Book Review: Teen Titans vol #3

Book: Teen Titans volume #3: Beast Boys & Girls (issues: Beast Boy #1-4, Teen Titans #13-15)

Beast Boy issues by Ben Raab and Geoff Johns with illustration by Justiniano and color by Jason Wright

Teen Titans issues by Geoff Johns with illustrations by Tom Grummett with color by Jeromy Cox


Edition: Trade

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

This was great. In this third volume of Teen Titans you not only get two Beast Boy centric stories but they were very well written.

In the first story, Beast Boy (Garfield Logan) decides to return to Hollywood to try to restart his acting career but all he found there was zero opportunities. Adding to that, Gar will be staying with his slacker cousin Matt in his cousin's rundown apartment.

One night the guys went out to a nightclub but things were continuing to look bad for Beast Boy when he found himself being arrested for murder. He had been trying to rescue a young woman when he was knocked out and awoke surrounded by the police.

His arrest turned into a media frenzy because the actor and hero had succumbed to the pressure of Hollywood or that's the way the media was making it out to be.

Beast Boy knows he's innocent but after a daring escape from jail to go after someone who look suspiciously just like him he was once again sought after by the police. And add to that, two of his former co-stars from his old TV series had been abducted with him being blamed for it as well as he had a couple of bounty hunters after him. Will anyone believe that he's innocent?

He does get some help from Flamebird (Betty Kane), a former Teen Titans West member who was more known for being a screw up and having a huge crush on Nightwing (Dick Grayson). And speaking of Nightwing, he does make an appearance, he traveled to Hollywood trying to figure out what was going on with Beast Boy after his arrest was publicized. However, he may have ran into the one person that may be responsible for all of Gar's troubles, if Flamebird didn't get in his way.

This was a good story and it had a great mystery. I also like that Flamebird got a chance to prove that she was more than just the screw up that everyone thought she was. The story had a good mix of drama, action and humor as it put a spotlight on Beast Boy, one of my favorite characters, as he set about moving on from being a hero and living in the shadows of his past.


In the second story, Beast Boy's origin was the focus, showing how a rare and poisonous animal had bitten Gar when he was a little boy. But thanks to his parents quick thinking they were able to save his life although he did end up turning green and acquiring the ability to turn into any animal he could imagine.

Which brings the story up to the present, with Beast Boy some how losing his shape shifting abilities along with his green coloring. Everything he lost seemed to have transferred to the children in the San Francisco area as well as the rare disease that nearly killed him. While Gar seemed to be cured the rest of the Teen Titans (Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash) were out trying to round up all the infected children who had turned into animals. To help find a cure for the children a doctor from Gar's past had been called in but with time running out will the Titans be able to find out what's really going on.

The story also focused on the God Ares who seems to have a hidden agenda for wanting to help Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark) to figure out the power of her lasso. Meanwhile Raven is still trying to adjust to not only her new body but getting a handle on her powers.

While all of that was going on, in a side plot Superboy (Conner Kent) went to Gotham trying to track down Robin (Tim Drake) who did not show up that weekend to Titans' Tower. However, all he found was a girl (Stephanie Brown) wearing a Robin costume as well as the unfortunate opportunity of running into Batman who not so kindly told him to use his mind and abilities to track down his former protégé.

This was another good story because not only do you get to see the team working together to solve this problem but you're learning more about these characters. Again this story had a good blend of drama, action and humor.