By Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Romeo Tanghal
Dec 1981
All the Teen Titans (plus Robotman) reunite in Uganda. Gar seems to be back to normal. Steve Dayton is still acting weird. They give him his Mento costume when he asks for it. He attacks the group as soon as he puts it on. It doesn't look good for the assembled superheroes. Mento seems to have them all on the ropes when Raven steps in to the fight. She uses her abilities to relieve Dayton of his pain. Dayton recovers and is back to normal.
A few pages are devoted to retelling the origin and fate of the Doom Patrol as recounted by Steve Dayton. Robotman manages to sneak in a quick explanation of why he doesn't look like he did in Showcase 94-96 (1977-78), his first and only appearance since the death of the Doom Patrol (1968). Dayton also tells them about how he was captured by Madame Rouge. The other Titans just listen closely but Changeling gets fighting mad. It isn't clear if he has just had enough or if he is possessed once again.
Changeling heads for the villains underground headquarters. Before he gets there the whole complex lifts out of the ground and takes off. Gar just barely catches up to it and lands on the edge of the flying headquarters. The complex seems to have changed a bit and now has tall buildings and is encased in a bubble.
The other Titans follow in one of their jets. Did they leave the other one behind? There were two jets shown at the beginning of this chapter. The flying base heads for Zandia, an island country in the Baltic Sea. The armored warriors of Madame Rouge and General Zahl attack the island country. The Titans aren't far behind. They don't know what's happened to Changeling. They don't see him barely hanging on to the edge of the flying base.
Before the Titans attempt to land Starfire, Wonder Girl, and Ravenn take off under their own power and engage the troops of the enemy. Kid Flash lowers himself using his super speed. At first it seems like they are making some progress but one by one the Titans are taken down, first Starfire, then Wonder Girl, Raven and Kid Flash. The most surprising take down may be when Changeling comes up brandishing a large, high powered, high tech rifle. He blows the jet out of the sky. Of course it wasn't really the Changeling. It was Madame Rouge. Her superpowers aren't identical to Changeling's but she does posses the ability to make herself look like other people.
After the other Titans have been taken down, the real Changeling looks up only to see himself the prisoner of the Brotherhood of Evil. It was clear from what happened earlier in the issue that there was someone else who wasn't allied with either the Titans or Madame Rouge. Up to this point there were no indications given as to whom that might be.
The cover to the next issue shows Changeling leading the Brotherhood of Evil in an attack on Madame Rouge and her forces. I'm sure it can't be quite that simple. These are super villains but Changeling has shown signs that someone else is possessing him on at least two occasions. Maybe that explains the cover to the next issue.
I love the foreshadowing on page 10 where Robin wonders about the stress that Raven is under and what it might eventually lead to. I can't help but think of think of the parallels to Jean Grey/Phoenix of the X-Men who was dead by the time. Both characters code names are the names of birds and both have hidden pasts or secrets that their teammates don't fully understand.
I love the little breaks in the storytelling that are used to bring the reader up to speed on past events. In this issue it is the Doom Patrol origin story which takes up a little over 2 pages.
Great read. I really wish that other series aged as well as this one does.
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