Teen Titans #98

Prime Numbers

JT Krul • Writer
Eduardo Pansica • Penciller
Eber Ferreira • Inker
Travis Lanham • Letterer
Jason Wright • Colorist
Nicola Scott & Doug Hazlewood with Wright • Cover
Rickey Purdin • Asst. Editor
Rachel Gluckstern • Editor

Our cover shows Superboy battling the all-powerful villain we just can't get rid of, Superboy-Prime. It's a perfectly fine cover, but I'm not a huge fan of the cracking Superman shield in the background. Is it supposed to represent Conner being killed or something? I don't quite get it.

Our story begins with a flashback to the Teen Titans' battle against Headcase in San Francisco. As Wonder Girl desperately holds onto Superboy to prevent him from being sucked into the black hole, we get a glimpse at the same black hole in another dimension, sucking in Superboy-Prime. Raven defeats Headcase, the school is evacuated, and later that night, Prime emerges from the rubble, wearing his full Anti-Monitor armor. Apparently he was that mysterious, smoking figure we saw at the end of Teen Titans #91, although that issue drew that individual naked. Anyway, Prime is a bit disoriented at first, but he soon realizes he's on Conner's world. He vows to find a way back to his own world, and he doesn't care if he has to kill all the Titans to do it.

We then cut to Keystone City, where Kid Flash is foiling a robbery attempt by Mirror Master, Heatwave and Captain Cold. Bart calls them the "three blind mice," and when Cold says this isn't a fairy tale, Bart doubles down on the theme and labels Cold the giant, while making himself Jack the Giant Killer. He easily dismantles the Rogues' weapons, boasting that these old men simply aren't fast enough for him. Suddenly, Inertia emerges from an alleyway, saying that he is fast enough for Bart. Inertia gets in the first strike on Bart, then dodges the retaliatory attacks, telling Bart that he's going to kill him again. But then Bart manages to grab hold of Inertia, and he kind of snaps. With angry lightning pouring out of his eyes, Bart says he remembers how Inertia kicked him while he was down and kept kicking ... and kicking ... and kicking.

Bart says that since Inertia never let up, he won't, either. He begins pushing his evil clone through the streets at super speed, somehow removing Inertia's protection from friction. This results in Inertia literally being torn apart as Bart pushes him. His suit, skin and even muscles are stripped away from his face, as he begs Bart to stop. Bart claims that he's moving faster than the speed of sound, so he can't hear him — nobody can. Kid Flash continues his savage attack, until Inertia is completely vaporized, screaming out in pain all the way.

Turns out this wasn't a dream, but a virtual reality program. Remember way back when Bart was trying to remember all the technology he saw in the future? Apparently, he did manage to pull those memories together to build a single machine — a virtual reality chamber. When Bart killed the virtual Inertia, he was yelling like a madman, attracting the attention of Red Robin. Bart emerges from the chamber dripping in sweat, and he chooses to brush aside Tim's concern.

Bart lies to his friend, saying he was merely getting in a workout, and he offers to let Tim try out the machine. Tim declines, noting that Bart has spent a lot of time in the chamber since he built it, and he suggests he take a break. Bart reminds Tim that he was raised in virtual reality, so he's used to it. Tim points out that Bart was only placed in the VR world out of necessity when he was little, but now he can handle life in the real world. Bart continues to deflect, insisting that the machine is merely "the world's greatest video game" and a good training tool. He walks away, asking Tim to trust him. But Tim lingers behind, debating with himself whether this device is actually good for Bart. This isn't the first time they've had this discussion.

Upstairs in the tower, Conner is in Cassie's room, having another awkward conversation with his ex-girlfriend. He manages to convince her to return a mysterious box to him, and as he leaves, he finds Rose waiting for him in the hallway, scantily clad in her underwear. She asks what's in the box, and Conner says he might show her one of these days. That night, Raven takes to the roof to meditate, feeling driven out by Solstice, who is meditating in her room. Raven can sense Robin and Ravager training in the gym, Bart raiding the kitchen, Cassie pacing in her room and Conner pouting on his bed. Beast Boy, meanwhile, is out on a date, finally trying to move on past Raven.

Gar's at an outdoor cafe in San Francisco with an old friend from his acting days. She asks why it took him so long to ask her out, and Gar just lamely says he wasn't sure she'd say yes. This white lie is interrupted by a large rumbling sound and the sight of a nearby building beginning to collapse. Gar tells his date to order the chocolate soufflé, since it takes 20 minutes to make, and he's sure he'll be back by then. He turns into an eagle to fly to the scene of the disaster, then becomes a pteranodon to scoop up some bystanders, wishing aloud he could be a flying octopus to rescue more people.

Before too long, the rest of the Titans are at Beast Boy's side. Robin orders Kid Flash and Raven to focus on the people, and Superboy and Wonder Girl to hold up the building. Superboy uses his heat vision to weld the pillars back in place, while Cassie wonders aloud what caused this. She's answered with a "Not what, Amazon — who." Everybody looks up and sees Superboy-Prime surrounded by a bunch of old villains we haven't seen in a while — Headcase, Sun Girl, Indigo, Zookeeper, a female Persuader and Inertia.

Superboy and Wonder Girl immediately attack Prime, who mockingly suggests they shake things up by killing Wonder Girl this time. Robin tells everyone to choose a "dance partner," as he begins to fight Indigo. Solstice goes after Sun Girl, Beast Boy naturally takes on his old nemesis Zookeeper, Ravager battles the Persuader, Raven tries to take down Headcase once again, and Bart engages in a super speed battle with Inertia. Somehow, Robin is able to observe that this "Inertia" is two inches taller than the real Inertia, who was killed by the Rogues back in Final Crisis. However, Robin is concerned about the effect this imposter will have on Bart.

Superboy manages to get his hand around Prime's throat, and he stupidly says, "We know who the real Superboy is." Prime breaks free and asks Conner if he's sure about that. Right on cue, three more villains join the fight, making sure to fly through several buildings on their way. And the newcomers all look like Conner — one is wearing his original outfit with the sunglasses and leather jacket, another is wearing the outfit he had at the end of Young Justice, and the third has his head shaved like when Lex Luthor had him brainwashed.




Well. We certainly have a lot of questions about all these villains and how they came back. For example, Indigo wasn't really bad, it was Brainiac 8 who possessed her. Regardless, she was killed, so ... what's going on? And the same could be asked of most of the others in Superboy-Prime's posse, including Prime, himself. He just happened to be flying out in his Anti-Monitor armor on his home world when he, and he alone, got sucked into this world? I don't expect satisfying answers to these questions, but at this point, it's kind of forgivable. The New 52 is fast upon us, so this series scrambled to produce four issues in two months to reach #100. And what better way to go out than with a big fight against a bunch of villains? The details would only slow things down.

But overlooking all that, this issue had a truly amazing Bart Allen moment. We finally got a payoff to all those futuristic notes Bart filled his room with. And the result was essentially a therapy device to help him deal with the lingering trauma of being murdered. I love that Krul is bold enough to explore this idea, but I wish he wasn't the only writer who acknowledged that Bart did remember this horrific event. I'm also sad that Bart has never been able to talk to anyone about it. Not his best friends, Conner and Tim, not the empath Raven, and not even his own family. Theoretically, Max Mercury would be the ideal candidate, but not even Krul remembered that Max exists.

In any case, I think it's very interesting to consider whether this "therapy" is actually helpful for Bart. We saw that he has a rather dark side to him that he has successfully kept buried inside ever since he came back to life. I don't think even Raven knows about these violent urges. And I don't blame Bart for these tendencies. He never got any kind of resolution or revenge. He hasn't even been able to meet up with his old girlfriend, who wept over his dead body, because he basically came back to life as a different person. So as much as I wish he had someone to talk to, I have to admit that there really isn't anyone who can relate to Bart's unique tragedy. Maybe the best thing for him is to work through his feelings with violent, but safely contained, outbursts.

Next time, we'll return to Kid Flash Lost #2.