Titans: Beast World #3

Part 3

Tom Taylor Writer

Lucas Meyer Artist

Romulo Fajardo Jr. - Colorist

Wes Abbott - Letterer

Ivan Reis, Danny Miki & Brad Anderson - Cover

Björn Barends, Mirka Andolfo, Clayton Henry & Marcelo Maiolo Variant Covers

Chris Rosa - Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr - Editor

Paul Kaminski - Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.

Our cover shows Amanda Waller preparing to unchain the Wolf Batman. It's well done, and it's an intriguing idea. But that doesn't happen in this issue. There are a couple of nice variant covers, but they don't feature Impulse, so let's skip ahead to the very brief role Bart plays here.

Even though this story takes place before the Central City tie-in, it came out after. So, sometime before Bart was turned into a lizard and then a bee, he was in Kahndaq with Wally, helping to rescue bystanders from the ferocious rampage of the Lion Black Adam battling Starfire and Donna Troy. At one point, Starfire destroys hundreds of the Beast Boy Starro spores, prompting Bart to say, "Hey, it's raining burning horrors." Donna warns the speedsters about the spores, but Wally says they can't catch them. Bart confidently adds, "That's not gonna happen." And then Impulse and Flash race off the pages of this issue.

Wally and Bart are absolutely right. There's no legitimate reason they should ever be infected by the spores. Not only are they too fast for them, but they could easily vibrate through, if needed. As fun as it was to see Bart as a lizard, it didn't make much sense — especially in the context of this issue. Why would Bart randomly leave Wally's side to race back to Central City? This is a really fun event — I just wish there was better coordination between all the titles.

Well, that's it for 2023! Next time, I'll hand out some rewards before seeing what Bart will get up to in 2024.

Titans: Beast World – Tour: Central City #1

Cover by: Mikel Janin

Variant Covers by: Taurin Clarke and Cully Hamner

Editor: Chris Rosa

Group Editor: Paul Kaminski

Man, DC really loves creating the most awkward titles possible. Regardless, Beast World is a very interesting event. It began with Beast Boy transforming into a Starro to defeat a similar creature known as the Necrostar. But before he could back, a villain known as Doctor Hate took control of his mind, causing the Starro-Beast Boy to flood the Earth with spores that turn people into mindless animal/human hybrids. Impulse can be seen in the background of the first issue of this event, but he doesn't say or do anything, so I decided to skip it. He does, however play a slightly larger role in this tie-in issue, so here we are.

Our cover shows Wally, Irey and Irey's friend, Maxine, battling a bunch of animal/humans. Maxine is Animal Man's daughter, so it's only natural that she'd play a big role in a story like this. However, I would prefer to see more members of the Flash family out here. It's a perfectly serviceable cover, but not very exciting. And, as usual, none of the variant covers feature Impulse, so let's dive in.

Written by: Si Spurrier

Art by: Scott Koblish

Colors by: Hi-Fi

Letters by: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The untitled main story bookends several separate stories by different creative teams. We open with Barry trying to have a romantic evening with Iris, but he's still suffering from the debilitating headaches that have plagued him ever since that strange rainbow phenomenon showed up above his statue. Irey suddenly bursts through the door, telling Barry what's happening in the city. Barry initially refuses to help, until he learns that one of his old foes, Godspeed, has turned into a man-sized hornet with super speed. After a quick pep talk from Iris, Barry dons his costume and races off with Irey to contact the rest of the Flash family. (This begins the side stories, but we only care about one of them.)

Invitation to the Speedster Ball

Starring: Julien "Jules" Jourdain as Circuit Breaker, Hartley Rathaway as Pied Piper & Bart Allen aka Impulse as ... ?

By Al Kaplan

Lettering Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Edits Andrea Shea & Chris Rosa

Circuit Breaker (a new hero connected to the Still Force) and the Pied Piper have figured out how to combine their powers to pull Beast Boy's spores out of infected people and destroy them. Their efforts are abruptly interrupted by the arrival of Impulse, who has been turned into a very large frilled-neck lizard.

Circuit Breaker creates an "energy lasso" of sorts to wrap around Impulse's neck and ride him like a small horse. The Pied Piper, however, can't use his sound waves to lure the spore out like the others, to which he remarks, "That kid could never hold a steady beat." The Impulse lizard goes wild and tries to buck off Circuit Breaker, but the self-proclaimed "rodeo queen" manages to hang on.

The Pied Piper then receives word that the Flash family is meeting up at Iron Heights, so he suggests they forget about trying to extract the spore from Impulse and focus on "herding" him back to the rest of the speedsters.

We then return to the main story, where Animal Girl decides to experiment on the Lizard Impulse by trying to turn him into an ostrich. The process would have worked — had Impulse been able to stay still long enough. Poor Bart is grotesquely split between the two animals before being reverted back to lizard form.

Jay, Wallace, Avery, Irey and Jai are all present, but Wally has apparently chosen to work with the Titans during this crisis. And Barry is struggling to contain the Hornet Godspeed, who can move fast enough to essentially turn himself into a swarm. For some reason, Irey believes the best way to stop Godspeed would be for Animal Girl to turn them all into wolves with Barry as the alpha to lead the pack. Everyone points out how stupid that idea is, so Jai offers an alternative — bees.

And for reasons I'll never understand, everyone agrees with this plan and willingly ingests Beast Boys spores. Animal Girl turns Barry, Jay, Bart, Wallace, Ace, Hartley and Jules into giant bees, but leaves Jai and Irey as humans just because. The bees quickly close in on Godspeed and vibrate to create heat, which burns away the spore inside him. Animal Girl then gives Iris the powers of a queen bee so she can control all our bee heroes and direct them to rescue the infected civilians and slowly burn out their spores one by one.

This may be a fun event, but this tie-in issue didn't quite do it for me. Mainly because the ending was so forced and unnecessary. Turning everybody into bees accomplishes nothing! These heroes are much stronger in their normal human form! If they were already infected, and there was no possible way to remove the spores, then that'd justify this silly ending. But, no — they all had to willingly infect themselves. Well, all except for Impulse, that is. Don't ask me how he became infected — I had assumed that speedsters would have been too fast and/or able to vibrate through the spores. Bart just gets to be special, I guess.

His design as a frilled-neck lizard was pretty neat, I'll admit. I just wish they did something more with him. I also was a bit confused by his size. Bart must have been over 10 feet long in that lizard body. I'd say that's an inconsistency with this event, but this issue in particular didn't have much consistency. Some of the animal hybrids still had more or less human bodies with the heads and arms/legs of animals. Others, like Captain Cold's polar bear, completely changed into an exact copy of an animal. Some of the infected people got smaller. Some got bigger. Nobody really seemed to iron out exactly how these Beast Boy/Starro spores affect people.

The inconsistencies didn't stop there. In one story in this issue, Jai looked about four or five years older than he did elsewhere in this issue, and his muscles didn't inflate when he used his powers, like they did just a few pages later, when a different artist was drawing him. Look, I get not wanting to be the "bad guy" and tell the artist to redraw a couple of pages, but in cases like this, I think any good editor would have to make that call.

Next time, we'll continue this event with Titans: Beast World #3, which technically takes place before this Central City tie-in, but wasn't published until after it came out (speaking of editorial annoyances).

Titans #38

The Methuselah Imperative: Part 3 of 3

Eric Wallace Writer
Travis Moore Penciller
Walden Wong • Inker
Hi-Fi • Colorist
Travis Lanham • Letterer
Rickey Purdin • Asst. Editor
Rachel Gluckstern • Editor

Our cover shows Arsenal battling Deathstroke, with a bunch of random villains standing around. Deathstroke's son, Jericho, is in the bottom right corner, with glowing hands for some reason. I can't keep track of all his changing powers. Anyway, this is a rather ho-hum cover, indicative of the rather ho-hum story we have inside. I don't know if things were rushed to get this out before the New 52 started or if there was a general lack of care and effort put into this, the final issue of a dying series. It could be both.

Anyway, we're not here for the big Arsenal/Deathstroke fight. We only care about the funeral for Ryan Choi, an apprentice of Ray Palmer, the Atom. Basically everyone who's anyone showed up at the funeral in Ivy Town to support Ray, including the JLA, JSA and Teen Titans. Ray offers a eulogy in Patriot Park Cemetery, but it's surprisingly brief, essentially just thanking Ryan for choosing to protect people with his life.

Beast Boy stood next to Starfire, Dick Grayson and Donna Troy; while Bart kind of got stuck in the crowd, only roughly in the vicinity of Superboy and Wonder Girl, who are curiously holding hands. If this were an issue of Teen Titans, I would take this as an indication that those two have gotten back together, but since it's not, I'll just say that Travis Moore didn't realize they had broken up.

Our issue ends with Deathstroke sadly coming to terms with Jericho's latest rejection of him, including Ravager's. He vows to strike back with his biggest, craziest scheme yet, but it never comes to fruition, because after this, the entire DC Universe will be rebooted and this version of Slade Wilson will cease to exist. A really anticlimactic finale for one of DC's premiere villains.

Next time, we'll officially wrap up this continuity with Teen Titans #100.

Titans #23

The Way Things Were

Writer: Eddie Berganza
Pencils: Scott Clark & Ardian Syaf
Inks: Dave Beaty & Vincente Cifuentes
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Cover by Angel Unzueta
Letters: Travis Lanham
Asst Editor: Rex Ogle
Editor: Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows a photograph of the original Teen Titans — Aqualad, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Robin and Kid Flash. The picture is on fire because ... dramatics! Fortunately, there's enough inexplicable extra white space above the actual photograph, so the flames haven't done any real damage yet. I'm normally not a fan of Unzueta, but this cover isn't too bad — minus the ridiculous fire bit.

Our story begins with Wally West, Donna Troy and Dick Grayson sharing conflicting memories of their early days with the Teen Titans. Wally paints a rosy picture, Dick, rather grim, and Donna somewhere in the middle. The occasion for their trip down memory lane is a memorial at Titans Tower in San Francisco for two heroes who did not survive Blackest Night — Tempest and Hawk. Everyone gathers outside in the rain — because it is actually against the law in the DC Universe to honor the dead when it's not raining — as Beast Boy guides the statues of the fallen inside. Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl and a boy in red I don't recognize are also present to show their support.

Dick apparently gives a touching eulogy off panel, and everyone leaves except for Wally, Dick and Donna. They share a few sad words for the loss of Garth, and lament not getting to know the new Hawk better. Wally wonders what's worse — the large amount of statues they have in this hall, or the fact that they've built in extra spaces for more statues.

Cyborg then calls them up, reminding us all that Roy Harper is still in the hospital. He says Dr. Mid-Nite and Raven have been working on Roy, but they're worried he might not survive the night. So Cyborg believes Roy's oldest teammates should be there just in case something happens. Our heroes all fly over to the hospital in Dick's Bat-Wing, sharing stories about Roy — both the good and the bad. After quite a bit of melodramatics, Wally runs home to give Jai and Irey a big hug.




I'm glad to see that some people at DC haven't forgotten that Wally and his family exist, despite Geoff Johns' best efforts to say otherwise. Other than that, though, I really wasn't a fan of this issue. I was looking for some closure to Blackest Night, but instead I got a prequel to Rise of Arsenal. And not to knock on Roy, but he is still alive. Tempest isn't, and he barely got two words in memoriam here. I also wasn't a fan of the art, especially the flashback scenes. Everyone looked way too old and straining under way too many muscles.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at the latest Secret Files and Origins issue of the Flash.

Titans #22

Fractured Part 2

Writer: J.T. Krul
Pencils: Angel Unzueta
Inks: Wayne Faucher
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Cover: Angel Unzueta
Letters: Travis Lanham
Asst. Editor: Rex Ogle
Editor: Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows Starfire and Cyborg injured, but valiantly fighting back-to-back against an unseen enemy. This is a rough cover for me. I do not enjoy Unzueta's style, and I find this bland background rather lazy. I also hate the teaser: "Together ... for the last time?" Just last month we saw Starfire and Cyborg sharing the cover of Justice League of America #41. Besides, this issue takes place before Blackest Night (kind of wish the cover said that), and we know these two heroes will continue to fight together during and after that event.

Our story begins the day before that fateful Heroes Day when the dead began to rise. Cyborg and Starfire were ambushed at their East Coast headquarters by the villain named Phobia. She was among the large group of villains sent to another planet during Salvation Run, and although most of the villains eventually made their way back to Earth, some of them, including Phobia's best friends, never got off that planet. Embittered by this, Phobia decided to lash out at someone, and her victims just happened to be Cyborg and Starfire.

Phobia uses her psychic powers to make Cyborg see visions of some random Titans being killed before his eyes. Starfire's nightmares show her all alone, touring an empty Titans Tower, filled with monuments to all her deceased friends. Eventually, our heroes are able to break free of Phobia's illusions through sheer force of will. And the next day, they meet up in San Francisco for Heroes Day.

As our heroes gaze at the statues of their fallen comrades, Hawk decides to yell at Cyborg for letting Lagoon Boy be seriously injured and Power Boy actually be killed. As Hawk and Dove leave, Beast Boy questions Cyborg's decision to let Hawk be a Titan, but Cyborg defends her. He then asks Gar where the rest of his team is, noting that Cassie is the only actual member of the West Coast Titans in attendance (implying that Bart is not officially a member yet). Beast Boy says he told the team to go have some fun, since they're still mourning the death of Red Devil.

Starfire realizes this very room is her greatest fear, so she goes outside for a minute and spots Donna Troy returning from the hospital. Donna was visiting Roy Harper, who recently had his arm ripped off by the villain Prometheus. And our story ends with Starfire giving Donna a big hug about an hour before the Blackest Night begins.




Well, this issue did fill in a few gaps for me about a handful of characters I didn't pay attention to during Bart's death and return. But other than that, I find it kind of pointless. We didn't need to see Cyborg and Starfire attacked by psychic nightmares, because that already happened, or will soon happen, in Blackest Night: Titans. So everything here is rather redundant, with underwhelming art and a confusing timeline. Blackest Night is almost over. Many other series have already moved on. But J.T. Krul wants to keep going back to showing everyone sitting around feeling sorry about themselves before the zombie attacks begin.

Next time, we actually will return to Blackest Night (I swear!) in Adventure Comics #7.

Blackest Night: Titans #3

"When Doves Cry"

Writer: JT Krul
Art: Ed Benes
Color: Hi-Fi Design
Letter: Rob Clark Jr.
Cover: Ed Benes, Rob Hunter & Rod Reis
Variant Cover: George Pérez
Asst. Editor: Rex Ogle
Assoc. Editor: Adam Schlagman
Editors: Brian Cunningham & Eddie Berganza

Our main cover shows a frightened, beat-up Dove surrounded by a handful of Black Lantern zombies. It's not a particularly original pose, but it is effective. And as we'll see inside, this confrontation is the key of the whole miniseries.

I got this image of the variant cover from dc.fandom.com. It is fitting that George Pérez was brought in to draw the zombie versions of so many of the characters that he and Marv Wolfman either created or popularized. Of course, Phantasm doesn't actually appear in this issue, but who's counting?

Our story begins with Donna Troy continuing to wrestle with the happy memories of her family against the horrific sight of her deceased husband and son attacking her as zombies. Donna (still in her pajamas) is still buried in the Titans Tower with Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. And although our heroes have been cautious to not move too much to worsen the cave-in, the zombie Terry and baby Robby have shown no such caution and are fast approaching.

Donna tells Bart to get her costume so she can fight the zombies. Cassie tells Donna she shouldn't fight because she's injured, but Donna insists that this is one battle she has to fight.

Outside, Beast Boy finally frees Cyborg and Starfire from Omen's illusions by turning into a stegosaurus and smacking both Omen and Terra. Beast Boy quickly alerts his friends to the new Black Lantern zombies, and they immediately begin battling Pantha, Wildebeest, Tempest, Aquagirl and Dolphin. But Beast Boy still has a hard time fighting Terra, who tries once again to remove his heart, seeing the fear and love in it.

Suddenly, Donna punches her zombie husband up out of the ground. Bart and Cassie emerge right behind her, with Bart noting the death of Garth and worrying who else has been killed by the Black Lanterns. Donna finally manages to put aside all her conflicting memories and the manipulative words of the zombies and run her fist through Terry's chest before grabbing baby Robby and tearfully snapping his neck.

Perhaps inspired by this, Beast Boy launches an all-out attack on Terra, hitting her as a cheetah, lion and bear. He says he realizes this zombie isn't the real Terra, but he also finally admits that deep down, he always knew the real Terra was a traitor. Seeing Gar's heart consumed by rage, the zombie Terra mockingly says he's still in love with her. Beast Boy says he knows, as he rips Terra in half.

The zombie Garth attacks Bart with a shower of ice shards, saying this should remind him of the icy chill of being beaten to death by the Rogues. Garth also notes that Bart should have stayed dead, but "he" wanted Bart back. And then Dove comes out of nowhere to attack Garth (don't ask me how she went from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., and back so quickly).

Omen haunts Cassie with images of Robin and Superboy fighting for her love, but Donna quickly saves her by snapping Omen's neck. But to Donna's horror, the zombies Terry and Robby have quickly reformed. Dove is also heartbroken by this sight, and collapses to her knees in despair, saying the zombies can't be stopped. The zombie Holly attacks Dove, and tries to remove her heart. But the Black Lantern can't identify the white emotion in Dove. And as Holly touches Dove, the zombie begins shrieking in pain. The Black Lantern ring says "connection severed," and soon all that's left of Holly is a smoking pile of dust.

All the other zombies suddenly stop fighting our heroes and immediately head toward Dove, identifying her as their only true threat. Dove quickly begins to figure out what's going on, and she advises the Titans to stay away. As the zombies close in on her, she manages to emit a large blast of white energy, which disintegrates all the zombie except for Terra, Hawk and Garth. Exhausted by this, Dove momentarily falls unconscious, where she sees a vision of the original Dove, Don. He urges her to not give up on the original Hawk, Hank.

When Dove wakes up, she sees the three remaining zombies have fled, and no one really has the heart to chase after them just yet. Donna asks Dove what she did, and Dove isn't quite able to explain it, other than she knows those zombies, including Holly, are now gone. Donna says they should go stop those three runaways, but Bart suddenly receives a super-speed message from his grandpa Barry Allen. He tells the others that, according to Barry, dead heroes are rising all over the world.

While Bart relays the rest of Barry's message to Donna and Cassie, Cyborg pulls Beast Boy aside, urging him to not let these head games get to him. Gar admits he chose to look past Terra's treachery and believe she was a good person deep down because he loved her. Vic says it's a good thing to hope for the best in people, but Gar just chose the wrong girl. Gar confidently says the right girl for him is still out there, and he'll find her eventually.

Donna gathers everyone together, saying they need to get Dove to the front lines of this war. She also tells Dove to stay close to her, saying she can feel the Black Lantern power spreading in her, and she needs Dove to kill her if she becomes one of them. As Donna looks at her teammates, one of her eyes becomes a Black Lantern eye, enabling her to see their emotions. Dove is pure white, but everybody else is a mix of colors. Beast Boy, rage, hope and will; Starfire, rage and love; Cyborg, will and rage; Wonder Girl, hope, rage and fear; Kid Flash, hope and fear.




This was a pretty good miniseries. Ed Benes is a solid artist (even if he's obsessed with scantily clad, overly sexualized women). And J.T. Krul has a good handle on these characters. Of course, this story focuses mainly on Donna Troy, Terra and Hawk and Dove — characters I care very little about — I did like the little bit of Bart we got here. He and Cassie, the youngest of this group, are understandably still full of fear after all of this. But Bart's quick conversation with his grandpa has given him a great amount of hope to balance out that fear. And that brings me to the best thing about this miniseries — it lines up perfectly with the main Blackest Night series. And it made its publication deadlines (a rarity at DC in this era).

Let's check out the new ads:

Red-hot adventure. Subzero rescue. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident – The Graphic Novel.

The Soul. A new way to roll. KIA.

Naruto Shippuden available for the first time on DVD. This was a fantastic series that unfortunately suffered from a prolonged, meandering ending.

Tekken 6. This is your fight. For Xbox 360 and PlayStation.

The dark knight. The man of bronze. Batman/Doc Savage Special.

The Authority and WildCats. Can they save their harsh new world?

The DC Nation page is by Simona, talking about Catwoman.

What mattered the most was remembered the least. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for Nintendo DS. I'm slowly making my way through these games. They don't make a lick of sense, but they are kind of fun.

Next time, we'll see exactly what Barry told Bart in Blackest Night #4.

Blackest Night: Titans #2

Bite the Hand that Feeds

Written by: J.T. Krul
Pencils: Ed Benes
Inks: Scott Williams (pages 1-6) & Ed Benes
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Letters: Rob Clark Jr.
Cover by: Benes, Hunter, & Pete Pantazis
Variant Cover by: Brian Haberlin
Assoc. Editor: Adam Schlagman
Asst. Editor: Rex Ogle
Editors: Eddie Berganza & Brian Cunningham

Our cover shows Donna Troy holding her deceased son, who looks like a normal, healthy toddler in her eyes, but in the reflection of the mirror is revealed to be one of the Black Lantern zombies. This is a pretty fun and creepy image, even if it's not 100 percent accurate with the story inside. One interesting thing to note, though, is the baby's teeth. Last issue, Donna was lamenting that Robert died just after growing his second tooth. But now that he's been revived by this unholy evil, he has a mouth full of teeth.

I got this image of the variant cover from mycomicshop.com. It shows the original, zombified Hawk attacking the new Hawk. For some reason, this comes off as rather silly to me. I guess the Zombie Hawk's face looks more goofy than scary.

Our story picks up in Titans Tower, with Donna examining the strange baby carriage that suddenly appeared in her room. But the carriage is empty, except for a rattle with the Black Lantern symbol on it. Suddenly, Donna's deceased husband, Terry, approaches her, holding baby Robert in his arms, casually talking about how the boy wants his mommy. Unlike Beast Boy's initial encounter with Terra, there is no psychic manipulation going on, and Donna clearly sees her family members as decaying zombies. But she's too surprised and confused to react in a rational way. Believing this must be a dream, Donna automatically takes Robert into her arms. The baby immediately sinks his teeth into Donna's neck, as Terry explains this isn't a dream, but a nightmare.

Outside, Starfire and Cyborg are battling Zombie Omen, who has created a bunch of illusions of herself, while Zombie Terra has trapped Beast Boy with some rocks. Terra wants to pull out Gar's heart, but only when it's overwhelmed by a single emotion. Right now, Gar is feeling love, fear, rage and hope, which is thwarting Terra's attempts for the moment. Beast Boy turns into a marten to slip out of the rocks, then a hawk to fly above Terra and land on her as a mastodon. Gar still tries to talk to Terra, but she only repeats her desire to take his heart.

Terra's hand begins to glow black, which sends a lot of pain through Gar's body. But Starfire saves Beast Boy in time, hitting Terra with the full blast of her star bolts, completely incinerating the zombie. Kory apologizes to Gar, explaining that the creature she just blasted wasn't really Terra, and Gar actually tells Kory she did the right thing. They both then turn to help Cyborg, who is caught in a psychic trance by Omen.

In Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., Dove can only stand helplessly by as the Zombie Hawk removes Hawk's heart from her chest. Consuming the rage within that heart brings the Black Lantern power levels up to 57.03 percent. The Zombie Hawk then turns on Dove, but is unable to recognize any emotions in her. As Dove battles Hawk, a black ring flies onto Holly Granger's finger, commanding her to rise. So now Dove has two zombie Hawks to fight.

Back in the tower, Donna is pushing away her zombie son that was trying to kill her. With tears in her eyes, she begs her family to stop, saying she doesn't want to hurt them. Luckily for her, Bart and Cassie were still in the tower and hadn't gone to bed yet, and they just happened to hear Donna's screams. Bart rushes in and pulls Donna out into the hall, telling Cassie that she was being attacked by something straight out of the "I Am Legend" movie. As Bart and Cassie examine the black, festering wound on Donna's neck, the zombies see the fear in Bart, the will in Cassie and the hope in Donna.

Outside, we see that Omen has put Cyborg in a paradisiacal psychic state, where he's fully human and relaxing in the bright sun. Omen does a similar thing to Starfire, sending her back to her wedding with Dick Grayson. The Zombie Terra, meanwhile, repairs herself, quickly regaining the form she had when she began this attack. Terra opens up the earth beneath the tower and begins pulling it down. Our heroes inside the building feel like an earthquake is hitting them, but Bart says he didn't feel any early vibrations, meaning the epicenter of the quake must be directly underneath them.

Unfortunately, Bart was apparently too surprised and confused by this to get Cassie and Donna out before they become buried in the Earth. Cassie asks him to find a path out, but Bart worries about using his powers in such an unstable environment, saying he'd be like Gar in a china shop. If, you know, Gar was a bull. Donna tries to explain to Cassie and Bart what happened, struggling to convince herself that her zombie family members aren't actually her family. But as she talks, the spreading black infection on her neck and face causes her to collapse in pain and her eyes to turn into the Black Lantern symbol.

Outside, Beast Boy is trying in vain to free Starfire and Cyborg from Omen's illusions. And as Terra gloats over finally being able to kill the Titans, she's joined by zombie versions of Aqualad, Aquagirl, Dolphin, Pantha and Wildebeest. Garth's appearance is especially troubling, as he was alive and well when this whole Blackest Night thing began.




I really don't have much to say about this issue. The horror story is continuing, but I don't have a particularly strong emotional connection to most of these characters. And there really didn't seem like there's any reason for Bart to be here. And frankly, I am kind of mixed on the bit of Bart we did get here. On one hand, I do like using Bart to show us how scary all this is. Zombie babies are downright creepy. But on the other hand, I feel like Krul just does not have a great handle on Bart as a character. Being able to feel approaching earthquakes is an odd ability that I've never seen brought up before. And in the time it took Bart to explain that, he could have — and should have — pulled Cassie and Donna out of the building. It was an odd moment.

Well, let's check out the new ads:

got milk? with Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. In the 2008-09 NBA season, Paul was an All-Star, First-Team All-Defense, Second-Team All-NBA, and led the league in assists and steals.

Will the betrayal of one, mean the end for them all? Bleach: The Movie 2.

Prepare for an all-out brawl. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up for Wii and PlayStation 2.

2009 Design Scholarship Challenge, announcing winner Shane McCallion.

A world divided. A journey uncharted. Aion for PC DVD-ROM.

Justice League of America. A new era begins with James Robinson and Mark Bagley.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds collected as a hardcover graphic novel.

The dead have risen! ... And no one is safe! Blackest Night. (Gotta love ads for the very thing you're reading.)

On the DC Nation page, Ian Sattler promotes the Superman/Batman: Public Enemies movie.

Next time, in case you haven't got enough horror, we'll check out a special Kid Flash story in DC's Halloween Special '09.

Blackest Night: Titans #1

When Death Comes Knocking

Written by: J.T. Krul
Pencils: Ed Benes
Inks: Rob Hunter, Jon Sibal & JP Mayer
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Letters: Rob Clark Jr.
Cover by: Benes, Hunter, & Rod Reis
Variant Cover by: Brian Haberlin
Assoc. Editor: Adam Schlagman
Asst. Editor: Rex Ogle
Editors: Eddie Berganza & Brian Cunningham

Our main cover shows Beast Boy grotesquely making out with his deceased girlfriend, Terra. It's disturbing. It's creepy. It's perfect for this story. It's the kind of horrific cover that you can't bear to look at, but you also can't pull away from.

I took this image of the variant cover from dc.fandom.com. It's another creepy closeup of Terra, but without the perverse kissing of Beast Boy, it lacks the impact of the main cover. And just to clear things up, this is the original version of Terra — not the Terra that Bart hung out with for a little bit during his brief stay with the New Titans way back when. This Terra betrayed the Teen Titans and then died in a big fight with Deathstroke. But Garfield Logan genuinely loved her and refused to believe she was actually evil, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Blackest Night was a massive event. Not only did it have its own eight-part main series, and nearly every monthly title at DC had one or two issues tie into this event, but there were also a smattering of three-part miniseries like this. For better and worse, this event will dive deep into every major character's death in the DC Universe.

Our story begins on Heroes Day during Blackest Night #1. We see that Deathstroke is mourning the death of his oldest son, Grant, by tracking down and killing members of H.I.V.E., who hired Grant to take down the Titans, which led to Grant's death. Red Star is mourning his wife, Pantha, and their son, Wildebeest, by drinking a bottle of vodka. And Ravager is celebrating Heroes Day by having sex with a random man and kicking him out of the room immediately by threatening him with her sword.

At Titans Tower in San Francisco, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Dove, Hawk, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Donna Troy and Geo-Force have gathered to commemorate all the fallen Titans. We get a repeat of Bart's conversation with Cassie about him wishing to take down all the statues, and Cassie responds by saying the return of Bart and Conner is a good start for the Titans. She admits she used to think death was the end, but after looking into Conner's eyes, she now believes that anything is possible. Donna points out that she also has cheated death several times, but laments how the "normal" people never come back, mentioning her toddler son, who was killed in a car crash.

Starfire wonders aloud why they have a statue of Terra the traitor, and as expected, Beast Boy protests this. He argues that Terra's mind was poisoned by Deathstroke, just like Ravager's was. Cyborg says Terra wasn't drugged, but Gar refuses to listen to him and walks away. Hawk and Dove are having a similar debate over the original Hawk, who technically died a villain. As they talk, we see a bunch of Black Lantern rings are trying, but failing, to resurrect the original Dove. However, the grave of the original Hawk is empty.

Hawk and Dove return to Washington, D.C., but are quickly led into a trap by the zombie Hawk. Bart is the last to leave the Titans' hall of statues, taking time to gaze at the statue of Omen, whom he saw die in that terrible Graduation Day story. Donna returns to her room to look at photos of her deceased family. Beast Boy takes a long, solitary walk out by the bay, while Starfire and Cyborg creepily watch him on the security monitors. And Cyborg has the gall to place all the blame on Starfire for upsetting Gar.

Suddenly, Beat Boy is approached by Terra. She looks alive and well, and is eager to give him a big hug. She explains that she faked her death all those years ago and chose to stay away from the team because they suspected her as a traitor. The stunned Gar asks why she chose to come back now, and she mentions the return of Conner and Bart. Terra then pulls Gar in for a kiss, while another zombie watches from the bushes, identifying the emotion of love in Gar's heart.

Turns out, it was a good thing Starfire and Cyborg were spying on their friend, as they were able to see what was happening and swoop in quickly before anything too bad happened. The zombie hiding in the bushes was Omen, who was using her psychic powers to make Gar see Terra as healthy and alive, instead of the rotting corpse we saw on both covers. But even when the zombie Omen is attacked and her mirage fades, Gar is still hesitant to pull away from the zombie Terra, who is now saying she's here to collect Gar's heart.

Donna is awoken from her sleep by the sudden appearance of a baby carriage in her room and the voice of her dead son calling out to her. And after a lengthy battle with Hawk and Dove, the zombie Hawk manages to thrust his hand into Hawk's chest to pull out her heart.




This was a pretty interesting comic. I don't have a very strong connection to all these characters, beyond the tenuous relationship they had to Bart. But I do like the idea of people being attacked by the zombies of people they care deeply about on the very day they were thinking most about those people. As for Bart, he still doesn't have too much to do in this story, beyond feeling a little survivor's guilt and wondering about the nature of death and rebirth. While we ponder on those metaphysical questions, let's check out the new ads:

The battle begins! Smallville Season 8 on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Batgirl. A new ongoing series by Bryan Q. Miller and Lee Garbett.

Magog. Exploding from the pages of Justice Society of America. A new monthly series by Keith Giffen and Howard Porter.

The Brave and the Bold by J. Michael Straczynski and Jesus Saiz.

The DC Nation page shows a blond man lounging on a beach chair under an umbrella, on top of a massive pile of skulls and bones. The caption reads, "On vacation! Be back soon!" I don't know who the blond man is supposed to be.

Next issue ... Black Lantern Hawks!

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #3

Part Three: Recessional

Judd Winick Writer
Alé Garza Penciller
Trevor Scott & Marlo Alquiza Inks
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Associate Editor Lysa Hawkins
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover shows Nightwing holding the dead body of Troia. It is a rather morose image, although it does spoil the story inside, and confirms my fears that this miniseries is just a Titans story with Young Justice as the guest stars.

Our story picks up with several members of the Titans and Young Justice battling a Superman robot at a S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Silicon Valley, California. Tempest takes a big hit that sends him flying into a nearby firetruck. The Superman robot then grabs Impulse, prompting Nightwing to order Bart to go limp.

Impulse chooses instead to break free of the robot's grasp and tie it up with its cape. But the robot punches through the cape, hitting Impulse in the back, and sending him into the wall. Wonder Girl rushes to Bart's side, notes that he's unconscious, and wonders aloud why he can't ever listen. Next to her, a random pile of purple goo starts bubbling.

The Superman robot flies into the air and prepares to throw a large piece of machinery at our heroes. Arsenal fires a few arrows at it, destroying the chunk of rubble, but otherwise doing no damage to the android, which fires back with some heat vision blasts of its own. Troia flies up, grabs the robot, and manages to push it out to an open field.

The blue robot girl with pink hair says she's programmed to protect humanity, but she's only operating at 35 percent of her normal capabilities and still requires more repairs. So Arsenal pulls out a screwdriver and asks Robin to help him fix up the robot, while everyone else chases after Troia and the Superman bot.

The Superman robot throws Troia off him, hits Wonder Girl with a blast of freezing breath, then puts Superboy in a headlock. Nightwing frees him by placing a couple of explosives on the robot's back, but once again, very little damage is actually done to the android. Meanwhile, we discover that the purple goo on the floor was actually the hero Metamorpho.

Troia quickly returns to the fight, and manages to take off one the robot's arms. She then pins it under her begins pummeling it. But before the Superman robot is completely destroyed, it blasts Troia through the heart with its heat vision, killing her instantly. Immediately after, the blue robot girl plunges her fist through the Superman robot, finally destroying it. However, she also collapses right after.

The narrator then tells us that Omen had very few friends and family, so her funeral service was very small. Donna Troy's, however, was massive. Nearly every hero imaginable showed up to pay their respects to Donna, who was honored with a statue of herself labeled, "Friend, Princess, Warrior."

After the funeral, Wonder Girl retreats to a lonely tree to cry under. Superboy and Robin approach her, telling her that this wasn't their fault and they did was try to help. Cassie says that's the problem — all they do is try to help, but they never do. She angrily says they've never known what they were doing and now their ignorance has led to the murder of two people. Kon admits they have a lot to learn, but Cassie cuts him off, saying they'll never learn enough. Cyborg was watching all this from a distance, and he says to himself, "You're wrong ... and I'll show you why ..."

Arsenal and Nightwing are having a similar conversation, with Nightwing insisting this was all their fault. He shouts and whines, and Roy quietly answers with, "I loved her, too." He then tells Dick he can't throw away everything they built with Donna, but Dick insists the Titans are finished and walks away. We then get an epilogue showing Donna waking up on the world she saw in her nightmares. Luckily, she's wearing more than her underwear this time.



This was the story of how the Titans became the Outsiders. Nightwing, who was clearly unstable before any of this began, was simply unable to keep the team going after witnessing two of his teammates be killed. That's completely understandable. Overlooking the incredibly lame way Omen and Troia were killed, and the incredibly confusing shenanigans Donna Troy is constantly put through, and we have an adequate origin story for this new Outsiders team. Unfortunately, setting up the Outsiders was only half the goal of this miniseries. It was also supposed to show how Young Justice disbanded and became the Teen Titans. And that really didn't happen.

Young Justice started this story by visiting a large corporation late one night to discuss a potential sponsorship deal. We don't know what any of them thought about this. Then, a random robot attacked Cyborg and was legitimately killing him. So Young Justice tried to save Cyborg, which started a bit of a fight that inexplicably wounded half the heroes involved. Later, this same random robot activates a random Superman robot. Everybody goes to fight it, and two members of the Titans are killed. Tragic? Sure. Especially for Wonder Girl, who was fairly close to Donna. But was this a strong enough reason to disband Young Justice? Heck no! Maybe let Cassie take a break for a bit, but there's no reason for Superboy, Robin, Impulse or Empress to want to stop what they're doing.

This was a disappointing miniseries through and through. The artwork was never particularly good. And the story jumped around like crazy — being annoyingly specific with times and locations, yet quite inconsistent in other aspects. And so much time was spent on things that ultimately didn't matter. We didn't need to have that prolonged Titans debate at Optitron, as there was no payoff whatsoever in this story. In the end, I was looking for something to ease the disappointment of Young Justice's cancellation. Instead, I just got a sloppy story that cared more about other characters.

Next time, we'll continue the Blitz storyline in The Flash #199.

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #2

Part Two: Commencement

Judd Winick Writer
Alé Garza Penciller
Lary Stucker Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Associate Editor Lysa Hawkins
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover shows a fairly shocking image: Superman, looking quite angry and evil, beating up Nightwing, Troia, Robin and Superboy. Don't look too closely at the proportions or the anatomy — you will start to lose your mind. Well, let's try to find out what's going on here.

Our story picks up after the disastrous fight with the blue and pink robot girl against the Titans and Young Justice. Nightwing has decided to bring all the injured heroes to San Francisco General Hospital, yet he is adamant that everybody keep their masks on ... unless it's medical. Cyborg proves problematic, as the hospital is not at all equipped to help him. And Impulse does not like being restrained by Tempest.

Eventually, Dr. Sarah Charles of S.T.A.R. Labs shows up, and one hour and 26 minutes later, she has everybody "out of the woods." And she is preparing to transfer the wounded to S.T.A.R. Labs Facility SJ-1, 63 miles away. But before that can happen, our favorite blue robot teleports into said facility. She fights through a bunch of guards, smashes her way to a big vault, but by the time she gets it open, she's running at only 1.78 percent power and collapses. Superman steps out of the vault, picks up the robot, and flies away with her.

Back at the hospital, Robin is complaining to Superboy about how dumb the fight with the robot was. He blames Impulse and Empress for charging in, causing half the Titans to get injured while looking out for Young Justice. Robin is embarrassed to have made such a showing in front of the team that inspired them. Superboy says he's sure the Titans were a lot like them when they started, but Robin darkly says he doesn't think so.

Troia and Nightwing are watching this conversation from a distance, and Troia points out how similar Robin is to Nightwing. She asks him to tell Robin that he's wrong, reminding Nightwing of all their failures when they were younger. But Nightwing refuses, saying Young Justice needs a leader more than a kind word. Troia suggests Nightwing could lead them, but he darkly says he can barely lead the Titans. He then abruptly changes the conversation by asking Troia if she's consulted Wonder Woman about her nightmares. She hasn't, which angers Nightwing, so Troia calls him on his hypocrisy for refusing to talk to Robin or Batman.

They find Wonder Girl sulking in a closet, so Nightwing leaves Troia to try to comfort her. Wonder Girl admits that she's considering leading a normal life as a high school girl, getting involved with sports and the yearbook staff and such. Troia asks if that's what she really wants, and Wonder Girl realizes such a boring life would drive her crazy. Troia tells her they didn't choose this life, but it is their destiny and they have to rise to the challenges. After a moment of silence, Wonder Girl says she's scared most of the time. Troia says she'd be stupid not to be.

Cyborg is awake now, and he tells Arsenal that he learned a bit about the blue robot when it connected to him. She's from more than 2000 years in the future and was damaged in a previous battle. Cyborg says the robot was simply looking for similar life forms, but she inadvertently fell into defense mode, which is why she attacked them.

One of the S.T.A.R. Labs people gets everybody's attention and turns on the news, showing reports of explosions at computer gaming store called Contesto. Impulse asks why they should care about a toy company, and Dr. Charles explains that was just a front for a S.T.A.R. Labs facility. The newscast reports that Superman is on the scene, prompting local responders to keep their distance. The cameras allegedly also show the blue robot (although we don't see it in the comic) because Impulse comments on how weird it is to see Superman working on "the bad girl that laid us all up." Nightwing asks Dr. Charles how soon she can get them there, and she says her hover craft will make the trip in eight minutes. So Nightwing rounds up everyone who's healthy enough to fight — Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Arsenal, Troia and Omen.

Our heroes arrive at the facility and find Superman repairing the robot's circuits with his heat vision. But they instantly realize something is wrong, as Superman refuses to acknowledge their presence. Impulse thinks he's "off his nut" to be playing doctor on "C3PO," while the whole place looks like Godzilla whacked Tokyo. Robin says they can't try to make Superman do anything he doesn't want to do. Tempest agrees with Robin, but also acknowledges Impulse has a good point. Omen tries to read Superman's mind, but is unable. Believing he's in a trance, she tries to touch him to restore his senses. Nightwing, ever the worrywart, warns her not to, but Omen proceeds with her plan.

Superman suddenly turns, grabs Omen's neck and crushes it, killing her instantly. Impulse was the only one who could have tried to save her, but he hesitated out of shock. And the narrator tells us that Impulse wouldn't have made a difference even if he didn't hesitate. The narrator also explains to us that this is a Superman robot that was built to resemble the original's powers as much as possible, but was deemed unreliable, deactivated and put in storage. Until today.



This was another lackluster effort in this miniseries. Even Lary Stucker's inks couldn't fix Alé Garza's problems with proportions, anatomy, heads and faces. And the story is just so ... melodramatic. We spent most of the time sitting around in the hospital with everybody acting like they've never lost a fight or been injured before. Look, that little stint with the blue robot girl was not a big deal. At all. It was a quick fight, a couple of people got electrocuted ... so what? Stuff like that happens all the time for these people, right? And why are they all treating that fight like it was the biggest mistake they've ever seen? That robot was killing Cyborg, despite her intentions. Somebody needed to do something.

This issue spent so much time on the hospital sob fest and the robot girl hopping around, that we weren't left with any time for the promised fight against this Superman robot. I also think it was incredibly lame for a narrator's box to tell us this was a Superman robot. A significant detail like that should organically come from the story. And as for Omen's death? Sure, I guess you could call it shocking. But I don't know anything about her, nor do I care about her.

Next time, we're going to take a very quick look at JLA: Welcome to the Working Week.

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1

Part One: Invocation

Judd Winick Writer
Alé Garza Penciller
Trevor Scott Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Associate Editor Lysa Hawkins
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover shows three members of Young Justice — Impulse, Robin and Wonder Girl — running against a blank background with their shadows in the shape of their Titans counterparts — Jesse Quick, Nightwing and Troia. It's a fairly interesting concept, but I'm not sure about the execution. It just feels rather bland. And I'm not a fan of Garza's style — his heads and faces often look squished.

Our story begins with Troia savagely battling a bunch of monsters in the rain, while wearing little more than her underwear and wielding an extremely small sword. Donna then wakes up from her nightmare ... one month ago for some reason. This is a recurring dream for her that is becoming more real each night. And she fears it less, and welcomes it more every night.

Last night, in Austin, Texas, at 3:28 a.m. to be specific, a blue robot girl with pink hair falls out of a purple portal and lands in an alley. The robot is operating at 47.3 percent operating capacity, so it enters maintenance mode and begins scanning for cybernetic organisms.

Twenty-one hours later, in San Francisco, at 11:06 p.m., Jean Walters, chief executive officer of Optitron is holding a board meeting with the Titans — Jesse Quick, Arsenal, Troia, Nightwing, Argent, Cyborg, Tempest and Omen. Optitron wants to fund the Titans — provide them with a new headquarters, state of the art technology and all the money they need to focus on saving the world. Nightwing is skeptical, so asks Omen, a psychic, what the company's true motives are. She says they want the biggest tax write-off in American history, but they also genuinely want to help make the world a better place.

But this isn't good enough for Nightwing, and he tells the team they're leaving. Cyborg points out they could use a new jet, but Arsenal is the most vocal objector, telling Nightwing to consider what they could accomplish with this financial backing. Nightwing worries that this agreement would only start with the funding and end with the Titans being sent on special-interest missions for Optitron. Arsenal dismisses that concern, and says that this kind of money could put the Titans on the same standing as the JSA and JLA. As they leave the office, Nightwing sees something that makes him distrust Optitron even more — Young Justice sitting in the waiting room.

Nightwing groans that Optitron is making the same offer to Young Justice, calling it the fast food chain equivalent of super teams. Arsenal doesn't see the harm in that. Cyborg asks Robin if they were also flown out on a jet, and Robin says their plane had to make an emergency landing in Dallas because Impulse wrecked the bathroom and the cabin depressurized. Impulse says he just wanted to know where the water went.

We then cut to the Franklin Military Installation in Tucson, Arizona, where three of the Metal Men are working. The blue robot girl suddenly teleports inside the facility and immediately paralyzes the Metal Men with a blast of pink lightning. The blue robot then tries to connect with Platinum, but finds her technology incompatible and unable to repair herself. So she begins scanning again for more cybernetic organisms.

We return to the Titans leaving the Optitron headquarters, and Tempest has joined the side of Arsenal and Cyborg, saying they should at least hear out the company. Cyborg suggests they could draw up a contract to ensure they don't make any claims on their activities. But Nightwing worries about what would happen if they happen to stumble across an area where Optitron is getting its hands dirty. Troia suggests Nightwing has a chip on his shoulder against rich corporations. Cyborg pleads with his teammates to take half an hour to talk about this offer before they leave.

The blue robot girl suddenly teleports into the Optitron foyer and attaches herself to Cyborg, who starts screaming at her to get off him. Argent and Jesse Quick try to pull her off, but they're both blasted aside by her pink lightning. Nightwing orders the Titans to focus on protecting the civilians in the building. Impulse and Empress come out of nowhere and offer to take out the robot. Empress grabs Cyborg, while Impulse vibrates inside the robot to try to shake her loose. Nightwing warns them that this robot is too unpredictable. Superboy suggests they all attack, but Robin sides with Nightwing.

Impulse's plan seems to be working, until the robot activates its defense mode at "factor 10," which creates a large pink explosion. Cyborg is finally freed from the robot, but his legs have been incinerated. Superboy puts the robot in a headlock, but she throws him off. Troia and Tempest get in a couple of good hits, though, and Arsenal manages to shoot off one of the robot's arms. The robot finally teleports away, leaving most of the heroes rather beat up. Cyborg weakly tells Nightwing that the robot didn't mean to hurt anyone. Nightwing looks at all the injuries around him and says, "You could have fooled me ..."



This comic was underwhelming. The art ranged from mediocre to distasteful, and the story just left me wanting. So much of it was spent on a rather tired argument about a superhero team being sponsored by someone else yet still wanting independence. We basically just went through this with Young Justice and their short-lived reality TV show. And, going back almost a decade, we had the exact same scenario when Arsenal led the New Titans. Maybe, just maybe, this argument could have been interesting had we been able to see what Young Justice thought about it, taking into account their experience with "Super Vision." But instead, the Titans dominated the conversation, which was comprised entirely by Nightwing being unyielding and rather unreasonable. All Young Justice got to do in this issue was make a couple of jokes and act like idiots.

This was the first of a three-part story that's supposed to take us from the Titans and Young Justice to the Outsiders and Teen Titans. At least that's what it was advertised as. But DC chose the writer to be Judd Winick, who will write the new Outsiders series. So it's not too surprising that this miniseries feels exclusively like a set up for the Outsiders, with everybody else playing a guest role. It would have been nice if the writer of the new Teen Titans series, Geoff Johns, was involved. Or better yet, why not give Tom Peyer (Titans) and Peter David (Young Justice) a chance to write a swan song for their books?

Next time, we'll jump into the Blitz storyline in The Flash #198.

The Titans #25

Who Is Troia? Part Three: This Is Your Life

Jay Faeber Writer
Marv Wolfman Writer pp 14-18
Paul Pelletier Penciller pp 1-8, 25-35
Phil Jimenez Penciller pp 9-11
Nick Cardy Penciller pp 12-13
George Perez Penciller pp 14-18
Tom Grummett Penciller pp 19-21
Terry Dodson Penciller pp 22-24
Bud LaRosa Inker pp 1-8, 28-35
Phil Jimenez Inker pp 9-11
Tom Palmer Sr. Inker pp 12-13
Scott Hanna Inker pp 36-38
Al Vey Inker pp 19-21
George Perez Inker pp 14-18
Terry Austin Inker pp 25-27
Rachel Dodson Inker pp 22-24
Comicraft Letters
Gregory Wright Colors
Heroic Age Seps
Tom Palmer Jr. Ass't Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

This issue's cover marks the final piece of Phil Jimenez's Donna Troy triptych with the colors of Tanya & Richard Horie. Donna naturally takes the center stage, surrounded by a whole bunch of people we don't care that much about. But there are a few we do recognize from our old New Titans days. Green Lantern and Arsenal on the left, with the Flash and Nightwing on the right. It is an impressive cover, especially when combined with the other two parts of this story, showing off everyone and everything related to Donna Troy, in the way that only Phil Jimenez can do. However, the cover does boast of having 48 pages, but the story is only 38 pages.

Before we dive in, let me issue a warning. Donna Troy has, in my opinion, the most confusing and convoluted backstory of any DC character. Even more than Hawkman. I know DC tried to straighten things out with her back in Genesis, and I'm not sure if this big three-parter changed anything or was merely trying to explain this confusion. In any case, I'm not going to try to get into it at all. I mean, this is an Impulse blog, so why should we worry about such details?

Our story begins on the JLA Watchtower on the Moon, with Kyle Rayner telling Wally West about how he was recently approached by a strange young woman who claimed to know him, but he had never seen her before. Kyle uses his ring to show Wally what she looks like, and Wally recognizes her as Donna Troy. He reminds Kyle that he used to date Donna, but Kyle has no idea what he's talking about. So Wally rushes down to the Titans Tower in New York to find out why people can't remember Donna.

The only Titan at home is Roy Harper, who's nursing a broken leg and playing with his young daughter. Wally tells him about his conversation with Kyle, and while Roy doesn't remember Donna, either, he does tell Wally that she recently approached the Titans. Accompanied by a handful of heroes from an alternate future (we recognize one of them as Wally's daughter, Kid Flash, from Chain Lightning), Donna asked the Titans to help her battle Dark Angel, who is apparently responsible for erasing everyone's memory of Donna. So the Titans agreed to help her, and they all are now battling the villain in the Netherworld.

During the battle, some strange things begin to happen to reality because of the disturbances caused by the dimension-hopping time travelers. Jesse Quick's costume momentarily changes to that of her mom's, and this kind of freaks everyone out. But things get really bad when Dark Angel is suddenly surrounded by several doppelgängers of herself. All the Dark Angels decide to open up time portals and attack Donna Troy at different points in her life. So the Titans (present and future) split up and follow the Dark Angels through each portal.

Wally's daughter, Iris, catches the first Dark Angel and easily brings her back to the Netherworld in the present. The next Dark Angel visited Donna while she was showing off her new red costume to Dick (Robin), Roy (Speedy) and Wally (Kid Flash). These heroes actually defeat Dark Angel, so Jesse Quick just has to pick up the unconscious villain and take her back. And pretty much this same pattern continues. We see young versions of Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg and pretty much every other Titan you could imagine.

The final Dark Angel traveled to the most recent event, just one year ago at the funeral of Donna's young son, Bobby. This proved to be a foolish time to attack for Dark Angel since the funeral guests not only included Wonder Woman herself, but also a reunion of the disbanded New Titans: Green Lantern, Terra, Supergirl, Mirage, Damage and Impulse.

Needless to say, the battle is quick and decisive. The two heroes from the present who came back here were Troia and the Darkstar from the alternate future, who's really Donna's son, but she doesn't know this, even though it's kind of obvious. Anyway, Darkstar takes Dark Angel through the portal, but the portal closes before Troia can follow through. And for two whole panels she's very sad and worried about being trapped one year in the past. But then the Flash comes out of nowhere and rescues Troia. I don't know how he knew he needed to go back one year in the past, or how he knew to take Troia back to the Netherworld, but he did.

So this all sets up one big final fight between Dark Angel and Donna Troy. They both call on the powers of their past selves and doppelgängers, and Donna ultimately wins in the end. She knocks Dark Angel into a "trans-warp singularity" that one of the future Titans has, and they destroy the only way out, forever entrapping the villain that I really don't know anything about, and, frankly, don't care to find out. The important thing is the day is saved, the alternate future Titans go back home, and we get to move on to a quick epilogue.

It's Donna's birthday, and all of her former teammates have shown up to celebrate, including Impulse and Wonder Girl. Cassie is impressed to learn that Bart was once a Titan, but he waves them off, mentioning the time they went into space without him. (Yes! Both Bart and I are still bitter about that!) And, that's about it. We don't see Bart interact with any of his former teammates, so maybe he really is still bitter. Our story ends with Donna happily saying she's earned the right to celebrate.


This was an ambitious story with some really good ideas, but ultimately I felt the execution was lacking. The ending was just a bit too convenient, and I didn't care one bit for the unnecessary bit with Wally traveling back in time to rescue Donna. I will say, however, that this issue handled all the different artists about as well as possible. They each got to do a different time period, and it really helped, too, that a few of these artists are some of the biggest names in the business. As for Impulse, it was nice to see someone remember his brief stint with the Titans. But that's about it.

The letters to the editor don't mention Impulse (naturally), but it is interesting to note that Eddie Berganza announced that this was his last issue on The Titans, but he doesn't say why. Well, let's check out the new ads.

Take this moment to rest. Incredible Crisis for PlayStation.

Corn gone wrong. Surprisingly hardcore corn snacks in seven mean flavors. Corn Nuts.

Finger Eleven. Download free Mp3s including "First Time" only at www.fingereleven.com.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear on PlayStation.

Anytime is a good time for fireworks. FantaVision for PlayStation 2.

Crash is ready for battle. Are you? Crash Bash on PlayStation.

Freaky what you can get out of a bottle of Sprite these days.

Self-respect. My anti-drug.

What's it worth? Find out at wizardworld.com.

Next time, we'll continue Young Justice's adventures in space with Young Justice #29.

The Titans # 12

The Immortal Coil Part 3 of 3

Devin Grayson Writer
Mark Buckingham Penciller
Wade Von Grawbadger & Marlo Alquiza Inkers
Gregory Wright Color
Heroic Age Seps
Comicraft Lettering
Maureen McTigue Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Titans clash all over this cover by Bucky & Wade with Richard and Tanya Horie's great colors! And this is a very involved cover — exactly what one would expect for a double-sized conclusion of a three-part story. We have lots of familiar friends and foes here. Vandal Savage has Jesse Quick by the throat, while the new Flash battles Gorilla Grodd. Plus, we have lots of Bart's old New Titans buddies — Damage, Starfire, Nightwing, Troia, Arsenal and Cyborg in his gold Omegadrome body. Sadly, this issue is not a reunion for Impulse and his former teammates.

This is a very large, complex story, and it's pretty tough to get a grasp of what's going on since we're coming in on the third act. But it really doesn't matter too much, since Impulse and Young Justice have a very small roll here. So, telling the story from our hero's perspective, Impulse, Robin and Superboy hop aboard the Super-Cycle to check out a sudden burst of natural disasters in the country of Zandia. None of the girls are there, but this actually makes sense continuity-wise — Secret is still missing, Arrowette has quit, and Wonder Girl is likely trying to help Arrowette.

Anyway, Robin finds it awfully suspicious that this country was hit with five natural disasters in one day, but he can't figure out why. Superboy is excited to see so many other heroes there, including the beautiful Wonder Woman. Impulse randomly finds a bunch of sticks of TNT and brings them back to show his friends. Robin sighs, telling Impulse to get rid of them, and Superboy makes sure the dynamite is properly disposed of.

To illustrate how Zandia is jam-packed with superheroes, Steel smashes open a fire hydrant to put out a fire, and inadvertently drenches Impulse. Steel does apologize, but Impulse thinks he should throw Steel in the ocean to get even.

What all the heroes fail to realize (except for the stars of this book) is that all the disasters in Zandia were part of a larger scheme to attract as many heroes together into one spot, and then eradicate them with a nuclear warhead. Luckily, Cyborg's Omegadrome body proves flexible enough and powerful enough to contain the blast, protecting all the people and heroes on the ground, who never knew how close they were to being destroyed.

And that's really all that matters for us here. Yes, the new Flash and Jesse Quick were involved, but they didn't do anything that directly influenced Impulse. So we'll end this here. And since none of the letters to the editor mention Impulse, let's head straight into the ads.

You can attack, but you can't escape when good toys go bad. Toy Commander for Sega Dreamcast.

Generic knockoffs are okay for medication. This stuff is way too important. Official PlayStation branded accessories.

Polaris SnoCross on Game Boy Color.

Joe Kubert's World of Cartooning correspondence course for comic books.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six on Nintendo 64, PlayStation and Game Boy Color.

Thick & rich obscene noises. Heinz ketchup.

Go west! Wild Wild West starring Will Smith, who will also be starring in the upcoming Suicide Squad.

Asteroids rocks! Asteroids Hyper 64 for Nintendo 64.

Next time, we'll finally get to the bottom of this new Flash character in The Flash #157.