TEEN TITANS #45

New Blood Part Six:  Coming Out

February 2005

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Phil Hester

Inks by Ande Parks

Cover by Marcos Martin & Alvaro Lopez

Synopsis

At her high school, Mia Deardon tells the assembled student body that she found out she is HIV positive.  She tells the school that it doesn’t change who she is, just in the way she lives, which is the most important thing:  she is living with HIV.  Elsewhere, Green Arrow visits Danny Brickwell (aka Brick) and challenges the new crime lord of Star City to a fight.  Brick’s bigger size and invulnerable skin gives him the edge and he easily beats up Ollie, but the emerald archer wins the battle with a trick arrow.  Ollie leaves Brick on the ground, telling him that the city belongs to Green Arrow, not to Brick.  At home, Mia shows Ollie her new crime fighting outfit and hopes that she can fight side-by-side with Green Arrow.  At first Ollie still says no, but Mia tells Ollie that since she learned about being HIV, she know wants to make her life mean something and she wants to do it as a vigilante.  Ollie gives in and that night they patrol the streets as Green Arrow and Speedy.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I have mixed feelings about this issue.  Essentially it is divided into three parts:  Mia’s speech. the fight, and then Mia’s decision.  Each part had some good parts and bad parts.  I think, overall, it was just not good because an ending to a six-part story should not end with mixed feelings. 

First, Mia’s speech.  I liked the speech, but for a teenager it seems way too mature and way too preachy to be believable.  Mia is acting as Winick’s mouthpiece, preaching about HIV to those who are ignorant (or confused in relation to AIDS), telling us things about it (you can hug her, you can drink from the same faucet) that seem to come from a pamphlet or research book.  In this case, Winick is telling us, not showing us.  It might have been more believable to show Mia trying to get through a typical day rather than given the reader a lecture, no matter how well put.  So, I liked it but it was also off putting. 

Second, the fight with Brick.  Some good art from Hester and Parks and an ice way for Ollie, who is obviously out muscled and outmatched, to win the battle.  But then he walks way, content to offer a stern warning, which I highly doubt Brick would ever listen to anyway but that is beside the point.  You have just taken down a known criminal and you walk away from him.  I do not believe for a second that the police or the district attorney do not have enough evidence for some type of conviction.  Don’t you think it would be a good idea to find a way to restrain him and put him somewhere where he can’t get out, say the Slab or Iron Heights.  So, good fight, lousy ending. 

Third, the decision by Mia to become the new Speedy.  This has been a long time coming and is not really surprising that Mia’s condition would be the impetus to get her into costume.  Plus, Ollie seems to back down awfully quick, especially given her condition and the potential for blood, her blood, to be spilled in the middle of a battle.  Hell, Magic Johnson was forced to retire a second because players feared he might bleed during a basketball game and they might get infected.  And that was a basketball game; not the fights a vigilante gets into.  But, in the end, what matters is that Mia is finally the new Speedy so we can at least drop the speculation and get on with it. 

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