Teen Titans #6

War and Peace

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

This cover is a perfect example of why I am not a Mike McKone fan. In what is supposed to be an intense fight between the Teen Titans and the JLA, we have some really goofy faces and poses going on. The absolute worst is Batman. With his arms raised like that and that silly smile on his face, it looks like he's chasing Robin around as the tickle monster. And in the opposite corner, our little Kid Flash isn't faring too much better. What's with that demonic grin? So disappointing.

Our story picks up on Sunday morning, with Robin and Kid Flash having concluded their conversation in the garden, and now are presenting some conditions to the Teen Titan mentors. They demand there to be no rules in the tower and to not be left on the sidelines like inferiors. Beast Boy likes their spirit, saying Robin reminds him of Nightwing, but Starfire disagrees. The repaired Cyborg agrees to an extent, saying they'll still provide training and educational seminars, and he'll still act as the leader of the team, but otherwise Titans Tower should be enjoyed by all of them together. Robin and Kid Flash accept those terms. Superboy suddenly flies in, with a bit of Wonder Girl's lipstick still on his cheek, telling everybody they have a problem.

Up on the roof, Cassie is arguing with Wonder Woman about her joining the Teen Titans. Diana believes the best course for Cassie right now is to train with the Amazons on Themyscira, but Cassie feels that's too controlling and she says she doesn't need another mother. Diana points out that Cassie's mom is worried sick, and Cassie admits she made a mistake by not telling her mom she was spending the weekend in San Francisco. But she's still mad at Wonder Woman, and reveals she has been speaking with Ares.

Starfire is the first to arrive on the scene, telling Wonder Woman to leave Wonder Girl alone. Diana tells Koriand'r to leave, so Starfire turns to Cassie, asking her what she wants to do. When Cassie says she wants to stay, Starfire immediately attacks Wonder Woman. The fight is in full force by the time everybody else makes it out to the gardens, and Cyborg is a bit perturbed that Kory failed to tell him Wonder Woman objected to Wonder Girl joining the Teen Titans. Before anyone can try to break up the fight, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Flash arrive.

Cyborg asks what they're doing here, and Batman says Wonder Woman didn't authorize Wonder Girl's involvement. Kid Flash takes issue with the word "authorize," saying they all joined because they wanted to. Flash immediately assumes Starfire started the fight, and Green Lantern orders everyone to stay put while Wonder Woman deals with Starfire. Kid Flash disobeys that order, taking off while saying, "The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."

Wally catches up to Bart running across the water, asking him what he just said. Bart says he was quoting Mark Twain, and that he particularly enjoyed "Roughing It," as it parallels his life right now — heading west and finding out he can do a lot more that some people tell him. Wally tells Bart he's trying too hard with the new costume and quoting books. Bart throws this back in Wally's face, pointing out that until now, no matter what he did or said, it was never good enough for Wally — he doesn't think Bart can handle the legacy of the Flash. Wally claims to have never said that, but Bart says he just didn't say it to his face. And he's tired of it.

Superman has also decided to follow Starfire and Wonder Woman out over the bay, so Superboy trails him, demanding to know what happened to his promise that the JLA won't get involved. Superman says he'll keep that promise after they clear up this miscommunication. That's not good enough for Superboy, who infers that that Superman believes Wonder Woman has the right to control Cassie's life. As he talks, Conner inadvertently blasts some heat vision at Superman's back.

Batman saw that and tells Green Lantern to "take care of the clone." Robin takes offense at the word "clone" and he prepares to fight Batman. Cyborg and Beast Boy attack Green Lantern, arguing about authority and duty. Cassie finally catches up to Wonder Woman and throws her new lasso around her, electrocuting the Amazon.

Wally tells Bart he never meant to hurt his feelings, but Bart doesn't buy it. He says if he can survive being kneecapped by Deathstroke, he can survive getting slammed by Wally. Flash pauses for a bit upon hearing about this attack for the first time, which gives Kid Flash the opportunity to prepare an attack. He races around Wally, heating up the water into a boiling explosion that shoots both of the them up into the air. Superman and Superboy catch Flash and Kid Flash, while Wonder Woman demands to know where Cassie got this Zeus lightning-powered lasso.

Everybody keeps fighting and arguing, until Nightwing suddenly shows up. He says he just happened to be listening in on his JLA Reserve communicator, and he's shocked to see them all behaving like children. Dick first approaches Wally, reminding him of how he hated it when Aquaman and Hawkman would constantly check on them as Teen Titans. He then tells Kory that he knows she can control herself better than this. Superman suggests they all begin to actually talk to each other.

As everybody heads back inside, Cassie pauses in front of the massive statue of the original members and says she misses Donna. Starfire angrily declares that this is all Wonder Woman's fault. Diana says she takes responsibility for her (but I'm not sure if she was referring to Cassie or Donna). Starfire seizes on the word "responsibility," saying the new members of the Teen Titans have been blaming themselves for the death of Donna Troy, and if anyone is to be blamed, it should be Superman.

Starfire fires a blast at Superman, reminding everyone that it was one of his androids that killed Donna — a mindless robot that was too much trouble to scrap. Vic, Gar and Dick hold Kory back, but Conner, Cassie, Bart and Tim are impressed, with Bart saying, "Daaamn." Superman tells Starfire she's right, and says he thought he dismantled all the androids, but one of them obviously fell into the wrong hands. But Wonder Woman says she deserves all the blame. She tells Cassie that she was mostly mad that she was hiding things from her. Diana concedes she may have been wrong. Ultimately, she wants Cassie and all the Teen Titans to know she and the JLA are there if they need help.

Nightwing tells the JLA to let the teens come to them when they want to and to respect their privacy at the tower. He tells Batman he'll give Robin a ride back to Gotham and that he can skip the lecture tonight. To Robin's surprise, Batman agrees. Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy then take a bit of pleasure in escorting the JLA out of their headquarters.

Before taking off, Robin pulls Superboy aside to tell him that he somehow found time over the weekend to complete a DNA analysis on his strand of hair. Robin reports that Conner's DNA is split — 50 percent Kryptonian and 50 percent human, with Lex Luthor being the human donor. (I'm not sure how he confirmed this. Wouldn't he need Luthor's DNA to compare?) Superboy is not too happy about Robin sneaking around behind his back, and he accuses him of acting like Batman. Superboy says he's now burdened with the knowledge that he'll either become the world's greatest hero or the world's greatest villain.

Robin tries to joke about Superboy going bald, then he assures Conner that he and the rest of the Teen Titans will make sure that he won't become a villain, since he knows Conner will be there for him when he'll need help down the road. After considering this for a moment, Superboy tells Robin that he's nothing like Batman. He departs on good terms, saying they'll see each other next week.

In Gotham City, Tim has convinced his dad that Bruce Wayne is sending him to a vocational school each weekend, and he really likes it because he's met a lot of good friends there. Tim then sits down at his computer to do some homework, but he suddenly receives another message from Snapdragon, asking, "Did he tell Superman?" Another message soon follows: "He's a danger to you all." Tim responds with the username 003Robin457: "Who are you?" Snapdragon doesn't answer, but we see that he is none other than Lex Luthor himself.



This issue was unnecessary. Geoff Johns brought in the Justice League and had everybody act out of character all for what? To show us the Teen Titans crave independence? Haven't they already been whining about that in every single issue of this series? Seriously, this all came down to, as Superman said, a misunderstanding between Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl. That's it. Diana wanted Cassie to spend more time recovering from Donna's death and to train with Artemis. There was absolutely no reason for the rest of the JLA to come down and act like condescending jerks.

Also, Wally's appearance breaks the fragile grasp of continuity I had between The Flash, JSA and Teen Titans. I tried so hard to work out the timing of everything, but now I cannot. It's frustrating because Johns was the writer on all three books, so if anyone could have accurately reflected the events in each of these books, it would have been him. I guess he just wanted to have his cake and eat it, too.

Other than the continuity problems, I did like how Bart called out Wally on his inexplicable rudeness toward him (especially how Johns writes him). I don't like Bart quoting books and reciting scientific facts (I don't think I ever will), but the things he told Wally needed to be said.

Next time: Teen Titans #½.