DC's Plans for Beast Boy?

I've said this on some other boards, so I might as well say it here as well.

I'm starting to believe that there's been an editorialy mandated change of direction for Garfield. This move to the Doom Patrol and evidently making it permanent seems very much out of left field, especially considering that the last two Doom Patrol series' didn't do so well, and the general belief was that they were going to let the concept lie fallow for a time before coming back to it. But now they suddenly seem to be interested in it again and are pouring a fair degree of effort into it - not only is the Doom Patrol showing up in the next two issues of Teen Titans, but also an issue of the Secret Six mini series as well.

So, what's going on?

I'm thinking its the animated series rearing its influence. We already know that there is a Doom Patrol tv series somewhere in the pipeline, so perhaps TPTB at DC are trying to get a new comic series off the ground in time for the animated series to premiere (like they did with Johns' Teen Titans and Waid's Legion of Super Heroes). But because the last two attempts to do this series have bombed, they've decided that the way to get people to buy the series is to load it up with Beast Boy and some toon Titans - and therefore, they've decided to take BB off the Teen Titans and move him to the Doomers.

And consequently, that would have to force Johns to alter whatever plans he had for Gar... and sadly, that may include the Gar/Raven relationship. I'm hoping this isn't the case, I'm hoping that the things I was told months ago still hold true. But at this point, guys... it would be disengenuous for me not to point out the possibility, especially in view of what is increasingly obvious is the course that the characters are going to be taking in the foreseable future.

So, what does this mean for Gar & Rae? I still don't think this is the end. In fact, I know it isn't. But I think we're going to see it move to a slower pace than what we've seen in the past. It may be something that the writer(s) will attempt to handle over two books, much like the Nightwing/Babs relationship was handled between Nightwing and Birds of Prey. Added to this is the problem that, while the Doom Patrol will be showing up periodically, they do not have a title of their own and evidently no title is planned through the end of this year. Whether or not a new Doom Patrol ongoing comes out will depend largely upon how much interest is generated after the upcoming appearances in Teen Titans and Secret Six.

The thing that sucks the most about this is, it basically means Garfield is going back into limbo for the time being, at least until a Doom Patrol series starts. We'll see him periodically in 52, and he will play a part in the Raven mini series (although as a supporting character or in a flashback sequence, there is no telling). But as a recurring character starring in a regular title, it doesn't look good for quite some time.

I wish I had some better things to report here, but unfortunately at the moment I don't. I've said before that we have to dig in for the long haul; unfortunately, it may be an even longer haul than I imagined.