The following contains spoilers for Teen Titans #17-19 by Ben Percy, Scott Eaton, Wayne Faucher, and Jim Charalampidis.


More than just one of its most popular teams, DC's Teen Titans are one of the companies most popular brands, thanks in no small part to the original 2003 animated series. In the 15 years since the show ended, various members of that team's incarnation have gotten solo comics, either as ongoing titles or short lived miniseries. All four of the Robins have or had solo books while being Titans, as have Cyborg, Raven and Starfire. The odd man out here is the green-skinned Garfield Logan, aka Beast Boy. Since his debut in Doom Patrol #99 by Arnold Drake and Bob Brown in 1965, the shapeshifting Titan has largely been relegated to comic relief, and as a result has not gotten the same headlining opportunities as his friends.

As the current run of Teen Titans ends, Beast Boy finds himself at an impasse. Following the conclusion of "Super Sons of Tomorrow," and seeing the older version of his friend Tim Drake sacrifice himself while Titans Tower was destroyed during, Gar finds himself frustrated with how bad things seem to be going. After flying away from the remains of the Tower, Gar soon gets approached by a young woman named Joran who runs a tech company called Nevrland with a staff made up of fellow youths that she dubs "Lost Boys," all of whom are victims of bullying, neglect, abuse or homelessness.

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Having become enthralled with Beast Boy since he started branching out as a media personality after Tim's team of Titans moved to New York years ago, Joran asks him to become the spokesman for her product: the Pixie, a piece of VR biotech that allows the user to live in a fantasy world of their choosing where they're the hero and get to escape their problems. From there, you pretty can guess the direction of the story, Joran, and its outcome, but the three-issue arc dubbed "It's Not Easy Being Green" is still a fascinating read regardless for what it does to the most unchanged Teen Titan.

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It's become almost gospel that Beast Boy is simply "the funny one" when it comes to the Titans, because that was his primary role on the cartoon. That, plus his sad backstory, make it easy to slot him as a guy who hides his insecurities behind jokes. It's an understandable choice, but there's a lot that can be done with him.

"Being Green," if nothing else, highlights the potential in a solo Beast Boy comic. Gar is the right hero for the age of social media; it actually does make sense to have Beast Boy be the spokesman for a product such as Pixie. As Joran notes, his videos strike an chord with kids and young adults that make them feel less alone in the world.  Fans of viral stars are so passionate about their idols because they feel emotionally invested in the everyday lives of these people, so it's completely logical that Joran comes to the conclusion that Gar may have the target of Damian Wayne's abuse, with the other Titans being stuck in an extended hostage situation with more than a little bit of Stockholm Syndrome at play.

Yes, the idea of a social media savvy superhero can go south with the wrong writer; the early run of Marvel's Champions stumbled, showing the difficulty in writing modern teenagers in a way that's authentic and genuine. We've yet to really see how a teen superhero would realistically react to and take advantage of social media, and Beast Boy has proven himself open enough with his fans that it would make for a fun story to watch unfold. It's been shown in the past that he'll sometimes have other Titans record him while he fights crime in order to look more heroic. That alone offers story potential for the superhero equivalent of the Logan Paul fiasco.

True to his shapeshifting nature, Beast Boy is incredibly versatile with regard to what he can do with social media. He could very well flit between daily livestreams of his superheroics, strapping a camera to his head while he flies to locations his fans request, or launch a a Vegan cook/self-help guru podcast. He could be whatever he wants, and a creative team paying attention to how Internet sensations interact in the world has plenty to draw inspiration from.

"Being Green" marks the end of Beast Boy's time with Teen Titans; thanks to May's No Justice event, he'll be one of several Titans boosted up to Justice League status after being handpicked by Brainiac. Following that, he'll be on the primary Titans team alongside Nightwing and Raven, signaling some level of growth from his long-running role of resident slacker. He's probably not going to lose his love of jokes, but with the Titans dealing with teens that suddenly find themselves with superpowers, his empathy and humor will be what they need as they cope with their new abilities.

None of this is to say that Beast Boy is deserving of an open-ended series in the vein of Cyborg or Nightwing's solitary adventures; he's not Harley Quinn levels of popular, but he deserves a shot in the same way that characters like Midnighter and Captain Atom have been given. Gar is far from a one-trick pony, and he should have a chance to prove it.