The New Teen Titans #13-15

The New Teen Titans #13-15

Originally written in 1981

Written by Marv Wolfman

Art by George Perez

While these are issues of the Teen Titans, it feels more like an epilogue for the series Doom Patrol.  Doom Patrol isn't a series that I have much familiarity with, though from how it's presented here, it seems like a darker take on the Silver Age version of the X-Men.  A wheelchair-bound man (the Chief, a.k.a. Niles Caulder) brings together a team of outcasts to do some good in the world, except unlike the original five X-Men (who could generally pass for humans with little effort), most of the Doom Patrol seem unlikely to pass for ordinary people. (the one exception is Rita Farr, Beast Boy's adoptive mother, who's also known as Elasti-Girl - not sure if her superhero name would have to change as a result of the Incredibles)

The Chief, Elasti-Girl, and another member of the team (Larry Trainor, a.k.a. Negative Man) seemingly died to save a small fishing village with a population of 14 people from a nuclear bomb, leaving Robotman (a race car driver who had a horrible accident that resulted in his brain being put into a robot's body) as the sole survivor. (Beast Boy had seemingly split off from the team by that point)  Given that this is comic books, I'm guessing that it will turn out that they survived, but when the villains responsible for the apparent deaths of the Doom Patrol turn up, Beast Boy and Robotman want revenge.

The bulk of the focus of these issues is on Beast Boy as a result, though there's a small moment that I liked when both halves of the Titans reunite.  Dick Grayson notices that Donna Troy is shaken up by her experiences with being brainwashed by Hyperion, and while he doesn't press her for details, he says that he'll be there whenever she wants to speak about it.  The two of them have been on the Titans the longest, along with Wally West, and it's nice to see that close friendship between them.

During these issues, we get a brief glimpse at the rogues gallery of the Doom Patrol, and they're as bizarre as the team that they face.  The main antagonists are straightforward at first - General Zahl, a Nazi, and Madame Rouge, who loves the Chief despite their differences and hates being blamed for his death.  Then the Brotherhood of Evil are introduced, which are led by a brain in a jar called The Brain and his lover/partner, a gorilla named Monsieur Mallah. (I don't want to know how that works)  As Zahl and Rouge tried to kill the Brain and Mallah, they're willing to team up with the Titans to get revenge.

Some details are sprinkled throughout these issues that seem like they'll be important later - Starfire is struggling with her bloodlust, while Cyborg feels jealous about Beast Boy's close bond with Robotman and Wally is questioning if he should continue to be a superhero.  While the Titans (aside from Beast Boy) don't really feel like the focus here, it has got me interested in reading about the Doom Patrol, so this comic did what it seemingly set out to do.