DC's Primer wants to join the Teen Titans in the 2023 Clashing Colors graphic novel

(Image credit: DC)

DC's middle-grade superhero Primer, AKA Ashley Rayburn, made her debut in the 2020 graphic novel Primer - and now she's returning for a sequel called Primer: Clashing Colors, in which her dream is to join the Teen Titans. But the newly-powered 13-year-old may not be ready for that level of superhero responsibility.

In 2020's Primer, Ashley's foster mom Yuko - a geneticist working for the military - brings home a set of special body paints she invented that, when applied to the wearer, grant them a wide array of superpowers including super strength, flight, invulnerability, hyper speed, telekinesis, teleportation, shapeshifting, plant control, precognition, super healing, and more. Yuko fears what the military will do with such a powerful set of paints, so she destroys all records of their creation and brings them home.

That's where Ashley accidentally sprays herself with the aerosol primer - created from superhero DNA samples - and discovers that each of the 33 colors in the case of paints grants her a different power. The paints also regenerate over time, which means she can adopt any of these powers as many times as she wants - though replenishment isn't immediate.

Ashley Rayburn was created by Primer writers Jennifer Muro and Thomas Krajewski, alongside artist Gretel Lusky - and the entire team returns for Primer: Clashing Colors next year.

In the sequel graphic novel, Ashley wants to be taken seriously as a superhero. And when the Teen Titans come to her town because they're chasing Deathstroke, Ashley decides to prove herself as Primer so she can join the team.

Unfortunately, her foster parents still expect her to go to school and do her homework, which limits her ability to chase Deathstroke with the other Titans. And then her best friend, Luke, starts acting weird about her wanting to join the young superhero team, which makes her feel even worse about her chances - and even her dream itself.

She also has a new foe to battle... which will likely complicate things even more.

Primer: Clashing Colors will be available September 5, 2023.

The Teen Titans are one of the best superhero teams of all time.

Samantha Puc (she/they) is an editor at Newsarama and an avid comics fan. Their writing has been featured on Refinery29, Bitch Media, them., The Beat, The Mary Sue, and elsewhere. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction at The New School.