Garfield “Gar” Mark Logan, better known as Beast Boy, made his appearance into DC in Doom Patrol #99 (November 1965). As is comic tradition, creators Arnold Drake and Bob Brown crafted a naturally tragic background for our young hero.

As a child, Garfield was living in Africa with his scientist parents as they worked on a serum for reverse evolution. One disastrous day Garfield contracted the disease Sakutia, lethal to everything except the West African green monkey. Using their serum, his parents turned Gar into that monkey with plans to turn him back once he was cured. Unfortunately, something went wrong, leaving Garfield with the ability to transform into any animal or animal like protist.

Fast forward a little while to the death of both of his parents, for which he blamed himself. Then later he was adopted by Nicholas Galtry, who planned to kill Garfield for his inheritance, all while being green no less.

Thankfully, the Doom Patrol came to Garfield’s aid, exposing Galtry’s crimes and eventually adopting Garfield. It was after joining the Doom Patrol team that Gar officially took on the alias, Beast Boy.

Gar’s life was again touched by death, after the entire Doom Patrol team perished. Leaving him once again looking for a place to call home, which he found in the Teen Titans.

Due to Beast Boy’s natural comic relief, and his effortless wise cracking most don’t realize the underlying pain in his life. But despite his hard past, Beast Boy has risen to be a critical part of the Titans and a remarkable hero.