I'm torn between feeling that the death of the most recent iteration of Superboy, a clone of the Man of Steel, during DC Comic's Infinite Crisis crossover, was either a waste of a perfectly wonderful character or a suitable end to this character's storyline. Teen Titans: Life and Death, an Infinite Crisis tie-in trade paperback, demonstrates just how well author Geoff Johns wrote Superboy, sending the character off both fittingly and tragically.

Though all the Titans get a chance to shine in the beginning of this trade, in the middle the story really becomes Superboy's alone. We see both his faults, in his intial reluctance to help the other heroes, and also instances of his friendship with Robin and Wonder Girl, which I feel really brought the character to life.

There is, of course, the love scene between he and Wonder Girl toward the end of the trade, which, rather than controversial, upholds a long-standing Titans tradition. In the 1980s, New Titans writer Marv Wolfman added a dose of reality to his series by showing Nightwing and Starfire in bed together, and here too Johns adds a new level to Superboy and Wonder Girl's relationship in the midst of the Infinite Crisis war. Johns deftly leaves Superboy's romantic plotline unresolved, making his death all the more tragic.

I've followed the Superboy character since his first appearance in Adventures of Superman, and more than many others, Superboy is a character who's been written to both grow and change - more so than the newest Robin, Tim Drake, who has remained essentially the same, and more so than the newest Flash, Bart Allen, whose changes seem to come title-by-title, and not through storyline progression.

In this way, it's both sad to see Superboy's story end, and at the same time appropriate. Born from the death of Superman, a catalyst for Infinite Crisis, Superboy fought in the beginning against being called "Superboy," and as he dies he finally accepts the Superboy name for the last time. Even though this is a Titans collection, DC includes the pages of Superboy's death from Infinite Crisis, making this trade feel whole on its own as well as a companion to Infinite Crisis.

There's a great feeling of finality to this trade, as the team slowly shrinks down until only Superboy is left. Geoff Johns does a good job wrapping up a dangling plotline from Teen Titans: The Future is Now that hinted at Infinite Crisis, as Superboy recognizes that the time that the future Titans predicted — the time when the Teen Titans would break apart — may have now arrived. Johns makes fine use of Nightwing here, the patriarch of the Titans, who offers a hopeful take on the end of the Titans, but it's still hard not to be a little mournful.

To me, the core new-era Titans are Robin, Wonder Girl, Superboy, and Kid Flash, and the upstarts like Kid Devil and Miss Martian who come to take their place just don't appeal to me. The next Titans trade jumps one year in to the future, and Johns is going to have to work very hard to make me like the new guys, given all the potential he left behind. As the Titans slowly split apart, this trade bids a bittersweet farewell to Geoff Johns' first team of Titans.