Teen Titans #4

Breaking the Rules

Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Mike McKone
Inked by Marlo Alquiza
Colored by Jeromy Cox
Lettered by Comicraft
Associate Editor Tom Palmer Jr.
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover by Mike McKone gives Robin the focus, putting Beast Boy in the background, taking the form of a bunch of different animals. And for some reason Brother Blood's cult is here, as well. These covers are more about showing off the characters than telling any kind of story, seemingly putting people together by random. I'd like these covers a bit more if I could see more purpose behind them. But I can't think of any reason to pair up Robin and Beast Boy.

Our story picks up with the fight between Cyborg, Beast Boy and Deathstroke. Or should I say Jericho? Even though Cyborg and Beast Boy don't believe him, Deathstroke claims that he actually is his son, Jericho, who had the power to jump from person to person. When Slade slid his sword through his son, Jericho's last thought was of survival, and his essence went into Deathstroke's body, lying dormant for years to heal. When Deathstroke heard about Donna's death and the new team of heroes being assembled, Jericho woke up and took control.

This shocking news has given Deathstroke the advantage in the fight, and he viciously runs his sword through the robotic part of Cyborg's head. As Beast Boy helps Victor, he tells Jericho he believes him and begs him to stop fighting so they can help him. But Deathstroke knocks out Beast Boy, saying he's here to help the Teen Titans — to show them how dangerous it is to be a superhero.

We check in on Bart's operation, where the doctors have to keep reopening the self-healing wound to insert the artificial kneecap. As they work on him, Bart's mind replays the harsh comments he's received over the past few days. From Starfire: "Goofing off. Don't you do that enough, Impulse?" and "Help out, Impulse." From Flash: "Bart's a good kid — but I don't know how much I believe in him."

We then return to Titans Tower at 8:34 p.m. Starfire, who hasn't seen Robin, Superboy or Wonder Girl since about 10 a.m. that day, decides to finally check up on them. She enters Robin's room and finds that not only has he cut an escape hole through the window, but he took the time to perfectly carve the hole in the shape of Batman's logo. Starfire angrily flies through the window to locate the missing teenagers.

Our "troublemakers" have apparently spent all day making their way to the hospital, and Robin hopes that Starfire's anger on a scale of 1 to 10 registers a 50. He says he hates being told what he's capable of. Superboy agrees, adding that he doesn't like being told who he is, referencing his DNA connection to Lex Luthor. Robin says he knows what Superboy means, but he refuses to let Wonder Girl in on the conversation.

In the hospital, a doctor is gathering up Impulse's tattered, bloodied uniform, while a nurse looks up the insurance information Beast Boy left behind. And if you look closely, you can see a TV in the background playing the Teen Titans cartoon show. Robin slips in through a conveniently open window, asking where Impulse is. The doctor says Bart checked himself out a few minutes ago. He marvels at the speed of Bart's recovery — having been up and walking just 15 minutes after the operation — as well as his pain threshold, since he had to endure the whole ordeal without anesthesia. Cassie asks where Bart went, and all the doctor can say is that Bart had asked for directions to the library.

We then cut to a mysterious scene in Flagstaff, Arizona. A young woman, dressed in a dark cloak, is being chased through the woods by three other cloaked figures. She calls out for help, and as she is hit in the back, dozens of black birds fill the sky.

At the San Francisco Public Library on Larkin Street, everybody is running out of the building onto the streets. Wonder Girl manages to ask a little girl what's caused the panic, and she says the books are floating and a ghost is inside. So Wonder Girl, Superboy and Robin walk in, observing huge stacks of books moving around by themselves. They quickly realize that the books are being moved by Impulse, who's moving so fast no one can see him. Robin notes that they must look like statues to Bart, who has apparently decided to ignore them. Superboy wonders what Bart is doing, and all Robin can surmise is that he's reading every book in the library. Conner finds it hard to believe that cartoon- and video game-loving Bart would suddenly take an interest in reading.

Cassie, however, was drawn out to a nearby alley by a mysterious voice. She follows the voice to a window, in which appears the full form of Ares. Wonder Girl prepares for a fight, but Ares removes his helmet in a gesture of peace. He tells Cassie that she shows great potential as a catalyst for real change in the world. He offers her a lasso that looks like Wonder Woman's lasso of truth, but he's intentionally vague on the details of this lasso. Cassie unwisely takes the lasso in her hand, and the second she tries to return it, the window shatters and Ares disappears.

Robin and Superboy soon find Cassie and ask her what she's holding. She admits she's not sure, and before she can tell them who she was talking to, a small bomb drops down in front of them. Superboy shields Robin from the blast, which knocks him and Wonder Girl out. Deathstroke attacks Robin, and beats the snot out of him. He easily puts the Boy Wonder on the ground and aims his shotgun just inches away from Robin's face. Deathstroke pulls the trigger, but the bullet is caught by Bart, who identifies the bullet as a nitro express cartridge with a velocity of 2,000 f.p.s. and a striking energy of four tons. As he explains that he read all this in a book, he takes apart Deathstroke's gun piece by piece. Robin calls out to Impulse, but Bart corrects him: "Nope. Kid Flash!"

OK, I'll admit that was a cool moment at the end. Catching a bullet (a very powerful bullet, apparently) just half an inch away from someone's face is pretty sweet. Heck, I'll admit I liked everything about Bart in this issue. How he used those put-downs he's heard as motivation to get him through the surgery. And how he read every single book in the library. (If I had super speed, I'd definitely do that.) Bart has received the very sad message that no one likes Impulse anymore. So he has gone out of his way to be as un-Impulse-like as possible. It's a pretty typical teenage thing to try to radically reinvent oneself. But the question is: Will I like this new Bart?

The rest of the issue was OK. Jericho's story seems a little implausible, but his motivations do make sense. The biggest problem was timing of everything. Issues 2 through 4 are all on the same day. The Alcatraz fire started at about 8 a.m. and was wrapped up by 9:30, at which point Cyborg rushed Bart off to surgery (and then was criminally negligent in failing to contact Bart's legal guardian). Starfire takes the others back to the tower and talks for a few minutes before leaving them. Suddenly it's 8:30 p.m. and I'm wondering what everybody was doing all day. Did it take Robin five hours to perfectly carve out his bat-shaped hole in the window? Did he, Superboy and Wonder Girl get lost in San Francisco, stop to get lunch and catch a movie before heading to the hospital? Or maybe they spent several hours peeking in every window of the hospital until they found the right one.

Next time, we'll wrap up all comics with a 2003 publication date with Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files & Origins.