Teen Titans #38

“THROUGH THESE DOORS PASS THE BRAVEST TITANS OF THEM ALL!” Robin, Mal and Wonder Girl conquer their fears with the help of Lilith and Mr. Jupiter.

"Through These Doors Pass The Bravest Titans Of Them All!"

Lilith Clay is dancing to the music of the Doors. Donna Troy, Dick Grayson, and Malcolm Duncan complain that Clay has been playing the album incessantly. When the album mysteriously disappears, Clay accuses her teammates of taking it. To prove their innocence, the Teen Titans ask Clay to read their minds. Clay discovers that their benefactor, Loren Jupiter, stole her Doors album. Clay and Jupiter have it out, in Jupiter's laboratory. Jupiter throws the Doors album away. Undeterred, Clay returns with another album. The music from this album, however, is not that of the Doors. The other Teen Titans finds the music soothing in the extreme.

Out on the street, the Teen Titans are accosted by a balloon salesman. The curious vendor states that his balloons will open the "Doors To Destiny". Grayson purchases a balloon for each of them. The Teen Titans go their separate ways, each running their own personal errand. Duncan heads to the pharmacy, to buy a book. The moment he passes through the threshold, he finds himself, inexplicably, in astronaut attire, standing on the Moon. Duncan is partnered with a robot, and tasked to recharge Guidestar Alpha, a device for dampening the Moon's magnetic field. Duncan is overwhelmed by his extreme Agoraphobia, leaving him incapable of traversing the wide-open, barren, lunar terrain.

Duncan's agoraphobia is the result of a childhood trauma. Fleeing from a street gang, Duncan was chased into an empty lot, where he suffered a terrible beating at the hands of the "Hell's Honkies". Ever since that day, Duncan has been terrified of open spaces. With the robot's assistance, Duncan overcomes his agoraphobia, making the long journey to Guidestar Alpha, and completing his task. As soon as said task is completed, Duncan finds himself in the pharmacy, his book already purchased, and in his hand. Troy steps on a bus, to keep her hair appointment. The moment she clears the threshold, on the bus, she finds herself, inexplicably, on a train.

Troy is seated with her partner, a secret agent named Cal Tremaine. Troy is tasked with getting top secret documents back to American Intelligence. To do so, she will need to pass through the Turkish border. As her identity has been compromised, Tremaine hands her the passport of a young Turkish male, one she greatly resembles. The boy in the passport photograph is bald, requiring Troy to shave her head. Troy balks at the idea of removing one of her most feminine characteristics. Terrified that such a physical change to her appearance will repel Tremaine, Troy, at first, refuses to do it. As the train nears the border, Troy, finally, relents, and shaves her head.

Troy's ruse fails. Tremaine is shot trying to cross the border. Troy gets them both across. Their assignment a success, Tremaine puts the moves on Troy, in their hotel room. Her fear that he would no longer see her as a woman turns out to be groundless. Suddenly, Troy finds herself at the hair salon, outfitted with a wig. Troy refuses the wig, and exits the premises. Grayson walks into a local bank. The moment he passes through the threshold, Grayson, inexplicably, finds himself at the controls of an experimental aircraft. After pulling out of a spin, Grayson spies a downed pilot, on the ocean. The pilot is dragged beneath the waves, as his wrecked plane sinks from view.

Grayson tries to rescue him, but fails. Grayson is beside himself with distress. He imagines how his mentor, the Batman, will react to his failure. Upon returning to the airbase, Grayson is told that a distress call came in, from another pilot. Grayson denies having seen the pilot. An inquiry is held regarding the matter. At the inquiry, Grayson sees the face of the pilot on the board's faces. Grayson comes clean about his failure to save the pilot's life. As he turns to leave, he finds himself standing outside the bank, his transaction already complete. Returning to headquarters, the three Teen Titans compare notes on their experiences.

Jupiter is revealed as the balloon salesman. When Clay read the Teen Titans' minds, she accidentally discovered each of their secret fears. Fearing that those anxieties could compromise one of their missions, Jupiter concocted a plan. Using hypnotic gas balloons, Teen Titans were compelled to face, and overcome, their fears, in innocent surroundings. Duncan asks Clay what her secret fear is, prompting Clay to reflect on her past.

"Nameless, Wander I!"

Having discovered that she was adopted, and also that she possesses astounding psychic abilities, Lilith Clay runs away from home, in search of her true parents. In Truxton, Clay encounters a traveling circus. One of the attractions is a red-haired woman, seemingly with psychic abilities. At a performance, "Madame Riva" fails to identify the contents of a man's pocket. Clay steps up, and correctly identifies the pockets' content. The manager, Jack Horn, offers Clay a place with the circus. Believing Riva could be her mother, Clay agrees.

Billed as "Lilith The Seeress", Clay reveals that one of the men in her audience, Ed Dadek, is a wanted fugitive. Dadek is taken into custody, by the proper authorities, Clay discovers that she and Riva share the exact same birthmark. Riva confirms that she did, indeed, give a child up for adoption. Clay believes she has been reunited with her mother. After a reconciliation, Clay experiences the happiest days of her life. Sadly, Clay discovers that Riva's "birthmark" is merely a tattoo. Clay confronts Riva, who admits to deceiving her.

Aware that Clay joined his circus primarily to search for her parents, Horn manipulated events to convince Clay that Riva was her mother. In this way, Horn hoped to keep Clay as his star attraction. Clay is angrily about to storm out, when Horn pulls a gun on her. Riva struggles with Horn, causing the gun to go off. Riva is shot. Horn is beside himself with shock over murdering his wife. Dying, Riva apologizes for deceiving Clay, wishing desperately that she truly had been her mother. Clay leaves the circus, and resumes her search for her true parents.

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This story was originally published in Adventure Comics #260 (May, 1959). A plot summary for this story can be found at the link.

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This story was originally published in Adventure Comics #278 (November, 1960). A plot summary for this story can found at the link.