Doom Patrol #99 (1965)
by Arnold Drake & Bob Brown
Beast Boy debuts in this issue, but the green animal on the cover is not him.
In fact Beast Boy’s story is the second one in the book, but I’ll review it first.
I’m guessing they didn’t anticipate this would be the most consequential issue of this period; it’s not even by regular artist Bruno Premiani.
We begin with the Doom Patrol discovering someone infiltrated their headquarters.
Identifying several animal clues left behind, Robotman prepares a sketch for the suspect.
When the intruder later returns, the Doom Patrol has a trap ready.
Notice Elasti-Girl enlarging only one arm, up to this time it’s been VERY rare.
Much to their surprise, the intruder is revealed to be a green-skinned teenager.
That’s when the kid demonstrates his power to transform into any animal, but keeping JUST the head green and still humanoid.
That looks all kinds of wrong, so no wonder they eventually settled on him changing into an exact copy of an animal while staying completely green.
The fact that he’s able to talk even when turning into an animal that can’t will stay.
That is one fast kangaroo, considering Negative Man can fly at the speed of light!!!
If he can talk while transformed into a fish, can he also breathe air?
But the Doom Patrol still manages to catch him, learning that the kid did this for a dare.
Chief doesn’t believe him, thinking the reason is that his powers make him a freak… but NOPE!
Despite being nominally a genius, Chief didn’t notice the kid is green!!!
The rest of the team is about to kick the kid out (!!!), until Elasti-Girl has words with them.
They begrudgingly accept.
Even if it’s decided that he’ll live with them, the kid (who doesn’t have a name yet) is still going to school. Kind of weird to see him in civilian life without anyone suspecting he has powers.
I guess I’m used to mutants being a thing in Marvel… but it’s not like there are no aliens running around at DC at the time.
This is the first appearance of Jill, who will have a few appearances as his girlfriend. Although very few in the Doom Patrol era.
I think they’re not using to the full potential the idea of “superhero kid picked up from school”.
So what’s going to be the first mission where they bring the kid?
Protecting a parade honoring pioneers that is showing off the jewels of some royal.
Which feels more than a bit off-topic for such a parade.
And sure enough some criminals try to steal the jewels, using oil to thwart the Doom Patrol.
It’s probably done so that the kid can have a chance to stand out, but come on, they’re better than this!
At least THIS weapon is kind of a plausible problem for Robotman.
That is one giant bird!!!
I wonder if they moved to having him transform into full animals because the green head looks stupid, or because they couldn’t figure out how to make so many animal heads feel more humanoid.
And so we end the story with Beast Boy (who has not been called that even once in the story, except the title) managing to impress the Doom Patrol.
Also: “fumpfers”???
I really hope DC really received letters that just say “RRAWRRR!”.
Historical significance: 10/10
As far as the Doom Patrol itself it’s an automatic 10/10 already, but Beast Boy’s role in the rest of the DC Universe bumps it up.
Silver Age-Ness: 4/10
Only in the Silver Age heroes would be in such trouble for such a minor annoyance.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
It’s too short to be anything higher, and most of the Doom Patrol members don’t come off as too bright… not to mention they’re just ridiculously ineffective.
But Beast Boy shakes up the dynamic in an interesting way, and being introduced as a bit of a rebel differentiates him from previous teen heroes. Which is also a role he won’t keep for long.
Times Robotman has been damaged: 11
Issues when Robotman is never damaged: 11
How close is this to the modern character? 6/10
We’ll see his development with the Doom Patrol over the rest of the retrospective.
We do have a quote about his creation:
We wanted to have a character who could assume many different animal forms, and also wanted a kid in the strip, someone the kids could relate to. They were starting to talk back to their elders. They were starting to make their elders earn their respect. So Beast Boy was an attempt to picture what I thought was happening among some of the young people.
ARNOLD DRAKE
After the end of the Doom Patrol, Beast Boy would continue his career as a member of the Teen Titans… under the name Changeling.
It’s often assumed that he changed his name back to Beast Boy due to the popularity of the 2003 cartoon, but it actually dates back to 1999.
I definitely prefer “Beast Boy” because it defines him better, while “Changeling” feels more generic.
Speaking of the 2003 cartoon series, it’s definitely responsible for a considerable rise in Beast Boy’s popularity.
I’m a HUGE fan of the series: I wasn’t the target demographic and I didn’t really care all that much about the Titans before it aired, but damn was that a good run that made me interested in these characters.
It’s also probably responsible for making a bigger deal of Beast Boy’s role as a jokester, since he was the main provided of comic relief.
(although he WAS a jokester in the comics before)
Which is really diminishing how complex he truly is, both in the comics and to a lesser extent in the cartoon itself… but I get it, he’s REALLY good at being comic relief.
Even when he stops goofing around to have a serious moment, he’s ALSO the perfect comedic sidekick.
This story’s won’t be the last to have the last panel inviting readers to write to DC to speak their minds about the future of Beast Boy.
It won’t be too long before the next time either. Teen Titans #6 will come about a year later.
Makes sense. It was rare enough in 1965 to have teen protagonists, let alone any without a clearly established legal guardian. That would become a plot point for Beast Boy soon enough.
What do we know about the shared universe of DC’s superteams at this time? Challengers of the Unknown #48 and Doom Patrol #102 will establish that they share continuity; Challengers #51 will add the Sea Devils; Doom Patrol #104 will add the Teen Titans (also confirmed in Teen Titans #6), the JLA and even Bob Hope. Shortly after, in Blackhawk #228, it is established that his team is also in Earth-One continuity. I may have missed some previous indication. It seems that at this time DC decided that it would be for the best to have as much of a shared continuity as possible.