In that spirit, I offer 5 of my favorite Garfield Logan moments from the comics to tide you over until season 2. (Oh, if you really want to set the mood, put on a playlist of soaring 1980’s synth-pop. Maybe some Howard Jones or John Parr. I’ll wait.)
“Happy-boy, here’s mud in your four eyes!”
I picked up my first comic books in 1985, at age 10. In retrospect, my timing couldn’t have been better, as Wolfman & Perez were doing their best work, and the grocery store had an entire shelf of 75 cent comics, a gateway for new readers like me who had never set foot in a comic shop. And on those newsstands was one of the greatest Titans storylines (in “Tales” reprints). It’s an action-packed story, bookended by quieter moments among a close-knit group, to remind us what’s at stake in the fight against Trigon. I barely knew the Titans, but I cared about them from the get-go. The opening training scene finds Gar at his most adorable, in both his shape-changing and dialogue. “Groupies?” “My buns you’re blasting?” (I might have asked my mom what liniment was and why he wanted to use it on Wonder Girl, whoops.) In the battle that follows, his carefree sense of fun turns to terror, to haunted, to fatalism, to giving his all to land a tiny but epic blow against Trigon. Later, in the aftermath of a hard-earned victory, Gar gets to catch his breath, only to find it’s not so easy to recapture the fun. Likewise, the public adoration he’s always craved is not what he imagined at all. Philosophical Gar hits you in the heartstrings, as the kid at heart is suddenly aware he’s growing up. But we should all raise our Coke cans in the setting sun along with the Titans, because as long as our friends are with us, we’ll be okay.
“Natch, I was ready, hero that I always am. I fought back with a ferocity you guys have never seen…”
Wacky, comedic, and more than a little cringeworthy… and I love it. A thoroughly atypical origin story of how Beast Boy became The Changeling. This is peak Garfield Logan. It’s not entirely clear where the truth ends and his embellishments for his audience begin. But this much is certain: Gar loves, loves, loves having super powers, and cultivating his own legend and greatness. And well he should. A short glimpse at his “down time” between the Doom Patrol and Titans suggests without people looking out for him, Gar’s life could be kind of aimless and sad. His powers give him a reason to surround himself with teammates. It also doesn’t surprise us he’s absent-minded enough to pull off a costume change in pursuit of a villain, forgetting there’s no costume underneath. But I’m inclined to forgive him if he spares his friends that detail. Like most of us, his isn’t a superhero body by a long shot, but modesty doesn’t deter him from his mission. And he saves the day! A hero whose everyday life is more blooper reel than highlight reel is no less a hero, and perhaps even more so.
“The fate of worlds rests on these two green shoulders.”
It’s Donna Troy’s wedding, yet it’s Gar who’s at the heart of the story. He’s the kind of friend who goes above and beyond to please, taking on the wedding logistics at the Dayton estate. As much as he loves a party, he’s also driven to prove himself. Even as things go well, Gar remains insecure in himself and his competence, barely allowing himself a moment to relax and enjoy the day. Many of us are our own worst critic, fixating on that one mistake among a mountain of successes. It’s easy to relate when that moment comes, and Gar’s fragile confidence crumbles as he’s convinced he’s failed. Fortunately, his best pal Vic, and later the other Titans, are there to pick him up and assure him he has that appreciation he thought he had to work so hard for.
“Yeah, life has been hard. It’s sucked sometimes. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like it.”
I only recently started to read Geoff Johns’ “Teen Titans” series of the 2000’s. This Beast Boy arc surprised me with its emotional punch. What happens when Gar loses his powers, and even his green pigment? He’s put through the wringer on several fronts, physically and mentally, and forced to make incredibly difficult choices. We’re reminded his powers began with a disease most would consider a dreadful sickness. We learn Gar is acutely aware of his public perception, how negative it’s become, and how little he can do to change what people think, even when he has the best intentions. Powerless, facing a psycho villain who wants him dead, with innocent lives at stake, and the public calling for his head. Yet, against these staggering odds, Gar pulls a win out of a no-win situation, with a choice that saves the city, and also affirms his pride in exactly who he is. It’s a terrible burden to be stigmatized or gossiped about for your physical differences, or an illness, visible or not, and you need some strong self-reliance to press on with your head held high. Gar shows a different type of heroism here, that’s both bittersweet and relatable to many of us.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen tomorrow, but one way or another, I was going to make it through. It’ll get better. I believe that more now than I ever did before.”
The one Gar Logan story that stands above all others. 10-year old me looked wide-eyed at the cover, teasing a one-on-one showdown with the Terminator. “Yeah! Go Changeling! Get him!” But what was inside was something different. The ever-cheerful Gar is pushed to his absolute breaking point by anger, grief, and vengeance, ultimately finding himself completely alone. Suddenly it wasn’t superheroes I was reading about anymore. It was a young kid who was troubled and lost. He was older than me then, but not by much, and he reminded me of myself. Boys aren’t supposed to let tears stream down our face, when the pain gets too much to keep inside. We aren’t supposed to doubt ourselves to the point of feeling unforgivable. We aren’t supposed to push everyone away, with no one left to listen except that person we were most angry at. But Gar did all of this, and I knew his pain because I’d done it too. I thought I was the only one. Right then I knew I’d made a literary friend for life. There’s a profound humanity in these characters, as Slade and Gar are each acting against type, and yet we believe it’s them. And in the end, Gar manages to pull himself out of the darkest emotional place, and move forward. His closing words are genuinely hopeful, while acknowledging there’s no neat resolution to the internal struggle he’s just gone through. Today I still repeat those words to myself at my lowest moments, and it helps. And this is a comic book. There’s no other quite like it, and it’s still my favorite.
If I had to sum up what it is about Garfield Logan, it’s this: Like any superhero, Gar wants to help, but mostly he wants to make you smile. And it’s not out of immaturity; it’s how we make it through. Despite the pain and loss he’s known, he keeps going, meeting a grim reality with a rascally grin, being the one to brighten things up for others. Think about how difficult that is. I can’t do it, can you?
There’s a long tradition of superheroes who are misfits, for their physical freakishness or for some kind of internal broken-ness. We identify with them, because their fight is ours. We ordinary folks may not have a super-powered arch-nemesis, but we do battle daily with our own sense of inadequacy, or hopelessness. We need reminding, though we may be deeply flawed, we still deserve to belong, and are worthy of being loved. If you tell me to “keep smiling,” you’ll get a dismissive scowl back. But to see cheerfulness on the face of someone who’s been down in the hole I’m in, that gets through to me.
Yup, we’re still talking about the green kid who can turn into animals. Because Gar has an even greater superpower, in my book: his contagious hope and positivity. In today’s world, that’s in far too short supply. You want to talk about a heroic quality? Hell, in today’s comics, kindness and optimism seem downright radical.
So you can keep your Dark Knight and your Man of Steel. When the chips are down, there’s no doubt who I want in my corner. Gar the irrepressible goof, the loyal friend with a warm heart, the resilient survivor. Beast Boy can become any animal he wants, but none of them can do what Gar Logan does best. Being himself.
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