THE NEW TEEN TITANS #37 & BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #5

"LIGHT'S OUT, EVERYONE!" | "PSIMON SAYS..."
Writers: Marv Wolfman (NTT #37) & Mike W. BARR (B&TO #5)
Artists: George Pérez & Romeo Tanghal (NTT #37) & Jim Aparo (B&TO #5)
Letterers: John Costanza (NTT #37) & Jim Aparo (B&TO #5)
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: (NTT #37) At the order of Psimon, Gizmo breaks Shimmer and Mammoth out of prison. Dr. Light convinces them to spring him as well. At the suggestion of Shimmer and Mammoth, Psimon leads the Fearsome Five to kidnap Dr. Jace, a woman with a technique for imbuing normal humans with superpowers.

Later, Terra leaves a Titans' meeting when she receives an emergency signal from Dr. Jace, who gave her and her brother their abilities. Terra heads for Jace's lab, where she finds the Outsiders -- Metamorpho, Katana, Halo, and Black Lightning -- investigating the demolished facility. The Titans catch up and a fight breaks out, but when the Outsiders' fifth member -- Terra's brother, Geo-Force -- reveals himself, both sides make amends.

The teams' respective leaders, Robin and Batman, are summoned from Gotham City while Psimon mentally coerces Dr. Jace into working with the Fearsome Five. When the heroes investigate several recently transformed half-mud vagrants, their path leads them to Psimon's lab outside Gotham City. There, Dr. Jace's procedure has been perfected and the Fearsome Five have an army of mud monsters under their control.

After a brief skirmish, Psimon triggers explosives on his island lair which sink it into the sea with the Titans and Outsiders aboard, while the villains and their monsters escape.

(B&TO #5) Terra and Geo-Force save their teammates and the groups head to the Outsiders' base -- Bruce Wayne's penthouse -- with the rescued Dr. Jace, for some bonding while planning their next move. Meanwhile, Dr. Light has a falling out with the Fearsome Five and is pursued by the mud monsters to Central Park. The Titans and Outsiders arrive and capture him.

Elsewhere, Psimon uses a device in the Empire State Building to mentally enthrall the citizens on New York City. But Light confesses this plan to Batman, and the heroes arrive to stop the Fearsome Five. Robin countermands Batman's orders and the day is saved. All the Fearsome a Five are captured save Light, who escapes while under the watch of Dr. Jace.

My Thoughts: I think my hopes for this story were too high. I had wanted an adventure of Batman and Robin featuring the Titans and Outsiders. But what we have here -- and rightly so, I should note -- is an adventure of the Titans and Outsiders, teams which Just happen to count Batman and Robin among their memberships.

Some part of my expectation is simply due to the fact that I'm reading these NEW TEEN TITANS issues in a sort of vacuum. The fans of the eighties were able to read TITANS alongside monthly issues of BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS -- and as we've seen noted before, Robin has been splitting his time between the Titans and Batman lately, so it's not like this is a reunion long in the making. But for me, these two haven't shared a panel since the Justice League guest spot in issues 4 and 5, so I've had an artificially created anticipation for their "reunion" here.

So once I get past these issues, is the story enjoyable on its own merits? I suppose so. Dr. Light continues to crack me up as a perennial loser -- though more recent revelations about the guy continue to color my perceptions of him, as I found myself glad he didn't do more to Dr. Jace than merely tie her up when escaping at the story's close. I've learned that Light wasn't always a goofball loser as in the Titans stories, but even so -- all his past stories are retroactively tainted now.

Anyway, other than Light, the rest of the Fearsome Five don't do much for me. I feel like Marv Wolfman considers them, especially Paimon, a much bigger deal than I do. Light is a joke and that's fine, but the rest of the group are apparently meant to be taken seriously. But when it comes to original Titans villains, these folks are nothing compared with Deathstroke, the H.I.V.E., Trigon, Blackfire, and Brother Blood. Tossed in with those villainous luminaries, the Five feel like a bunch of also-rans.

But the biggest event in this story is the reunion of Terra and her brother. I recall reading something where Marv Wolfman explained that he and Pérez created Terra -- powers, costume and all -- and, totally coincidentally, Mike Barr and Jim Aparo created Geo-Force -- powers, costume and all -- completely independently at the same time. When their characters began appearing in comics and they saw what they looked like, the creators put their heads together and came up with a shared history for the two.

Obviously this was in the works for a while, as Terra mentioned her brother Brion and her past in another country (Markovia) in previous issues, so I don't know at exactly what point the similarities were discovered and the plans were made. But in any case, the solution works surprisingly well and feels nothing like retroactive continuity. Indeed, it really adds to Terra's character arc as she seriously loves her brother and now that he's become a friend of the Titans, she worries for his fate when she inevitably betrays them to Deathstroke.

Also, it's interesting to note that in NEW TEEN TITANS #37, Robin tells Batman that he would like to dissolve their partnership, but he wants to remain in the identity of Robin. Just two issues from now, however, in #39, he will retire from that identity entirely. I recall that he has a monologue in 39 explaining why he's quitting Robin, but I don't remember its content. Clearly Wolfman and Pérez have been building to this, but even now Robin wants to keep his name and costume. What will happen over the next couple issues to change his mind?

Final note: These issues introduce the number/month box which I most associate with the few DC comics I read as a kid. I've always liked this box with that super skinny font inside.