Teen Titans #5

Clash of the Teen Titans!

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 features Impulse and Kid Flash in a rather odd set up. It's like Kid Flash is racing past the anguished Impulse, who does not like the idea of being replaced. And I can't say that Kid Flash looks too pleased about it, either. Also, Kid Flash's hair is looking a bit too red for me. He's not Wally West, people! Anyway, the background is random as usual, showing Raven and Deathstroke ... with some circle things above Deathstroke's head. Are they targets? Bullets? Like I said, very random.

Our story picks up at 9:40 p.m. on the new Teen Titans' first Saturday. Starfire has caught up with Beast Boy and Cyborg, who are recovering from the Deathstroke attack (Cyborg is rerouting cranial nerve impulses so he can function with only half a brain). Beast Boy tells Starfire that Deathstroke is possessed by Jericho, who has threatened to kill one of the kids to illustrate how dangerous the Teen Titans are. Cyborg says the new members should be safe in the tower, but Starfire has to tell him she failed at her babysitting job. Meanwhile, Kid Flash has engaged Deathstroke.

After running through every law Deathstroke is currently breaking, Bart takes the time to explain to Robin that he spent a relative year and a half (20 minutes in real time) reading every book in the San Francisco Public Library. He used his gained knowledge on aerodynamics and athletic equipment to create his new costume. Bart spends so much time telling all this to Robin, he leaves an opening for Deathstroke to kick him in the chest, breaking one of his ribs.

Robin throws an R-shaped batarang at Deathstroke, nearly taking out his one good eye. Superboy finally recovers and smashes Deathstroke into the sidewalk. Wonder Girl is right behind, trying out her new lasso. Once she wraps up Deathstroke, the lightning spews out of the lasso, electrocuting the possessed villain. This surprises both Robin and Wonder Girl. Superboy moves in for the finishing blow, but Jericho jumps into his body.

Kid Flash catches up with Robin and Wonder Girl, explaining that he snapped his rib back into place (thanks to a book he read) and it's already healed right up. He tells Cassie that he's Kid Flash now and asks if Deathstroke is still conscious, since he wants to hit him a few hundred times more. Superboy swoops in to attack them, and to everyone's surprise, he hits them with a blast of heat vision. Bart jumps on Conner's back, but Superboy knocks him off with a head butt.

The other Titans have now arrived, and Cyborg brings Superboy down by throwing a car at him. Bart asks Vic what happened to his head, but he ignores the question and criticizes the new members for leaving the tower. He also explains that they're fighting Jericho, who can jump into people's bodies by making eye contact. Starfire also criticizes Robin for lying to her, but he says she didn't give him a choice.

Beast Boy is surprised to see Bart is OK, but while he tries to talk to him, Jericho jumps out of Superboy's body and into Bart's. Kid Flash immediately attacks Beast Boy, but is soon lifted up into the air by Wonder Girl. Jericho then jumps into Starfire's body, knocks down Wonder Girl and Kid Flash, and goes after Beast Boy again.

Beast Boy tries to talk Jericho down, reminding him of their purpose as heroes — to risk their lives to protect others. And for once, Jericho actually starts to listen. Raven suddenly shows up, but instead of helping her teammates, she's asking for help. Jericho, however, believes Raven can help him and make the pain go away, so he jumps into her body, ignoring her warnings. Raven is suddenly surrounded by fire, and she cries out to her teammates that they must stop them before "blood washes over the Earth."

Raven disappears as quickly as she appeared, leaving behind only a small pool of blood on the ground. Superboy reports that Deathstroke is missing and Robin asks about Jericho. Beast Boy speculates Raven took Jericho away to someplace that isn't good, but he admits he's as perplexed by everything as much as the newcomers. Bart asks if they won or what, and Robin darkly says, "If we did — we sure didn't do it together."

The next day, Sunday at 8:38 a.m., Robin is walking with Kid Flash through the gardens, asking him why he's changed his costume and code name. Tim says that if he got shot and read a bunch of books, he wouldn't become Nightwing. Bart agrees, saying that Tim will never become Batman, either. But for himself, he's been ignoring his future of one day becoming the Flash like his grandfather was. Also, he's sick of everyone treating him like an impulsive idiot. Robin warns Bart that he's now going to be in the Flash's shadow, but Bart says the Flash will be in his shadow. This comment doesn't make any sense, but it seems to impress Robin.

Meanwhile, Superboy and Wonder Girl are up on the tower's roof, finally making some time to talk to each other after all the recent events. Superboy says he wants to figure out how Jericho was able to activate his heat vision, and why Bart's now acting so weird. He also tells Cassie that he now has a secret identity, Conner, and he lives on a farm with some foster parents. Although he complains about having to milk cows now, Cassie envies the structure of his life. She tells him she recently was expelled from her school and she took off this weekend without telling her mom where she went.

Conner apologizes to Cassie for their previous team not being what she thought it should be, but he says they shouldn't give up. Cassie shuts him up with a kiss, but then she's suddenly dragged away by Wonder Woman. Just as Starfire had warned, Wonder Woman is dead-set against this team, and she angrily orders Cassie to come home with her now.



I'm a little disappointed with how the Jericho battle ended. I liked the fight with Deathstroke, and things got really interesting when Jericho started jumping into other heroes' bodies. That stuff probably could have gone on a bit longer — especially with Jericho's desire to teach the Teen Titans a lesson. But it all ended with a cryptic appearance and subsequent disappearance by Raven. I struggle with Raven and all characters dealing with demons and hellish dimensions. So I am not excited to follow that story arc.

A case could be made that by all rights Bart should have been the one to defeat Deathstroke/Jericho. He gets his knee blown off, then spends the day recovering and forging a new identity. But when he comes back with his new costume, he doesn't seem any stronger or even smarter. Yeah, he can now spout out an endless stream of factoids, but he still got his butt kicked by Deathstroke. So if Kid Flash isn't any better at being a superhero than Impulse, then what was the point?

Next time, the JLA will guest star in Teen Titans #6.