Titans #18 - A Review

Facing the power behind their enemies The Key, Psimon and Mister Twister, The Titans are horrified to find that it is one of their own... a version of Donna Troy from the future, determined to kill her former allies and push Donna down the path to becoming her. Can Donna overcome her dark future self?


Titans #18 brings The Rise of Troia to a satisfying, if rushed conclusion. Dan Abnett still seems to be struggling to balance the overly large cast and the subplot involving Bubblebee's amnesia - probably the least developed storyline since the series started - is resolved with little explanation or fanfare. The story isn't bad but there's little of the depth Abnett delivers in his writing on Aquaman.

The artwork is similarly competent but hardly outstanding. Brent Booth can draw a good fight scene, but his facial expressions are horrendous. People smile at the oddest times in the worlds that Brent Booth creates resulting in some incredibly awkward fight scenes.

The Final Analysis: 5 out of 10.

Titans #16 - A Review

Wally West is dead, having seemingly stopped his own heart to save his friends! Now, as the other Wally West races to his side, feeling a disturbance in The Speed Force, the rest of the Titans must face Psimon and the approaching evil he claims Lilith Clay is responsible for summoning...



In the past, I've complemented Titans for being amazingly accessible to new readers. I can't do that this month. Indeed, I had to reread the issue several times to figure out what was going on myself. Part of the problem is Brett Booth's page layouts are confusing. Worse yet, some of the forced poses he places the characters in look goofy as all get out. The "berserk" Donna Troy is particularly egregious.

In the end, I think it says a lot that this issue hypes the appearance of "the other Wally West" on the cover and that the issue synopsis focused on that aspect of the story despite it only taking up four pages of the issue. Most of the book is devoted to a nonsensical battle which introduces too much and haphazardly ends one of the book's major subplots in a way that doesn't pay off well at all. Maybe Dan Abnett can salvage this next month but it's not looking likely.

The Final Analysis: 3 out of 10. 

Titans #15 - A Review

The traitor among The Titans stands revealed as Nightwing, who has been a double-agent for HIVE all this time! Can the team continue to be Titans Together in the face of their leader's treachery? Is there more than meets the eye here? What of Mal Duncan and Gnaark's mission to infiltrate a HIVE lair in search of Bumblebee's stolen memories? And what about Psimon's prophecy that Lilith Clay will destroy the world and only HIVE can save it?





The only real flaw to Titans #15 is its inaccessibility to new readers. There's too many subplots and too much going on for a new reader to comfortably jump in on this issue. Those who have been reading this book since the beginning, however, will find more of the same great characterization, high-octane action and amazing artwork that make it one of DC Comics' most underrated titles.

The Final Analysis: 8 out of 10. A great issue marred only by being for established Titans fans only.

Titans #14 - A Review

Multiple sources have confirmed a traitor among The Titans! As tensions mount and tempers flare, the team's secrets will be lain bare. With the distrust among them stronger than ever, can The Titans pull together when an old enemy of Garth's rises up from Atlantis seeking to poison the surface world?


The biggest problem with Titans #14 is that there's too much going on. This is a common problem with team books and Dan Abnett tries to ensure that the entire cast gets a little bit of time devoted to their issues. Unfortunately, the end result shortchanges everyone. Ironically, the worst victim of this minimization is Garth, who is nominally meant to be the central character. Easily the least developed of the Titans thus far, more time is spent on the tension between himself and Nightwing than on the revelations regarding Garth's past or his relationship with Lilith.

This is unfortunate, because Garth's romance with Lilith is far more interesting and seems more natural than the sudden love triangle between The Flash, Arsenal and Donna Troy. This story line, in turn, has gotten more page time than Donna's identity crisis in the wake of the revelation that everything she knows about her past is wrong. And those are just three of the subplots that are touched upon in this issue. There's many more I'm ignoring.

Brett Booth's artwork is similarly mixed. Booth is a fine artist but his poses are often forced and the flow of action from panel to panel often looks ludicrous. Booth seems unable to draw his characters at rest. Everyone's hair and bodies seem to be continually in motion even when they are meant to be standing still, as if there were a stiff wind continually causing capes to billow and hair to blow. The inks by Norm Rapmund and Andrew Dalhouse's colors are fine enough and this is still a good-looking comic. It just appears to be off-center at times due to the continual sense of motion.

The Final Analysis: 6 out of 10. A busy story with artwork that doesn't suit the action at times.

Titans #10 - A Review

Nightwing and The Flash have been captured while investigating Meta Solutions and their connection to The Fearsome Five. Not even the rest of the Titans may up to the task of saving them! Yet help can come from the most unlikely of sources...


While I can forgive a lot in the name of a story where the power of love and friendship win the day, I can't quite forgive Dan Abnett for this issue. The action sequences are good but the Deus Ex Machina employed here strains credibility and Abnett is capable of writing so much better.

By contrast, the artists seem to have upped their game, with Brett Booth's artwork looking less posed and more fluid than usual. Norm Rapmund's inks are light, adding to the continual sense of motion that dominates Booth's art and Andrew Dalhouse's colors create some truly amazing eye-catching light effects.

Titans #9 - A Review

When Mal Duncan expressed concerns about the company Meta Solutions - who were treating his wife's sudden development of super-powers after her pregnancy - his friends in The Titans were all too willing to listen... particularly when Mal said that he saw Mammoth of The Fearsome Five in the company building!  It turns out The Fearsome Five are in the employ of Meta Solutions but they claim to have turned over a new leaf. Is it too good to be true?  Almost certainly...


Dan Abnett is a great writer and he handles the ensemble cast of Titans extraordinary well. I do wish that he'd focus more on certain members than others in the wake of the opening arc (Omen and Donna Troy, in particular, who I don't think have had a single scene together as the only women on the team in nine issues) but there's some great character moments here for Arsenal and Tempest. The story is good for what it is - an action/thriller -and the sequence of Nightwing and The Flash infiltrating Meta Solutions together is a great one.


There is one thing I noticed in this issue that I hadn't before about Brett Booth's artwork - the subtle differences he puts into each character's body-type. Many artists merely draw a generic fit form for superheroes but Booth draws a runner like Wally West differently than archer Roy Harper or trained-acrobat Dick Grayson. That sense of detail dominates Booth's work in general and is part of why this book always looks fantastic.

Titans #3 - A Review

The Titans have won their first public battle since reforming, but the mad mage Abra Kadabra remains at large. The problem of their altered memories still remains. And The Titans are far from alone in feeling manipulated and ill at ease...


Dan Abnett takes a step back with this issue, allowing the ensemble cast more time for character interaction and development. Arsenal and Donna Troy get the lion's share of these scenes, with a suggestion that Roy Harper is starting to recover his romantic feelings (if not his memories) for his Amazon teammate. Omen is still poorly served in all of this but at least Garth is shown to have some signs of personality, even if it's an incredibly formal one that seems at odds with what I remember of the character. Still, the scene featuring Mal Duncan and Bumblebee suggests another slice of missing history that will be developed and the mystery is well-paced and intriguing.


This mystery is further developed in the artwork, where a subtle visual clue in one scene with Kadabra hints once more to the revelations in DC Universe Rebirth #1 regarding who is ultimately responsible for manipulating the timeline. The art team does a fine job of handling this while simultaneously depicting the action of the story.  Brett Booth does a fantastic job of giving each character their own unique look.  The inks by Norm Rapmund are perfectly balanced and the colors by Andrew Dalhouse are well-chosen throughout.