Zookeeper, a.k.a. Dr. Samuel Register, is a fictional character from the ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'' comics.

Publication history

Zookeeper first appeared in ''Teen Titans'' #13-15 (Sep. - Nov. 2004) and was created by

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and Superman, has drawn critical acclaim. He serv ...

and

Tom Grummett Thomas Grummett (born 1959) is a Canadian Cartoonist#Comic books, comic book artist and penciller. He is best known for his work as penciller on titles such as ''Teen Titans, The New Titans'', ''Superman (comic book)#1986 revamp, The Adventures o ...

Fictional character biography

Dr. Samuel Register worked with Mark and Marie Logan in Africa. He despised their rambunctious son

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his hum ...

who constantly caused damage in his lab. He was (and still is) obsessed with people calling him "Dr. Register" and nothing else. After Logan's parents successfully cured Garfield of Sakutia, Register went on to try to finish their work. He became mad for results and inhumanly slaughtered animals in experiments which produced grotesque

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, DNA or viral repl ...

s. This earned him the nickname "Zookeeper".''Teen Titans'' vol. 3 #13 (September 2004) In the "Beast Boys and Girls" storyline, Register stole a sample of Sakutia to try to mutate it like Garfield's parents did. He accidentally infected himself and every kid in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and the infection turned his skin purple. When Beast Boy was infected, the virus in him was canceled out and he was cured. Zookeeper injected venom from the

Sydney funnel-web spider The Sydney funnel-web spider (''Atrax robustus'') is a species of venomous mygalomorph spider native to eastern Australia, usually found within a radius of Sydney. It is a member of a group of spiders known as Australian funnel-web spiders. I ...

into Garfield and attempted to dissect and extract the cure to Sakutia from him.

Cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

and the other

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Gai ...

kept Register busy while Raven healed Beast Boy. Wanting to stop Zookeeper desperately, Garfield reinfected himself with Sakutia. His powers back to speed, Beast Boy fought and defeated Zookeeper in a shapeshifting battle. He also found a way to cure the kids that were infected. Apparently, Register is immune to Sakutia like Beast Boy. During the ''

Villains United ''Villains United'' is a six-issue 2005 comic book limited series, published by DC Comics, written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham and Wade Von Grawbadger, and later by Val Semeiks and Prentis Rollins. Publication history ''Vil ...

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, ...

Special'',

Mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...

broke Zookeeper out of prison. He then joined

Alexander Luthor, Jr. Alexander Luthor Jr. is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Publication history Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the character made his first appearance in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' #1 (April 198 ...

's Secret Society of Super Villains. Some time later, Zookeeper was recruited by Superboy-Prime as part of a new version of the

Legion of Doom The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains who originated in '' Challenge of the Super Friends'', an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based on DC Comics' Justice League. The Legion of Doom has since been incorporated into the main DC Univer ...

.''Teen Titans'' vol. 3 #98

Powers and abilities

Zookeeper can turn into any animal at will, just like Beast Boy. However, his side effects are different from Garfield's. His skin is purple and scaly and his eyes and hair did not change color with his skin.

References

External links

Zookeeper
at Titans Tower {{DEFAULTSORT:Zookeeper (Comics) Characters created by Geoff Johns Comics characters introduced in 2004 DC Comics characters who are shapeshifters DC Comics male supervillains DC Comics scientists Fictional mad scientists Fictional therianthropes DC Comics metahumans