A Day After ...
Judd Winick & Geoff Johns – Writers
Ivan Reis & Carlo Barberi – Pencillers
Marc Campos & Norm Rapmund – Inkers
Nick Napolitano – Letterer
Sno Cone – Colorist
Cover art by Tom Raney, Scott Hanna, Mike McKone and Lary Stucker, colored by Gina Going. Three different pencillers on one cover is a bad idea. This looks more like a collage than a single, unified image. But what really confuses me is the location. Are the Teen Titans and Outsiders at a dance club? And if so, why? Everything about this cover is just really perplexing and disappointing.
Our story begins with the conclusion of Graduation Day. Wonder Girl is walking away from Superboy and Robin, angrily telling them that they'll never learn enough as Young Justice. And Nightwing is stubbornly turning his back on Arsenal, declaring the Titans finished. Six weeks later, Dick is still mourning the loss of Donna Troy and is refusing to answer Roy's phone calls. So Roy decides to move on without Dick. He shaves his head, gets a new costume and starts making phone calls.
In San Francisco, Starfire and Beast Boy are flying around, unintentionally scaring jets, and discussing Cyborg's plan for a new Teen Titans. Kory is hesitant to accept a mentorship role, but Gar insists that there are a lot of kids out there who are different like them and need somewhere they can go to find themselves. Vic has four specifically in mind, with a few others that could be added if things work out. Starfire asks if they can really be the Titans without Nightwing and Donna. Beast Boy simply says, "We aren't all gone, Kory."
At Smallville High, Conner Kent has trouble remembering his locker combination and is lectured by a hall monitor for being late to class. When he's threatened with a phone call to his parents, Superboy laughs this off and flies away. Meanwhile, someone is sorting through some old equipment at an abandoned Cadmus facility, finding a hard drive labeled "Project Superboy."
In Gateway City, Cassie Sandsmark's high school is attacked by a griffin. She playfully battles the mythical beast, while several teachers urge the principal to contact Cassie's mother to discuss her future at Gateway High. Ares watches all this from a distance, feeling disappointed that Wonder Girl has so much power that no one has bothered to harness.
In Keystone City, Bart Allen is lounging on a baseball-shaped bean bag in his room, surrounded by a board game, several video games and leftover pizza. Bart is doing something unusual for him — making a phone call. He's called up the Themysciran Embassy to try to locate Cassie via Wonder Woman. But he has a hard time convincing the receptionist who he is, and Jay Garrick keeps interrupting. In the end, Bart decides it's a lost cause and gives up.
Jay then enters Bart's room, saying they need to talk about his low scores on his entrance tests to Keystone City High. Bart says he hates studying because it's boring, and he feels he doesn't need an education since he's going to be a full-time superhero when he grows up. Jay asks Bart if he doesn't need to know anything, to which Bart reminds him that he was already been taught everything he needs to know while in the virtual reality in the future. He can't stand learning from books, so he doesn't.
We catch up with Arsenal, who has visited a S.T.A.R. Labs facility to check on the progress of blue robot girl that indirectly caused the deaths of Omen and Troia. The scientists have taken to calling the robot Indigo and have placed her in a tube of green liquid, while she continues to repair herself. Cyborg, who still hasn't acquired new legs, is riding around in a floating golden wheelchair (exactly like Professor Xavier's in the '90s X-Men cartoon). Vic repeats his assertion that Indigo's attack on them was an accident. Roy agrees, asking that Indigo be fully repaired, reactivated and placed under his control.
In Gotham City, Robin is swinging around the rooftops with Nightwing, still talking about their failure from six weeks ago. Robin notes they've been ambushed before, but he wonders why they lost focus. He also notes that all of them have seen people die before, and they thought that would make them stronger, but it didn't. He tells Nightwing he knows he blames himself, just as he does. Yet Dick remains silent through all this. Tim finally asks what they're going to do now. Nightwing says he doesn't know, but whatever it is, they should do it alone.
This story did a fairly decent job of bridging the gap between Graduation Day and Teen Titans #1. I needed to see these characters spending some time grieving. The narrative as a whole is strengthened by realizing there was a six-week gap of inactivity before the new Teen Titans were gathered. Of course, I still have a hard time being satisfied. There still was no mention of Young Justice, the Ray, Empress, Snapper Carr or Red Tornado. One of the reasons Young Justice was set up with adult mentors was to help get them through situations exactly like this. I wish Geoff Johns could have given us a page or two of the Young Justice people trying to gather everyone to comfort them. I really needed to see why that group was insufficient to meet the needs of Wonder Girl, Superboy, Robin and Impulse. I didn't need to see Superboy and Wonder Girl having difficulties in high school — we already had that in Teen Titans #1. But I did need to see the official collapse of Young Justice.
Bart's phone call was rather odd. It makes sense that Bart would want to reach out to Cassie, seeing as how she was devastated after Donna's death. But why can't Bart find her? He has been to Cassie's house before. Has she moved? Is Bart still in contact with Robin and Superboy? I have so many questions from such a simple scene. It was nice to see Carlo Barberi draw Bart again. But it looked so strange with Bart's shorter hair. It just ... doesn't feel right. Sorry, I'm still going through shell shock after seeing the last vestiges of Impulse being taken away.
Who Was Donna Troy?
Words & Pencils Phil Jimenez
Inks Andy Lanning
Colors Tom McCraw
Separations WildStorm FX
Letters Comicraft
Special thanks to Devin Grayson
This story picks up at the end of Donna Troy's funeral. Superboy asks Wonder Girl if she's going to be OK, and she says she isn't. Impulse can only look on helplessly.
Later, Cassie starts going through Donna's photo album, reliving her (very confusing) life. We also see some more mourning from past members of the Teen Titans, including Wally West. Superman apologizes to Wonder Woman, taking responsibility for his robot killing Donna. (Yeah, why didn't you dismantle it if you knew it was unstable?) Wonder Woman blames herself for not being there for Donna. Lois Lane promises to write a great obituary. Even Batman comforts Diana, but Nightwing remains aloof.
In the end, it's Cassie who comes to Diana's side. She tells her the last words Donna gave her: "I have no idea where I'm going to be tomorrow. But I accept the fact that tomorrow will come. And I'm going to rise to meet it."
I don't have anything to say about this backup story. It was a nice, necessary resolution to Donna Troy's legacy. I do feel bad, however, that absolutely nothing was shown for Omen. Anyway, let's wrap this up with Bart's profile page.
Kid Flash
Jeremy Johns: Text
Geoff Johns: Pencils
Nelson: Inks
Tom McCraw: Colors
WildStorm FX: Separations
Real Name: Bart Allen
Marital Status: Single
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 115 lbs.
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: Brown
First Appearance: The Flash #91 (June, 1994)
Bart Allen — the grandson of Barry Allen, the second Flash, and Iris West — was brought back through time to our century after his father was killed. At Iris's request, Wally West, the current scarlet speedster, began to teach Bart how to fit into this new era and get a grasp on his powers. Frustrated by his nephew's lack of focus, Wally turned his attention elsewhere. Bart became known as Impulse and set out to become a super-hero in his own right.
Bart Allen's powers mirror those of Wally West, with one major exception: Bart also has the ability to remember everything he reads at super-speed. Currently, he resides in Keystone City with Jay Garrick — the original Flash — and Jay's wife Joan. Despite Wally West's misgivings, Bart accepted an invitation to join the new Teen Titans.
Recently, Bart was injured when Deathstroke put a shotgun to his leg. Thankfully, his accelerated healing enabled a handful of skeptical surgeons to replace his kneecap with an artificial one, and Bart was back on his feet in a matter of hours. But the effects of this encounter were much more than physical. Feeling unsure, and tired of being underestimated, Bart went to the local public library and read every single book in the building. He retained that knowledge, but what he'll do with it from here, and how it will balance with his lack of experience, is anyone's guess.
The last time Bart had his own profile page like this was three years ago during Sins of Youth. That listed him as 5'3" and 114 lbs. So since then, I guess Bart has gained one pound of muscle, and lost an inch in height when he cut his hair. Jeremy Johns also incorrectly said that Bart was Wally's nephew. The two are actually cousins (once removed, via adoption, if you want to get technical). Unsurprisingly, Johns did not mention Bart's ability to create time-traveling scouts, and I have to say that's probably for the best. It was an overpowered ability, and it will be simpler to move on without it. I still wish we had a story showing Bart losing that ability, though.
What is surprising about this profile page is that it was drawn by Geoff Johns. It's the only image I've seen him draw, and I have to say it actually looks pretty good. I even like this style more than Mike McKone's. The shorter hair doesn't look too bad with this costume, but it does worry me that Bart's beginning to look too much like Wally West did back in the day. It's becoming more common for artists to forget what color Bart's eyes are, and we'll gradually see his hair turn from brown to red.
Well, believe it or not, we are done with comics from the year 2003. Next time, we'll review the year and try to hand out some awards.
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