant closeup of Doctor Light's face, with images of the Teen Titans slicing through his face. Nothing about this makes sense. If Speedy is facing Doctor Light, then how come the Titans are glaring at Speedy? Well, only a couple of them are glaring — Kid Flash is downright furious. But Superboy and Wonder Girl look kind of bored. And where's Robin? Also, I think if you remove the images of the Titans, Doctor Light's face would not form one cohesive image.

Our story picks up after the second epilogue of last issue. Doctor Light has captured Green Arrow, tied him to a statue of Benjamin Franklin, and is burning an "L" on Oliver's forehead. He explains that remembers that the Justice League wiped his mind and altered his personality after he raped Sue Dibny. So to time his revenge just right, he paid the Calculator a lot of money to find out when Green Arrow's "daughter" would join the Teen Titans, which is today.

We cut to San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. on this Friday, where we see Mia has taken a taxi from the airport to the docks. She finds a secluded area with an electronic panel that reads her handprint, opening a secret door that leads to a small submarine that takes her out to Titans Island. As if Mia wasn't already having a lot of doubts about this, when she gets to the island she is horrified to see all the Titans battling Cyborg.

Cyborg electrocutes Kid Flash, and Robin tries to maneuver an attack with Wonder Girl, but Cyborg ensnares Wonder Girl in a net that popped out of his chest. Before Cyborg can turn on Robin and Beast Boy, Speedy hits him with an arrow that quickly cover Cyborg with solid ice. Superboy angrily demands to know what Speedy is doing. Speedy says she thought Cyborg was malfunctioning, but Robin tells her they were just training. As they tend to Cyborg, Kid Flash identifies the chemical compound of Speedy's cryonic arrow, and Robin recognizes those are the same chemicals Mr. Freeze uses.

Speedy apologizes again, saying maybe Jericho had come back and was jumping into people's bodies again. Superboy is surprised that Speedy knows who Jericho is, and she says she's spent the past week reading about the Teen Titans, and even knows who Firebird and Mirage are. She asks if Cyborg is going to be all right, and Bart assures her he'll be fine. Wonder Girl notes that his robotic systems are back on online and Raven reports there is no permanent damage to his organics. Cyborg is soon awake and asks what hit him, which forces poor Speedy to apologize once more.

Cyborg leads Speedy on a proper tour of the tower, telling her she doesn't need to apologize for freezing him. He briefly goes over the history and purpose of the Teen Titans and shows her the locker room. Speedy notes there are a lot more lockers than members of the team, and Cyborg says there are a lot of Titans in the world, and she just hasn't met them yet. He then takes Mia to her room, which already is stocked with some of her favorite books. Vic says that Green Arrow has told him that Mia ran away from an abusive home at a young age and was living on the streets until she was discovered by Green Arrow. Mia laments that she's nothing like the other Titans, but Vic points out that their team includes a clone, a boy from the future and a half-man, half-machine.

Vic then presents Mia with a gift from Roy Harper to honor her 17th birthday. It's a quiver of his old arrows from his time as Speedy. All the arrows are red, except for one blue one, which is ominously labeled, "Use in emergency only." Mia then begins to tell Vic something important about herself, but she's startled by the sudden appearance of Bart, who calls them both to the monitor room.

Playing on the TV is a live news report, saying Doctor Light has taken over the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, killing at least one security guard and injuring dozens more. The broadcast shows a clip of Doctor Light's previous appearance in Philadelphia, in which he was easily defeated by the Ray. The reporter also mentions that Doctor Light was involved in an attack on the Justice League a few weeks ago. The villain then makes a grand entrance in from of all the cameras, announcing himself as Arthur Light and showing that he has Green Arrow hostage. He says he wants his reputation back, and he wants the Teen Titans — only them. Doctor Light threatens to kill Green Arrow if anyone other than the Titans shows up.

Speedy is naturally devastated to see Green Arrow in chains and she asks what they should do. Kid Flash suggests they run over to Philadelphia right away. As Superboy wonders how an idiot like Light captured Green Arrow, the Outsiders contact the Titans via video call. Arsenal assures Speedy they're on their way to rescue Green Arrow, but Speedy is worried about Light's warning that only Titans may approach him. Arsenal says that no matter where they are, they're still Titans. Starfire tells Cyborg she has an idea, but she's cut off by another incoming call from the Flash.

Wally says the Justice League is currently battling the Crime Syndicate, but he still offers his help, saying he's a Titan first. He also warns them that Doctor Light is no longer the jokey villain they new him as years ago. Cyborg asks Flash to elaborate, but he insists that they just trust him on this. The Titans' monitor is suddenly flooded with calls from Hawkman, the Elongated Man, Black Canary and Huntress, the Metal Men, the JSA and Aquaman. Cyborg simply tells all these heroes that the Teen Titans have this situation under control. But Robin becomes skeptical.

For the first time in this series, we see the Titans load up into the T-jet — an old Tamaranian fighter from Starfire, rebuilt by Cyborg. Speedy asks why they can't just have Raven teleport the team to Philadelphia, so Cyborg explains that he wants Raven to conserve her strength to be able to teleport them away after they've rescued Green Arrow. Cyborg also mentions that he's called ahead and made sure the police have evacuated the two blocks surrounding the Franklin Institute. Beast Boy asks if he really anticipates a rough fight against Doctor Light. Kid Flash points out that Wally has completely changed his opinion of Light, and he never changes his mind on anything. Cyborg can only surmise that something must have happened to Doctor Light.

Superboy confirms with Robin that Doctor Light was the prime suspect in Sue Dibny's murder, and Robin says he's heard that Light wasn't always a pathetic loser that routinely got his butt kicked by a bunch of kids in tights. Robin heard that Light was once a psychopath, a real threat, but then his head somehow got messed up. Wonder Girl asks Robin if he thinks the rumors are true, and Robin merely says that Batman didn't know anything about it. But Superboy astutely notes that Batman only said he didn't know anything.

As the Titans head into the museum, Speedy tells her teammates to let her take care of herself if she gets hurt. Robin assumes this means she has something to prove. Superboy notes the circling news helicopters, and Kid Flash reminds him that Doctor Light said he wanted his reputation back. Once they're inside the building, all the lights go out. Cyborg activates a few flashlights on his wrist and Doctor Light begins talking to the team from the shadows. He says the Justice League stole his dignity and left him with the self-confidence and ego of a teenaged girl. Raven, Wonder Girl and Speedy all take offense to this comment, but none of them notice Doctor Light sneaking up behind them. And in a flash of blinding light, he makes his first move.



Doctor Light became a very intriguing and creepy villain during Identity Crisis, building up a lot of anticipation for this showdown. But given what some of the other heroes know about Doctor Light, one might imagine they'd do a little more than give the Titans a concerned phone call. And for none of them to tell the Titans the truth is simply setting them up for failure in a life-and-death situation. Instead of just saying "trust me," Flash should have raced out to San Francisco to tell everybody in person exactly what's going on with Doctor Light.

The rest of the issue didn't do that much for me. I'm rather bored by this new Speedy, who feels like a slightly altered version of Arrowette at this point. This issue did make me wonder what happened to the Ray. He was conspicuously absent during Graduation Day and hasn't even been mentioned since. You'd think he'd fit right in with this incarnation of the Teen Titans, which has a few older members for him to relate to. Also, his light-based powers would be invaluable right now.

Next time, we'll take a very quick look at Green Lantern: Rebirth #6.