Episode 75: Green Monkey Genes Are Cool and Awesome OR Take That, Galtry!

Here we go again, fellow Patrollers! This time Paul and Mike are looking at Teen Titans Earth One Volume 2 and Tales of the New Teen Titans #3 (of 4!). Here's the link to the Podbean. And the link to the Comicosity post for the podcast. 

When you think of the number 75, you realise it signifies the 'diamond anniversary' of a thing, which usually entails a classy celebration of reaching such a milestone but thankfully you'll find none of that rot here. LET'S GET PATROLLING!

• Down on Derington Way - 6:39

• Doom Clock - 11:09

• Doomsplaining - 15:08 - This week we look celebrate the Doom Patrol on our 75th episode by looking at 2 Teen Titans stories. Oh. Anyway, this week we take a look at Teen Titans Earth One Volume 2, and Tales of the New Teen Titans #3!

• Mailbag O Doom - 47:56 - We read your responses to the question, "What is your favourite sequel?"

Here are some images to go along with Paul's assessment of Teen Titans Earth One Volume 2. 

The cover for the book. Safe to say Cyborg's had better days. 

I haven't actually read Volume 2, but there were certainly hints of an homage or re-introduction of the Doom Patrol in Volume 1 as Rita Farr factored into that book. That said, I really can't add much to the commentary, but I sure can provide some images (mostly thanks to Paul!). 

When is Robotman not Robotman?

Kole and Impulse show up to cause problems. 

Tempest, Changeling, Terra, and Cyborg really wonder WHUP is going on. 

Slade Wilson's motto: always make a memorable entrance. 

Don't forget: Raven and Starfire are in this book too! 

Before we go much further, I'm going to cross over to Derington Way to share a cover with y'all. Y'know, the cover for Doom Patrol #5 that Paul was finding so hard to describe.

Alrighty, now let's get to the gorgeous George Pérez art from Tales of the New Teen Titans #3 (which is available on Comixology). 

George Pérez as only Pérez can give us. SO MUCH detail!
And Mento almost looks cool! 

A bit of a dense read, but a good one. 

A George Pérez montage for the win. 

Gar SPAMM!'s Galtry. And no computers were harmed in the making of this spam. 

Return of the Arsenal! 

  

GALTRY!!

There wolf! There castle! 

Dating montage of death! 

Apologies for the bars, I screen-capped the pages from the DC Comics app, but didn't clean them up in the interest of getting this post done. 

 And the post is now done, save for the Question of the Week.
This week's Question of the Week is:

Who is your favourite character who hides their face?

Also, before I hang this up, I'll just post this to commemorate Mike's call regarding Casey's parentage. It's in white. So you'll have to highlight. 
Mike thinks Rhea Jones (Lodestone) is Casey Brinke's mom. And, truth be told, this is the same connection I made earlier in the week. And Danny's the dad, as only Danny can be. 

New Year, New Post, New 52

I'm not sure how long DC can call the rebooted DC Universe line "The New 52," but for sake of clarification, I'll play along. For now. 

I'll fully admit, I have no clue whatsoever if the Doom Patrol ever existed in this post-Flashpoint world. I seriously doubt it, since there really is no concrete evidence of Larry Trainor or Rita Farr, at least not that I've seen. I mean maybe Larry flew with Hal Jordan still if that one issue of Green Lantern is still in canon, but DC has some powerfully selective memories for what still holds true and what doesn't. 

So we'll move on. 

Danny the Street has appeared in Teen Titans. I haven't been getting that book, but there is a nice little story here on Comics Worth Reading. I'm certain this cannot possibly be as creative as the original Danny concept or even Giffen's re-imagining of the character as Danny the Brick. 

Niles Caulder is a recurring character in Ravagers, a title which also stars one-time Doom Patroller Beast Boy. Admittedly, I haven't given this title much attention or money as every issue I've sampled of it woefully disappoints. Furthermore, neither character seems to have much resemblance to their previous incarnations. Caulder is still a scientist, but ambulatory and affiliated with other characters, like Fairchild and Superboy. Beast Boy is red now, a visual cue that he is connected to the same mystical source of animal-based power used by Animal Man. 

Unfortunately, I personally find Ravagers to be an awful comic book from concept to execution, and cannot justify shelling out three bucks a month for something that may or may not (smart money is on "not") pan out to be Doom Patrol-related. It is, however, the strongest chance we have to see more Doom Patrollers, so if anyone else is more tolerant of the title than I am, please share your discoveries. 

Cliff Steele appears in My Greatest Adventure along with Maddy Rouge. I'll get more in depth on the adventures of Cliff Steele in that comic book very soon. 

Finally, re-imagined members of the Brotherhood have popped up in the pages of Blue Beetle. That Brotherhood included an unnamed employer, Phobia, Warp, Plasmus and a character that seems to be part Mallah, part Brain in the form of Silverback. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever get a Silverback action figure, but take a gander down below and let your imagination wander. 

Drawn by Ig Guara, inked by J. P. Mayer and colored by Pete Pantazis

Those are the post-reboot appearances I have figured out (with confirmation and collaboration from folks far and wide across the interwebs, but notably the gentlemen on Doom Podtrol and my fellow CBR reviewer, Greg McElhatton). 


Sorry I've been so intermittent throughout 2012, my friends. Life gets busy when you're raising three kids with various activities throughout the year, changing jobs and reviewing at least six comic books every week on the side. Excuses? Nah. Just facts. I'm not a master at time management, but by golly, I'm learning how to squeeze in as much as possible into the time I have available. 

Maybe I need a Beast Boy Week. . .

All of these ideas and no time to deal with them!

J. T. Krul is taking over the writing chores on Teen Titans and bringing Nicola Scott with him to handle the art. The Source covered this in greater detail last week, and you can read about it there.

Nicola Scott popped by Newsarama and had a conversation with Vaneta Rogers. Over the course of their conversation, Nicola mentioned

And I love Beast Boy's little tooth that sticks out. Some artists do the tooth but others don't. And the artists that do it sometimes don't do it in every panel. But I'm quite big on consistency. I like to see the same face on the same characters over and over again.

I'm with Nicola on this one. It's a nice variation to the character and it helps keep Gar from being just a green-colored kid. The Teen Titans cartoon from a few years back is the first place that I recall seeing this look for Gar, and Nicola's drawing of him seems like a natural progression of where that character might be nowadays.

I know this is, at best, a tangential connection to the Doom Patrol, but Gar is still family, whether he's in this book or not.

Personally, I've been down on Teen Titans for at least a few years now, but that looks like it might change, if Nicola Scott's enthusiasm makes it through to the printed page.