This was an great companion graphic novel to Teen Titans: Raven! Teen Titans: Beast Boy was a fun science fiction mystery involving best friends, social media pranks, and trying to discover yourself during high school.
Gar was relatable character, and I enjoyed his humor. Beautiful artwork! Highly recommending this series for anyone who enjoyed superhero origin stories and Teen Titans!

I'm digging this new foray into Garfield, one of my favorite Titans! He's still his funny, wholesome self, and I'm so glad to see more lesser focused characters getting re-imagined by minorities in the comic industry--both Picolo and Garcia (a woman!). Even if you've never dipped your toes into comics, please give this Beast Boy edition of Teen Titans a shot!

I am a sucker for graphic novels. I love all of it: the art, the story, the gutters, the way language is used in thought bubbles. It all harmonizes for me into one compelling art form that I read as often as possible. Not only do I love reading graphic novels, I LOVE teaching them. I use them yearly in my classroom. DC Entertainment made a genius move and has been partnering with authors that I love to create more graphic novels for the DC universe and I LOVE it! I can't get enough of them. PLEASE keep writing them - the world (and my students) need more of these stories because they blend high interest characters with real world problems aside from coming into their powers. High school is hard and these novels reflect how kids have to cope and deal with some heavy issues. In this novel, there's issues of trying to fit in by doing illegal/stupid stunts, animal testing, euthanizing of animals at animal shelters, friendship, dyslexia. All of these issues come first and Beast Boy discovering his powers is second to the real issues. I have to geek out over his powers though! The art work on this one is INCREDIBLE!

Beast Boy was written by Kami Garcia who also wrote Raven (the first in the teen titan series). I bought 3 copies of Raven and gave them out to kids who I think needed them (one was my own kiddo). Kami Garcia wrote the Beautiful Creatures series of which I read the first and loved. Gabriel Picolo illustrated Raven beautifully, but I think he out did himself on this one. Admittedly, he says he based Beast Boy's hair off his own, so I feel like he was more attached to this character. His use of the color green throughout the graphic novel is striking and I was drawn to it over and over again. Pay attention to what is highlighted in green throughout the art work; you won't want to miss it.

I'll leave you with this thought provoking question I had after reading this novel: is animal testing acceptable if it saves both the animals' and peoples' lives?

I love a comic with some action and a tight friendship.I loved it! It's great that they had a dyslexic character.

I really enjoyed this. I read Garcia's Raven and thought it was just okay, but I enjoyed her take on Gar much more than Raven. It's very readable and I think that Gar is really an approachable character if you want to get into the Titans and I think that some middle grade readers would enjoy it. Gar felt like Gar which made it really fun to read. I thought the art was great as well.

This was a lot of fun and I got so absorbed in it that I reached the end before even realizing how far I was in it. I felt the ending was really abrupt, but I'm definitely interested in seeing what happens next. A couple of sort of ridiculous things happened, but I could suspend my disbelief because Teen Titans isn't about perfect sci-fi, it's about fun and fitting in. There's the typical mix of high school problems and Gar begins doing crazier things to achieve popularity. While I normally really dislike that sort of story, I found it really fun in this book, which is helped by the level of bizarre antics Gar attempts and the support of his two best friends looking out for him and telling him like it is when the fame starts getting to his head. This set a really fitting environment for the entrance of Beast Boy. How this happens is... wacky. But I've always wondered about Beast Boy's origin story and I don't think there is one that isn't wacky. I think this works as a story set in a superhero world. Kinda wish someone would've punched Mike in the face though.

This review also appears on my goodreads.

I loved this! I've watched Teen Titans the animated series and always found Beast Boy to be a fun character so I've been looking forward to this comic. I realized when I started that I didn't even know much about Beast Boy as a person. In the shows they never really talked about his back story. Beast Boy's name is Garfield, or Gar, and he has two best friends and for some reason is struggling with his weight and height. He's looking forward to bulking up or a growth spurt to gain the attention of a popular girl he's interested in. His parents have him on a supplement and Gar decides to stop taking them because he discovers that they're why he's not getting any taller or gaining any weight. When he does this some strange side effects start to occur.

This was a lot of fun and had the essence of the Beast Boy I know and love and gave me some back story to his character. The ending was left open so there should be a sequel coming that I'm excited for now!

Great interpretation for Gar in a high school setting (and yay! Living parents - the poor kid deserves a little less heartbreak).

Well paced story of a boy struggling with school - wanting to be well liked, self image issues, and trying to be a good friend. Garcia and Picolo fleshed out Gar's story but they also don't detract from his friend's issues and the difficulties they're dealing with. I think this was an even stronger story than Raven was. Both leave room for a follow up story but they're certainly well told as single stories.

Thank you NetGalley and DC Entertainment for the ARC of this Graphic Novel. I’ve always loved the Teen Titans especially Beast Boy and is hought this was an excellent origin story. I loved everything about it including the new characters the author introduced. My only criticism is the story felt a little choppy at times. But other than that I’m in love with this book! I heard about her previous novel Raven but didn’t have the chance to pick it up. I will definitely be getting it now. Loved this book! Couldn’t put it down! Finished it in one day!

I have seen many different versions of Beast Boy in comic books and tv shows. Throughout all of them, there has rarely been a version I didn’t like. He is the jokester best friend who can turn into any animal and will always be green. You know when he has a frown on his face and won’t crack a joke to break tension, that something is very wrong. This is why we all love him. Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo’s version of Beast Boy gives even more depth to his character by showing him with normal teenage problems that a normal teenage Gar would have had. They show readers, for example, that his jokes probably aren’t something we should praise him for. Instead, they are a bad habit of Gar’s- a defense mechanism- that requires him to rip into himself before others can. This is a highlight that tells readers that if they notice this about anyone, they should do something about it.

Another important highlight Garcia and Picolo make is Gar’s wish to be seen. Anyone 6th grade and up can relate to this and can probably remember being willing to give anything for five minutes at the popular table. Because this feeling is so common, it’s completely believable that this is what started Beast Boy. It’s beautiful. Going even further, Garcia and Picolo show readers how every high schooler – not just the main character, not just ‘you’ – has something they struggle with. For example, readers see one character struggle with dyslexia and another with his identity. It’s poignant and very realistic.

There is so much going on this graphic novel, I can’t even cover it all without writing an article or paper, which I might do one day. I am so glad I waited for Teen Titans: Beast Boy. He has always been my favorite Teen Titan and I was NOT disappointed. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to any DC fan or origin story lovers. I sooo hope there is more coming!

P.S. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to review this!

In this sequel to the Teen Titans origin stories, we get to enter the world of Beast Boy. In the midst of facing anxiety about his body, popular kids at school, and animal rights issues Garfield Logan aka Beast Boy manages to save the day with his humor, wit, and maybe just a little bit of beastly help.

I absolutely loved this addition to our Teen Titan origin stories. The artwork in this series continues to be absolutely fantastic; Picolo is truly the best artist for the job and I particularly love how he assigns a color to each Titan and focuses much of the art around that color. In addition, I started reading this graphic novel and was shocked at the difference in character between Raven and Beast Boy. I felt like I was reading an entirely different author because the two were vastly different. I even thought while reading, "This is totally a dude book," and I did not have that thought while enjoying Raven. Now of course, some of the details of the plot stayed the same which helped connect the two existing origins thus far but overall I really delighted in the diversity. I appreciated all of the issues covered in this graphic novel that focused on what teens face today in high school. It's extremely important to talk about these kinds of issues and break the stigma that they are something to be ashamed of or topics to be avoided. I especially appreciated the zeal for animal rights: not only is that an important issue today but it is also completely on brand with our beastly friend. I think both our author and our illustrator work very well together and their combined talents will help make this series stand out. I am highly anticipating the rest of this series and look forward to when all of our young heroes are brought together.

Teen Titans: Beast Boy is a fine addition to the world Kami Garcia created with Teen Titans: Raven. Beast Boy was much more interesting to me than Raven, even though I would argue I prefer Raven as a character. Fans of the first volume will want the second and will be left wanting even more after the way the book ends on a cliffhanger!

I have really liked DCs retelling of these teen characters. Beast Boy in this specific example has a main character grappling with identity that can be relatable to many teens, whether that is with racial identity or expectations.

This is the second book in the series. I am loving the story line but I wish the books would be released sooner. There is too much anticipation on who else will be written about and what happens at the HIVE.

Kami Garcia's Beast Boy provides a fresh origin story for the soon to be superhero. Not only is Garfield (Gar for short) dealing with the normal teen issues of girls, bullies, and the like; but he's also grappling with a secret his parents have been keeping from him. Along with his friends, Gar navigates through his senior year in order to figure out who he really is.

This graphic novel has some of the best representation of minority characters, interracial dating, and characters throughout with various disabilities. It's definitely a graphic novel superhero story for the new generation! My students are going to love this graphic. novel! I can't wait for more from Garcia!

I liked Beast Boy's origin story better than Raven's, which is so funny because Kami Garcia said that she loved Raven so much but she was nervous going into Beast Boy's tale! The artwork is still really good, and what was interesting is that in Beast Boy's tale, where he's so much more social and with such a big personality, there was a lot more color in the story, versus in Raven's tale the only time there was color was to highlight an important person or conversation. Beast Boy is a fun person overall and that made the story a lot of fun. I think these origin stories are really cool and I can't wait for everyone's to be out and find out what Slade's roll is going to be. From what we know based off of previous DC comics, this is going to be very interesting...

This was a great origin story. I will admit that I have not watched much Teen Titans so I am certainly not an expert on the characters. However, this was a fantastic graphic novel. The art was incredible. The story moved quickly and kept my interest and the characters were fantastic. I hope Kami Garcia continues this series because this was fantastic.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Raven book, but I enjoyed this one slightly more. Although my memory of the previous book isn’t the best (it was pretty forgettable), I think I just found Gar more charming in this one. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is still super stilted and cliche in this, but it had a few fun moments. I’ll probably keep reading these because they’re quick reads and I’m a sucker for Teen Titans, but they seem to be continuing the trend of being mediocre. 3/5 stars.

While I liked Raven a little more, I did enjoy Beast Boy. I just wanted a bit more from this origin story. I felt it just skimmed the surface of his character and I wanted to go deeper. I suppose that could be construed as a compliment since I am wanting more from the Teen Titans and am excited to continue this series by Garcia. I can see she is invested in these characters. I was equally drawn into the artwork.

Thank goodness HBO Max has the Teen Titans cartoon for me to binge, after reading this I knew I needed more of the adorkable green shapeshifter. Kami Garcia aged up Beast Boy while keeping all the best and funniest parts, it was a solid kick in the nostalgia feels.