In 1980, DC Comics decided to revitalize one of its future hits – the Teen Titans. The group had been around since the 1960s, but it wasn’t until Marv Wolfman and George Pérez took over the title that the Teen Titans actually became popular. As the years passed, they would become a brand for DC Comics, with the characters being extremely popular among younger readers. Still, it all started with The New Teen Titans and in today’s article, I am going to focus on one returning member of the group that Wolfman and Pérez brought back – Beast Boy, at the time known as Changeling.
Garfield Logan rejoined the New Teen Titans as one of the group’s founding members and was a loyal member of the “family” for about two decades. During the 1980s, Changeling remained a member of the Titans, with some changes happening during the 2000s, when he left the group to pursue a solo career.
In today’s article, I am going to talk about Beast Boy’s career with the New Teen Titans. You are going to find out how he returned to the group, what happened to him while he was with them and whether he eventually left the group. Enjoy!
How did Beast Boy return to the New Teen Titans?
In order to properly answer this question, I actually have to give you some context. Namely, Beast Boy’s history with the Teen Titans goes a long way, much longer than, for example, Cyborg’s or Raven’s, although they today enjoy the same status within the group.
Garfield “Gar” Mark Logan was born as the son of two researchers who lived in Africa, where they studied animals and their DNA, while developing “reverse evolution” so they could bring extinct species back to life. While in Africa, Garfield, still a child, contracts a very rare disease called Sakutia; the disease is fatal for humans and most animals, with the exception of the West African green monkey.
To save him, his father resorts to an untested experiment that consists of turning Garfield into a West African green monkey for 24 hours, so that his body can fight off the disease. Despite the risks, they proceed with the experiment.
Although cured, Garfield Logan is soon genetically modified by the experiment. The most evident side-effect is his whole body turning green, but he also developed some very animal-like behavioral traits and became a vegetarian, since eating the meat of any animal would, for him, be a form of cannibalism.
He also acquires the particular power of being able to transform himself into any animal he has seen in a picture or in person, with the exception of his body always retaining the green color, regardless of the transformation.
Garfield loses his parents on an excursion to a river and ends up being temporarily raised by a friend of his parents, King Tawaba, an African tribal chief. Tawaba’s witch doctor Mobu, jealous of the Logans and their great feat in saving their son, hires two American mercenaries to kill him, and in return, he would reveal to them where the golden temple was.
The temple ultimately collapsed, killing him and trapping Garfield, who was later saved by the two criminals, inside the ruins. He will be taken to America. Once the two criminals are arrested, Garfield ended up on the street, but he was saved by Elasti-Girl and Mento, members of the Doom Patrol, who brought him into their group, adopted him, and gave him the name Beast Boy.
However, Nicholas Galtry, his stepfather, will pose a constant problem for young Garfield, as he will endeavor to kill him constantly so that he can take over the inheritance that his parents left him. After the death of the Doom Patrol (and therefore also of his adoptive mother), Garfield discovered a love for acting and tried to make it in Hollywood.
During this period of his life, he also joined an external branch of the Teen Titans supergroup operating on the west coast of the United States. After the group was disbanded, Garfield changed his name on the advice of his agent, thus becoming Changeling. This where the background story stops, as I have explained everything you needed to know before answering the main question of this section.
Namely, after becoming Changeling, Garfield Logan joined the New Teen Titans. There was no specific reason for that, as – in-universe – the roster of the original group changed, but I do know that this incarnation of the superhero group was a result of Raven’s actions. Namely, the young super heroine needed help to fight Trigon, her demonic father.
Raven first approached the Justice League for help, but they turned her down on Zatanna’s advice, as the latter sensed Raven’s demonic origins and the danger she represented. This is why Raven formed the New Teen Titans, a member of who Garfield Logan (Changeling) would soon become. The real culprits, in this case, are Wolfman and Pérez, who gave Garfield Logan a place in the group that made him famous in the first place.
What happened to Beast Boy in the New Teen Titans?
Well, Beast Boy’s – or, Changeling’s – story within the group is not so complex as it is long, so I am going to give you a very short version of the main events that happened to Beast Boy while he was in the New Teen Titans.
Namely, as a returning character to the group, Beast Boy knew how the group functioned and although the New Teen Titans were founded on different grounds than the original group, Beast Boy knew the internal mechanisms that held the group together quite well.
The Teen Titans always functioned as a kind of family for its members, as they were usually social outcasts that had no other family besides their superhero companions. Beast Boy was, thus, exceptionally loyal to the group and despite some new members, he accepted them all and had a large amount of respect for the other Teen Titans.
In terms of special relationships, I have to stress out that Beast Boy found a true friend in Cyborg (Victor Stone) and that the two formed a very strong and lasting bond. Out of all the other Teen Titans, Cyborg and Beast Boy functioned best as a duo, friendship-wise.
As far as romantic interests are concerned, Beast Boy fell in love with Deathstroke’s spy, Terra Markov, which was an important plot element during some later stories. Yet, his true love was actually Raven and the two of them had a very dynamic and interesting relationship that finally culminated in a kiss that cemented their mutual love for each other and was one of the best fanboy moments in history of the Teen Titans series.
To sum it up, I can say that Beast Boy had a – more or less – typical superhero story while he was a member of the Teen Titans for most of his stay with the group, with an extra touch of teen romance that made the whole group so popular among younger readers, as they could relate to their problems far better than they could’ve to Batman’s or Flash’s.
Did Beast Boy leave the New Teen Titans?
Beast Boy never left the New Teen Titans during the comics’ original volumes, but he did leave the group almost three decades later, during the “One Year Later” event.
Namely, at the time, Beast Boy was the one who tried to hold together a pretty dysfunctional group of Titans. When Robin came back, though, Beast Boy left the team and returned to the Doom Patrol, his original “family”. His main goal there was to aid his adoptive parents in the battle against the Brotherhood of Evil.
After Wonder Girl returned to the group, Garfield opted to stay with the Doom Patrol, since Mento had replaced the Chief as the group’s new leader. Still, as the Titans were fighting the sons of Trigon, Beast Boy tried to reconcile with Raven.
Now, Beast Boy’s absence from the Teen Titans wasn’t overly long, as the young superhero returned to the group soon after the Titans disbanded and the Teen Titans reentered the spotlight.
All of this happened in connection with the Final Crisis event and it showed us one thing – wherever he might be and whatever his relationship with the might be, Garfield Logan is a true Teen Titan and the Teen Titans are his one and only true family.