Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Teen Titans Special #1 Review and **SPOILERS**


The New Teen Titans

Writer: Adam Glass
Penciller: Robson Rocha
Inker: Daniel Henriques
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Cover Artists: Rocha, Trevor Scott & Hi-Fi
Assistant Editor: Andrea Shea
Editor: Alex Antone
Group Editor: Brian Cunningham
Cover Price: $4.99
On Sale Date: June 27, 2018

Yee-ikes, a five-dollar Teen Titans book?  The last few of those we've gotten have been totally worth that extra buck!

It's at times like this I forget that sarcasm is difficult to transmit over the internet.  Just to be clear... those last few fi' dolla Teen Titans books have been garbage-tier.

Anyhoo, it's high time we rejoin our latest volume of Titans... already in progress!




I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this Special... I imagined (and hoped) it would be the story of this new version of the Teen Titans coming together.  Well, how's it feel to want?  What we get instead are three solo stories featuring the characters on the cover... Robin, Red Arrow, and Kid Flash.

And... it's not half-bad!

The first story is focused on Robin... as he gets caught in the crossfire between some bad dudes and a family of Lebanese immigrants who run a small restaurant.  It's made abundantly clear that Damien has different ways of dealing with the baddies than anyone else in the Bat-Family not named Todd... or, I suppose Batwoman ticks that box these days as well.



Damien's methodology in dealing with the threat really presents a lot of interesting options as to how he might lead this new team of Teen Titans.  Will this be a colder-blooded take on the team?  Or, is this just a one-off story that will have little in the way of impact moving forward?



The second story features Red Arrow who has a run-in with her mother Shado.  This is a story of betrayal... and features a scene that would've been heartbreaking if it hadn't been so predictable.  It does, in the very least, provide some impetus for Emiko to maybe wanna combine forces with some like-minded teen-aged superheroes.

The third and final story features both Wally's West's as they share some Barry-stories... and deal with the Suicide Squad.  This story really plays with the idea that there is a kind of generational gap between the Wally's.  Wally (the real one) seems content with not making any waves... and has an "it is what it is" mindset when it comes to things he doesn't quite agree with... but can do nothing about.

Wallace, on the other hand, cannot let things go.  He sees the Suicide Squad... and even though they have government immunity, he doesn't agree with the fact that they exist as an entity.  It's far more interesting than I'm making it seem... and really does well to illustrate the differences between teen-ager and young adult.

What does this all mean for the next evolution of the Teen Titans?  I'm not entirely sure.  You'd hope this issue would answer some of our questions... but it only begs more.  We have several untested, and outright unknown factors about to join the ranks... and the three kids we are familiar with, are lookin' kinda froggy.  We might have one angry team of teen-age revolutionaries on our hands... and I gotta say, for the first time in a long time... I'm looking forward to seeing it all shake out.

Bits and Pieces:

This issue featured Teen Titans characters, however don't be fooled... this is not a Teen Titans story.  It is, however, better than most things that have had "Teen Titans" written on the cover in quite some time.  Good issue... just not sure it's worth the fiver.


8.0/10

1 comment:

  1. This week must be copy Red Hood week, because damn does that happen here as well as it did in detective. Damian in Jason's red hoodie, Damian not agreeing with how regular heros handle criminals like Jason, Damian using a Gun like Jason, and how the hell did he get black Mask after Jason Mind fucked him. Let's just say I really didn't care for Damian this issue, Emiko on the the other hand was a real good treat. I actually want to go back and read some on this character after reading this. Wally is a crybaby and I don't want to read anything with him in it, Adam Glass can not right El Diablo either, he came off as a more classic villian than Harley when he's supposed to be the heroic villian on the suicide squad. Art was good, and truth is Emiko saved this issue for me guys.
    6/10

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