Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Beast Boy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Beast Boy


Garfield Mark "Gar" Logan, also known as Beast Boy or Changeling, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Arnold Drake and Bob Brown, and first appears in Doom Patrol #99 (November 1965). In Superboy Comics #33 (6/54), Superboy meets a green creature from Outer Space that can morph into any animal it wants to (also green).[2]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Fictional character biography
o 1.1 Joining the Titans
o 1.2 "One Year Later"
o 1.3 Titans
* 2 Powers and abilities
* 3 Other versions
o 3.1 Earlier Beast Boy
o 3.2 Titans Tomorrow
o 3.3 Kingdom Come
* 4 In other media
o 4.1 Teen Titans animated series
o 4.2 Static Shock animated series
o 4.3 Teen Titans Film
* 5 References
* 6 External links

[edit] Fictional character biography

As a child, Garfield contracted a rare illness by being bit by a green monkey called Sakutia but then was saved by his parents who used an untested serum on him. This serum had the unintended effect of turning his skin and hair green and granted him the ability to metamorphose into any animal of his choice.[3] His parents later die in a boating accident, which to this day, Garfield believes he could have prevented.[2] After he is saved from two kidnappers that beat him and force him to use his powers to help them in their crimes, Garfield is left under the care of a court-appointed guardian, the soon-to-be-despised Nicholas Galtry. As young Logan enters his teens, Galtry realizes that his embezzlements from the estate would be exposed when the lad reaches his majority and takes control of his inheritance, so he plots to kill the youngster. The various villains he hires to kill young Logan are impeded by the Doom Patrol, whose member Rita and her husband, DP associate Steve Dayton, eventually expose his embezzling to the courts and adopt Garfield Logan. In the interim, he allies himself with the super-hero team, wearing one of their uniforms (with the addition of a full-head purple mask, bearing a black--and sometimes yellow--swath across the middle of the face, to conceal his true identity) and taking the name Beast Boy.[4] In his days with the Doom Patrol, Garfield has a romantic relationship with a girl from his high school named Jillain Jackson. After he saves her from Galtry (who was using the alias "Arsenal" wink , the relationship dissolved. Beast Boy is deeply affected by the deaths of the Patrol.

Addressed as nothing but Beast Boy (and epithets, as the team is upset at his invasion of their headquarters) upon his debut, in his second appearance (Doom Patrol #100) he is twice called 'Craig' by Galtry (in his own introduction). In the following issue the first name Gar is used, and later the last name Logan is casually dropped in a caption, each as if they had already been established to the readers. The full "Garfield" is not invoked until The New Teen Titans some fifteen years later.
Cover of Tales of the New Teen Titans #3 (August 1982). Art by George Perez.

[edit] Joining the Titans

He later joins the West Coast team of the Teen Titans (known as Titans West), and is part of the New Teen Titans assembled by Raven. At this time, Garfield takes the name Changeling. While this change in names is not explained at the time, in a later flashback it was revealed that a new version of an old Doom Patrol enemy, the Arsenal (from DP #113, August 1967), the identity this time assumed by Gar's ex-guardian Nicholas Galtry, mocked the name so much that he ruined it for him.[5] He remains with various incarnations of the team, and forms a close friendship with Cyborg. He later uses the name Beast Boy again, under which he gets his own miniseries Beast Boy. Following a failed attempt to recreate "Titans West" as "Titans L.A.", as recounted in Titans Secret Files #2 (October 2000), Garfield rejoins the main team.

Beast Boy's character is often used as comic relief. However, this is only a facade, as he uses humor to hide a deep inner pain. Beast Boy has suffered many hardships in his life, some described previously. Also, during his time with The New Teen Titans Gar's step-father was discovered to have been driven mad by the helmet which was central to his powers, and the young man fell in love with Terra, a girl with earth-manipulating powers and fellow Teen Titans member, who turned out to be a spy working for Deathstroke. Despite all his hardships, Garfield is friendly and upbeat.

[edit] "One Year Later"
Main articles: One Year Later and 52 (comic book)

While the events of Infinite Crisis unfold, details of Beast Boy's life "One Year Later" are revealed in the current Teen Titans comic book. Teen Titans vol. 3, #34 (May 2006) shows scenes from the year between the conclusion of Infinite Crisis and One Year Later, from the damaged Cyborg's POV. Garfield leads the Teen Titans, before quitting the team following the breakup of himself and Raven. He then joins his original team, the Doom Patrol, citing that the team need his help and that Robin can handle leadership. He is also feeling uneasy about remaining in a team without Cyborg. After Cyborg awakes, Beast Boy and the rest of the Doom Patrol helps the Titans fight off the Brotherhood of Evil, who have managed to clone Brain. The clone is a failure, however, and Mallah ends up tearing Brain's head off so that he can preserve his master's brain.

After returning, Beast Boy is infuriated to discover that the Chief has been manipulating them and trying to do the same to Kid Devil. Garfield and his parents stand up to the Chief and made him step down as the Doom Patrol's leader. Beast Boy stays on his old team saying that they still need him. However, he does answer a call from Raven to help the Titans combat Titans East. Raven later demonstrates hints that she still loves Garfield and offers to help him heal after the battle with Deathstroke, but Garfield remains uncertain.

[edit] Titans

In Titans #1 (200 cool , Gar is attacked by Trigon, who floods his room with lava. In retaliation, Gar joins the new Titans team, wearing a costume similar to his old Changeling uniform. In later issues, the group are attacked by the Children of Trigon, who use Garfield's suppressed anger and rage against Raven, who is also affected in the same manner. The two attack the other, but the fight is eventually broken up when the Titans begin to recover from the attack.

Raven's three half-brothers then use her and Gar, transforming him into his demonic beast form, to act as keys to open a portal to Trigon's realm. Raven uses her own power to influence greed in others to make her half-brothers steal what little power Trigon had left. The portal is closed, and Trigon's sons, believing they have gained great power, leave the scene, returning Gar to normal.

Following this, the team has settled themselves down at Titans Tower (supposedly the New York base), where they attempt to recover from recent events. Raven and Beast Boy go out together on a "not-a-date". During this, Raven reveals that since she faced her brothers, she has begun to feel as if she is losing control and slipping back under the thrall of her father's powers. Although Beast Boy rejects the idea, he is blind-sided as Raven gives in to her darker side, under the influence of her half-brother's coaxing. Using her teleporting powers, she and the Sons of Trigon vanish, leaving a distraught Beast Boy behind to warn the others.

The Titans are later able to save Raven, using a gem that she had entrusted to Donna Troy. The gem carried a piece of her pure-soul self, which then cleansed the evil of Raven. Afterwards, Raven gave Beast Boy and the rest of the team similar magical items in case she should ever be corrupted again. Raven later turns down Beast Boy's attempts to reconcile completely as a couple.

[edit] Powers and abilities

Beast Boy has the ability to morph into any animal that he has seen himself or has seen in an illustration (as is the case when he shapeshifts into an animal such as an extinct dinosaur).[3] These transformations take only a second and Beast Boy has demonstrated that he is capable of rapidly changing his form with little or no effort expended. As a corollary to this power, he can transform back into his default form if an external force like magic transforms him into an animal. His power enables him to completely alter his body mass, being able to take the shape of animals far larger and heavier than himself, such as an elephant, a hippopotamus, or a Tyrannosaurus Rex (though until recent stories, such larger forms would physically exhaust him), or smaller and lighter animals such as mice and insects. However, he cannot change or return to a form if the space he occupies is too small and he cannot normally break the confines (as seen when he attempt to transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex underneath a bridge and hits his head, instantly aborting the transformation). His power also enables him to radically alter his body structure and take forms of animals without limbs, like snakes, or those without skeletons like a jellyfish. In two notable instances, he has even taken the form of multiple individuals simultaneously (once as a swarm of fireflies, and again as a mass of barnacles). He also displayed this ability once in the animated series, becoming an endlessly-multiplying plague of amoeba.

While as an animal, he gains all the physical abilities and characteristics of said animal, such as great strength (a gorilla), speed (a cheetah), and durability (a turtle), and abilities such as flight (various birds), and aquatic breathing (various fish). He can even gain the specific poison produced by specific snakes. While in animal form, Beast Boy retains his human intellect, memories, and the ability to speak. No matter what form he takes, his skin, hair, and eyes remain green, making most of his animal forms easy to distinguish from real animals of that species. In the early comics, his coloration would change to that appropriate to the animal form he had taken, with only his head remaining green. Beast Boy has also shown the ability more than once to transform into alien animals, including sentient species such as the Gordanians.

When Raven implanted Garfield with an evil seed of her father Trigon, he began to transform into more demon-like creatures. Eventually, he found himself more comfortable in these horrific shapes rather than as a human, and stayed shifted. After becoming completely corrupted by the evil seed, he was used by Raven and Trigon, but eventually returned to normal. Titans #4 reveals that a small part of that seed still remains within him, which Trigon's sons manipulate, using the demonic energies to open the portal to Trigon's realm.

As of late, he has demonstrated the ability to transform into animals many times larger than their actual forms: among others, he's been seen transforming into a human-sized tarantula and a giant snake. Whether this is a progression of his abilities or a new power altogether is unknown.

Beast Boy has gained a new "Super-Animal" form made with the traits, strengths, and abilities of all the animals in the world. This gives him a multitude of abilities from a falcon's vision to beyond a tyrannosaurus's strength. This animal form has a constant feral attitude, and Gar has problems controlling its powers and mental state. This form appears in the Teen Titans animated series as stated below.

[edit] Other versions

[edit] Earlier Beast Boy

DC had a different character with the same code name and basic powers, in the Legion of Super-Heroes feature running in Adventure Comics. He was one of the young super-heroes of the planet Lallor, introduced in Adventure #324, September 1964. He turned villain and was killed off in #339, December 1965, just after Gar Logan's first appearance in the November 1965 issue of Doom Patrol. This Beast Boy was allowed a last-minute reformation and heroic death.

[edit] Titans Tomorrow

In the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline, Garfield calls himself "Animal man". In this storyline, he has the power to use more than one animal power at a time such as using an amoeba's power to spilt to create copies of himself while in the form of another creature. He also demonstrates the ability to become mythical animals.

[edit] Kingdom Come

In Kingdom Come (also set in an alternate future), Beast Boy has changed his name to "Menagerie" and, for unspecified reasons, can transform into mythical creatures only.

[edit] In other media

[edit] Teen Titans animated series
Beast Boy as he appeared in the Teen Titans animated series.

Beast Boy appears in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Greg Cipes. In the series, Beast Boy (nicknamed "BB", and others) plays the role of the lighthearted jokester of the group, though often the butt of many jokes himself (similar to his comics self). He wears his old black and purple Doom Patrol uniform, complete with gray gloves and purple sneakers with seemingly velcro straps. Like with the other Titans, his appearance is much younger than in the comics. Also like in the comics, Beast Boy has the ability to transform into any animal he sees. His favorite forms are a Pterodactyl (for flight and transporting his fellow Titans), a gorilla, and a Tyrannosaurus ( both for heavy-duty combat).

Beast Boy is generally portrayed as a carefree, scatter-brained and immature personality. He is prone to making jokes no one but himself (in particular, Raven) can laugh about, and generally displays few intellectual-based interests and little sense for tact (though on occasion, however, particularly in the fifth season, Beast Boy does show hidden intellectual and leadership qualities). His carefree behaviour is most likely conditioned by his resignation from the Doom Patrol, where Mento's harsh discipline and less than encouraging attitude had not allowed any free-wheeling. Beast Boy's closest friend among his teammates is Cyborg, with whom he shares a passion for video games and movies. Likewise they are prone to quarreling, especially about their diverging tastes in food; Beast Boy is a vegetarian who never gets tired about persuading his teammates into adopting his culinary tastes as well.

Like in the comics, Beast Boy also had a romantic relationship with Terra who had the power of Earth manipulation. As in the comic book, Terra betrays the Teen Titans as an ally of Slade (Deathstroke). Ultimately, she receives redemption in helping the Titans defeat Slade; however, she is turned to stone in the process. In a departure from the comic book, Beast Boy retains strong feelings for Terra. In the final episode "Things Change", Beast Boy encounters a girl looking like Terra (although it is unclear whether or not it was the real Terra, as he was the only Titan who saw her), apparently suffering from amnesia. Although Beast Boy and Raven don't have the same romantic relationship that they do in the comics, it is hinted that they are very close. Beast Boy is constantly attempting (and more often failing) to get Raven to laugh at his jokes and join the fun with the rest of the team. He also helps Raven overcome most of her personal problems and shares many touching moments of the series with her.

In the Season 3 episode "The Beast Within", Beast Boy is seen in a newly-gained "Super-Werewolf" form when he was doused with an experimental DNA compound. Beast Boy dislikes this form and refrains from using it again until he and the other Titans are fighting off Slade's fire-soldier army in "The End: Part 1" when they have to use their most powerful abilities to defeat them. He never uses it after then, suggesting that even with the strength and abilities it gave him, he considered it a "last resort" to be used.

Season 5 of Teen Titans focuses on Beast Boy a great deal, as it deals with his history as a member of the animated series' incarnation of the Doom Patrol. Until "Homecoming", in which his former teammates make a guest appearance, Beast Boy was the only member of the Doom Patrol to appear on the show. In the second episode of the fifth season, Beast Boy becomes the first male Titan in the series to be explicitly referred to by his real name (Garfield). In "Titans Together", Beast Boy leads Herald, Jericho, Pantha, and Más on an assault on the Brotherhood of Evil and showed his abilities as a competent and accomplished leader during their infiltration and subsequent assault. He remains the leader even after other Titans such as Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven join the fight, and only stands down from leadership when Robin is thawed.

When he was younger, Beast Boy fell ill due to being bitten by a green monkey. To save him, his parents' attempts to cure him resulted in his shapechanging abilities. They later died in a flood, leaving Beast Boy as an orphan. Afterward, determined to join Doom Patrol, he broke into their quarters. He was treated as an intruder, but his effort to escape capture impressed them, thus earning his membership on the team.[6]

Beast Boy's powers are unknowingly borrowed by Robby Reed. While using Beast Boy's powers Robby goes by the alias Changeling.[7]

It was revealed Garfield's greatest fear is to be rejected by his surrogate family, The Doom Patrol.[8]

[edit] Static Shock animated series

Beast Boy is referenced in a 2003 episode of Static Shock when Bernie Rast says "...what about that kid in the Titans. Yeah, the green one."

[edit] Teen Titans Film

Warner Bros. is in development on a Teen Titans movie. However, it is unknown if Beast Boy will play a part in the movie. Only Nightwing is a confirmed member so far.[citation needed]