Wally West has invited a couple of pals home to Nebraska for the weekend – Roy Harper and Garth. Parents Mary and Rudy are welcoming, but what they don’t know is that their son is Kid Flash and his pals are teen archer Speedy and aqua lad Aqualad.
Cue a weekend of hanging out, hijinks and hiding their powers and abilities – not that Rudy West is entirely blind.
Aqualad occasionally has trouble finding his feet.
It’s not all humour, with Garth opening up about his difficulties having a ‘situationship’ with Wonder Girl.
And while he spends much of the issue razzing ‘SpongeBob’, Roy does share some decent advice.
And talking of Donna, she is – surprise – approaching life with gusto.
As for the Titans’ final member, Bumblebee Karen Beecher has been organising a gift for new pal Mal.
She’s keen for the food bank organiser to follow in the footsteps of Forties hero The Guardian, but soon she’s the one who could do with a shield.
This is another terrific issue of the mini-series giving us a fresh look at the earliest months of the Teen Titans. It’s basically a Day in the Life story with a special focus on Garth. He’s been in comics for 60 years on and off – mostly off, truth be told – and this is the best look we’ve had at his difficult transition between life underwater and on the surface.
It’s interesting that Karen says she got the shield from the Titans trophy room… I guess this means that, as per pre-Crisis, Roy Harper is again related to Golden Age Guardian Jim Harper. In which case, has Karen nicked a family heirloom?
Waid also gives us more on the Roy subplot, the way he’s neglected by guardian Oliver Queen. The business around Robin’s trust issues with the rest of the team is left for another time, which is fine as there’s plenty of other stuff going on.
The big surprise for me, and a very pleasant one, is how great Mary and Rudy West are. In the original Kid Flash stories they had no personality, by the Eighties Mary was a proper nag while Rudy was, er, a spy for a robotic cult. Happily, that was a continuity or two ago and writer Mark Waid takes his clean slate and makes them thoroughly likeable, Blue Valley’s answer to Ma and Pa Kent.
And goodness me, under the artistic hand of Emanuela Lupacchino they look rather good – Mary is the epitome of Hot Momma (he wrote, avoiding a cruder term), while Rudy exudes suburban cool. I’m amazed Roy’s hormones aren’t buzzed by Mary.
Garth, Wally and Roy look excellent too, instantly recognisable despite not a costume in sight. It’s a hoot to see the usually very put together Donna in mucky mode, while Karen and Mal are adorable. Robin is Robin. And it’s great fun to see the Ant, a very early, very lame Titans bad guy who was somehow memorable enough to make it into the terrific Tiny Titans series. The storytelling is exemplary throughout, Lupacchino is evidently a close observer of people.
Colour artist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Steve Wands are on splendid form – when aren’t they? – while Chris Samnee produces another fan-pleasing cover.
I’ve enjoyed every issue of this series and this is my favourite yet – it’s a shame we’ve got just two more to come, but with luck Waid, Lupacchino and co will get a second series, or at least a special.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I think Waid is the first person to hit the right balance in decades with Garth’s depiction in the early Teen Titans days. Some flashback stories have made him look more inhuman and be cringe worthy insecure and socially anxious. Here he looks as good as he’s supposed to and is believably having trouble navigating a new world. I also loved that Roy’s asshole behavior pre-Arsenal isn’t being ignored by the other characters. He was always like a nastier Hawkeye who was tolerated as if he weren’t a divisive asshole. Honestly, before Wolfman matured him, I hated Roy as much as I did Ollie. Even when Lobdell wrote him as brash and immature he never gave him the Silver/Bronze Age mean spiritedness.
In the pod thingies has Waid commented on his choices when using Charlie, Karen, and Mal? I do wish Golden Eagle would fly again though. His debut resonated with me so much, I love the character despite banal subsequent appearances and the awful treatment Hawkworld gained him. (BTW, DC dropped the ball not making Hawkman and Wonder Woman’s post-Crisis revamps Year One Events. So many ridiculous retcons could have been avoided!)
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I haven’t come across anything from Waid as to his use of Karen and co, I’d love to know what he was thinking. I do hope he’ll give us a full-on Spooky Zany Haney story.
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