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The Logan
Family |
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Doom Patrol
100, p. 10 |
Gar’s
Origins According to Arnold Drake, take 1 (Doom Patrol 100):
Mark Logan was a medical doctor specializing in biological
research. His dream was to reverse evolution to attempt to bring
missing species back to life. He took his wife Marie and their
son Garfield (approximately aged between 2 and 4) to Africa where he
could begin his research.
When Dr. Logan finally believed he unlocked the secret of reversing
evolution, he also discovered that Gar was critically ill. Gar
had contracted
Sakutia, a disease deadly to humans. Their only hope was to use
Mark’s
experimental ray to turn Gar into a green monkey. Dr. Logan left
his
son in that form for 24 hours to ensure the disease was cured.
Afterwards
he returned his son to human, but the green color remained.
A while later (Drake doesn’t say how much later), Marie Logan was
attacked by a snake. To save her, Gar instinctively changed his
form to a mongoose and killed the snake. Mark told Gar not to
reveal his ability to change shapes to anyone.
The Logans remained in Africa until the rainy season. Their camp
was washed away and the family fled in small boat. Mark insisted
Gar
turn into a bird and save himself when the boat was pulled into a swift
current. He watched his parents go over the waterfall to their
deaths.
Drake ends Gar’s origin at this point.
One important note here: the colorist has Gar’s hair brown before
he becomes green.
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Dr. Logan's
Exam |
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Doom Patrol
112, story 2, p. 3 |
Gar’s
Origins According to Arnold Drake, take 2 (Doom Patrol 112-115)
:
Mark Logan had earned his MD before he turned 25, with the promise of
becoming the top internist in the city in 5 years. Instead he
decided to become a researcher. Dr. Logan became wealthy creating
techniques and devices for medical companies. Instead of
remaining, he packed up his family and moved them to Upper Lamumba.
While he spent most of his time researching, he also took time out to
aid the local chieftain, King Tawaba, who was suffering from an
infection. Mobu, the witch doctor, was not pleased. However
Dr. Logan’s treatment cured the infection in the chieftain’s
foot. Mark then returned to
his research.
Dr. Logan thought he had finally managed to break the evolutionary
barrier and went to tell Marie, only to discover that Gar was
ill. Marie didn’t want to disturb her husband’s research to tell
him that Gar had been sick for days. The disease, Sakutia, was a
deadly cousin to Malaria. To save Gar, he used his invention to
turn Gar into a green monkey and kept him that way for 24 hours to
ensure his survival.
Gar’s first change came about when he changed into a mongoose to save
his mother from a poisonous Black Mamba. Afterwards, Mark told
Gar not
to let anyone know that he could change to animals.
The rainy season came, washing out their camp. Dr. Logan told Gar
to turn into a bird and save himself. As their boat went over the
waterfall, he told Gar to go to the village to King Tawaba.
Gar arrived at the village to discover from Tawaba’s wife that the king
was dying from a fever. Mobu needed leaves from a wiiko tree to
make a brew to save him, but the wiiko tree was a five day journey on
foot. The king wouldn’t have lasted past a day. Without
telling Mobu about his shapeshifting ability, Gar turned into an eagle
and flew to the mountain for the leaves. At this point we learn
that Gar is 6 years old.
Gar returned with the leaves in time. The grateful king learned
that Gar’s parents were dead, and adopted him as his own son, making
Gar a prince of the tribe. However, once Gar learned all the
details of education that he would be required to endure, he built
himself a tree house and went to live in the jungle outside of the
village.
Meanwhile, Mobu the witch doctor plotted against Gar, two jewel thieves
entered the jungle looking for treasure, and, 5,000 miles away, Simon
Galtry was appointed Garfield’s legal guardian.
Mobu overheard the jewel thieves plotting to steal the sacred gems of
the tribe and tried to make a deal with them. He would help them
get the jewels if they agreed to kill Gar. Gar had been living in
his tree
house with a chimpanzee friend he made, surviving by changing himself
into
different animals. He overheard the witch doctor leading the
thieves
in the plot to steal the sacred gems. After following them into a
secret
location he changed into different animals to try and stop them.
One
of the thieves fired a gun at Gar, wounding him. They grabbed Gar
as
the ceiling began to cave in and escaped. A dying Mobu tried to
convince
King Tawaba that Gar was aiding the thieves, but the king saw through
the
lie. Gar remained in the hands of Stokes and Kurt, jewel thieves.
The thieves brought Gar to Johannesburg. Oddly enough, no one
seemed to think it was odd that two men were walking around with a
green boy. Stokes convinced Gar that he was going to steal
“pretty Easter eggs from
the Easter Bunny.” (a side note… in part 1 of the origin, Drake stated
Gar
was 6, but here in part 3 he says Gar is 5) Using his powers, Gar
turned into different animals and avoided the alarms, stealing diamonds
for the
thieves (though he thought they were glass eggs). The authorities
followed, but Gar turned into a kangaroo and hid the diamonds in his
pouch, saving
the jewel thieves.
Next Kurt and Stokes had Gar steal gold blocks by telling him they were
yellow blocks to play with. After bringing everything back to the
thieves, Gar decided to “play a game” by hiding the gold and
jewels. The thieves each thought the other was trying to cut the
other out. Gar saw the thieves shoot and kill each other.
He was left alone again, unaware that Galtry was looking for him.
After apparently visiting the village and hearing Gar was taken by the
thieves, Galtry arrived in Johannesburg looking for him. Someone
who
had heard the thieves told Galtry they had a boy with him… a green
boy.
Meanwhile the hungry child nabbed some bananas from a street vendor’s
cart,
turned into a gorilla, and escaped to a rooftop. When he was
climbing
down, he was captured by two Neo-nazi’s that were capturing
gorillas.
They loaded Gar into the truck, but opened it up to find only a green
butterfly. Curious, Gar began nosing around. He found that
the Nazi group had
been capturing gorillas to turn into an army, teaching them to shoot
guns,
drive jeeps and land via parachutes.
Gar realized that something was wrong and decided to try and shut down
the lab by pulling the electricity. At the same time, Galtry took
a wrong turn and got lost. He headed towards a building,
tripping
an alarm wire. The building happened to be the same one where Gar
was
trying to free the gorillas. The boy turned into a gorilla and
led
the captured gorillas into a revolt (acting as their “general”).
Galtry stumbled in as the battle was ending, discovering Gar (who had
returned to human form). Galtry took the boy (and possibly took
any reward
for breaking up the Nazi plot).
Another note on coloring: In this series, the colorist made Gar’s
hair blonde prior to his transformation.
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Three different versions of the
same incident
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Doom Patrol 100, p. 9
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Doom Patrol 112, story 2,
p. 2
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Tales of the New Teen
Titans
p. 2
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