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 #11 - A Review

Slade Wilson is the greatest assassin on Earth - a position he earned by being wise enough not to hold grudges. Yet even his professionalism was tested when his eldest son and heir apparent, The Ravager, was killed during his combat with the original team of Titans. Many years have passed since that day but Slade has not forgotten the debt The Titans owe him. Now, they will make amends for what they did - one way or the other!


Reluctant as I am to encourage the myth of the invincible Slade Wilson (a Winickian conceit that's somehow grown in power since the ridiculous Identity Crisis) I found myself enjoying Titans #11 even as I wished for an explanation as to just how the heck Deathstroke could abduct Wally West unseen in a public space without his friends noticing.

"But whatever", as the late great Mako would say. Dan Abnett's script (based on a story by hmself, Priest and Benjamin Percy) doesn't waste time with such trivia. It's too busy reaffirming one of the greatest villain/team rivalries in comics history for a new generation of readers and showing the circumstances that led to Deathstroke's grudge against The Titans in the reality of Rebirth. To Abnett's credit, he does this without any lengthy exposition dumps, conveying just enough information to move the story forward and editorial boxes (oh, how I've missed those!) informing the reader where they can read the full details.

The artwork is up to the usual standard of Titans' art team. Brett Booth is a wonderful fight choreographer but still has an unfortunate tendency to capture his characters with awkward expressions. Norm Rapmund keeps his inks delightfully light, allowing the bright colors utilized by Andrew Dalhouse and Carrie Strachan to shine all the brighter.

Final Analysis: 8 out of 10. A solid start.

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 #6 - A Review

In order to save his friends and the woman he loves, Wally West had to run faster than he had ever run before. That action trapped him in The Speed Force - just as the mad mage Abra Kadabra had planned! Now, as the Titans battle Kadabra, Wally must face the battle of his afterlife to escape the perfect world The Speed Force has created for him...


Dan Abnett's conclusion to Titans' opening arc proves as thrilling as one could hope. The ending is a tad predictable even without Abnett's foreshadowing in earlier issues. Nevertheless, this critic found the conclusion enjoyable and uplifting in a way few modern comics dare to dream of being.


The art team continues to impress in their efforts to bring Abnett's scripts to life. Every page of this issue is filled with intricate, eye-catching artwork that dazzles the readers with its quality craftsmanship. Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund and Andrew Dalhouse are a team worthy of The Titans themselves!

Titans #4 - A Review

Wally West restored the memories of his closest friends but the woman he loves - journalist Linda Park - remains a stranger to him. Now Abra Kadabra - the mad mage from the future Wally is destined to destroy someday - has taken Linda and given him one hour to find her. It's an impossible task, even for the Fastest Man Alive! Good thing Wally West has all those friends...


Despite Brett Booth's figures being somewhat forcibly posed at times, this issue boasts some impressive artwork. Booth has a great talent for depicting figures in motion, which works well during the issues' action scenes. The inks by Norm Rapmund enhance the pencils without obscuring them and the colors by Andrew Dalhouse are vibrant.


While I still wish more of the Titans had been better developed as characters n this opening arc (Lilith and Garth particularly), Dan Abnett still writes a solid action-based comic better than most. The fight scenes are fantastic and it's heartening in these cynical days to see a team book where all the cast get along and can deliver a battle cry without irony.

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.

Titans #2 - A Review

The Titans have had their memories of their past together restored. Unfortunately, in Omen's efforts to restore their minds, she discovered - and accidentally awoke - another person trapped in a false-life. And that person is The Flash's old enemy - the mad mage Abra Kadabra!


Dan Abnett's script for this episode is thrilling enough, pitting the Titans against Kadabra's puppet versions of their Teen Titans equivalents. However, the characterization is still uncharacteristically shallow for Abnett's work. Only Wally, Roy and Donna are given any sort of character moment. And even then, Donna and Roy's moments are limited to their apparently remembering their love for one another.


The artwork is similarly mixed. Brett Booth draws a great action sequence but the characters' poses frequently seemed forced when they aren't meant to be in motion. Despite this, everything still looks good. Norm Rapmund does a fine job on the inks for the issue, finding the perfect balance between merely outlining the pencils and enhancing them. And the color art by Andrew Dalhouse and Carrie Sirachan perfectly finishes the final art.

Batman/Superman #28 - A Review

Saving astronauts when something disrupts a spacewalk is all in a day's work for Superman. But when he discovers the cause of the disturbance - a giant corpse that's come to rest on the moon - it looks like a job for Batman! Yet The Dark Knight Detective's examination of the alien's body will lead to a bigger mystery still...

Given his history writing both heroes during his run on Injustice: Gods Among Us, it's no surprise that Tom Taylor perfectly captures both Superman and Batman in this issue. No, the surprise lies in the story and a murder mystery to end all murder mysteries. And who could object to any story that gives Batman a legitimate reason to wear a spacesuit?


Robson Rocha's pencils for this issue are the best I've ever seen him produce. Three separate inkers worked on this issue, but you'd never know it but for the credits page, so uniform is the shading. And the colors by Blond perfectly complete the final artwork.

Justice League Of America #4 & #5 - A Review

WARNING: SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW.


I resisted reviewing Justice League of America #4 last month, during the height of some rather heated discussion during a major controversy.  The subject of "fridging" (i.e. killing off, depowering or otherwise causing bad things to happen to a female character purely to create drama for a male character) had come up and this time the victim was Catwoman - apparently killed in action as she was infiltrating the hideout of the Secret Society of Super-Villains.  I say apparently because I suspected from the start that the death would be some kind of fake-out. 

Why?  Well, I couldn't discuss the clues without spoiling the whole story but there was some cynicism at play as well.  You can't kill off a major character well-known to the public without the comic publisher releasing a press release these days and Catwoman's "death" took everyone completely off-guard.  If they were really going to kill off Selina Kyle, they would have made a bigger deal about it.

I was also reluctant to review the book because I disagreed with discussing the "death" and labeling it as a fridging, because the larger part of the issue lacked the unsubtle sexism that lies at the heart of every fridging I've ever seen.  For the majority of the issue, I thought Catwoman was portrayed as the adaptable badass she should be.  She was able to free herself from captivity easily enough and was continuing her mission without needing to be rescued by the team that was coming in after her.  She even took down one super-villain by herself before superior numbers proved her undoing.


After being captured, Catwoman tried to play off of the fears of her captors, knowing as well as Batman that criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot.   She said that killing her would only bring Batman down upon them like a ton of bricks.  To her surprise, this gamble achieved the opposite of what she wanted..  The leader of the villains said that getting Batman's attention was their entire goal just before shooting Catwoman in the head.

I didn't consider this scene to be a fridging by the technical definition.  While the bad guys said that killing her was a means toward creating drama for a male character (i.e. kill her to make Batman angry) they had just as much reason to kill Catwoman for what she had done and what she had seen as a result of her actions throughout the issue.  Annoying Batman was just a bonus.  

Now, I DID find the artwork and layout of the scene to be incredibly exploitative.  The final shot of a dead Selina was particularly disturbing, being almost fetishistic in how it was drawn by artist Brett Booth. And yet, I resisted writing a review and condemning the book on that point because it didn't add up.  I couldn't believe that Geoff Johns - who is usually so good about avoiding this sort of thing in his writing - would allow the fridging of a major heroine this early in a major storyline.  Particularly given that another major subplot of Justice League of America #4 involved Stargirl's rebelling against her assigned role as the team's poster-girl/spokesperson and sneaking along on an actual combat mission.



As you can see from the above scan, Justice League of America #5 rewarded my faith.  Stargirl kicks major ass and proves her worth to the team beyond Public Relations.  And I shan't spoil how but rest assured that Catwoman is alive and kicking and the rumors of her death have been greatly exaggerated.  I'm still not too crazy about how the fake-out was milked but I must admit some honest surprise at the resolution, despite some foreshadowing that was obvious in retrospect.      


The back-up story by Matt Kindt, focusing upon the origins of The Martian Manhunter is impressive as well.  Kindt has revamped the origin somewhat, changing the specific cause of death for the entire Martian race and giving The Martian Manhunter a new means of traveling to Earth.  Issue #4 gives us a look at a Martian culture that is truly alien yet instantly recognizable and sympathetic once it is lost.  Issue #5 has him following the trail of the killer to Earth and discovering a malevolent telepath who may prove to be his greatest enemy ever.  Issue #4 and Issue #5 have different art teams, but they're both top-notch and incredibly good.



Bottom Line: If you were scared away from Justice League of America because of any fears of sexism, I'd say you should give it a shot.  I'm not happy about how the otherwise skillful Brett Booth laid out the aforementioned scene but otherwise I found his art to be quite good.  Apart from that one Trigger-Warning worth scene, there's nothing objectionable in this book and between Stargirl, Catwoman, Katana and Amanda Waller there's a lot for lovers of strong female characters to enjoy.  Now, if only it had Black Canary too...

Team 7 #0 - A Review

I never read any of the original Team 7 comics. Come to think of it, I've read precious little of the original Wildstorm Comics period. I know enough of the base concept of the original book - an elite US government team formed in response to the appearance of the first superhumans. Eventually, they were experimented upon themselves with several members of the team going insane and/or committing suicide.

Team 7 #0 starts out with this same base concept, as team leader John Lynch speaks to an unseen audience. Lynch speaks of the alien menace that nearly stole a part of Metropolis (as seen in the opening arc of Action Comics) and the failure of the government's Steel Soldier project to deal with the menace. Lynch then describes his dream of an elite team of agents that will be capable of meeting the challenges posed by the apperance of these new super-beings. The rest of the issue shows Lynch's two best agents - infiltration expert Dinah Drake and operations expert Kurt Lance - as they go about recruiting the rest of Lynch's wish list.

The team roster reads like the Who's Who of Covert Ops in the DCU. Tactician Slade Wilson. Weapons Expert Alex Fairchild. NSA Analyst Amanda Waller. Special Forces/Conman Cole Cash. Thrown into this all-star lineup are three newcomers - Jack-Of-All-Trades James Bronson, Master-Pilot Summer Ramos and Military Intellligence Expert Dean Higgins.

I have to approve of the concept of this book on general principle. One of the biggest problems many readers had with The New 52 universe was the sheer number of covert US government organizations. A book like this exploring how things got to that point was sorely needed and writer Justin Jordan seems prepared to explore not only how the government and military changed in the face of the metahuman threat but also how several key players evolved in the face of that challenge.

Don't think for a second that means this is going to be a dull treatise on how various branches interact! Jordan's script is focused firmly on the action and the set-up for more action. He gets the basic facts of each character's background presented but doesn't spend much time developing their personalities. Granting that's usually not the purpose of a Zero issue and that most of these characters are well-established in the minds of most comic readers, it is somewhat bothersome that we know little about Summer Ramos apart from she's a good pilot and she's apparently crazy. Hopefully there will be deeper development in later issues.



The art by Superman penciler Jesus Merino, with inks by Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund is well executed throughout. The story is told well, flowing naturally from panel to panel And each character has a clear design, so there is little trouble telling who is who even in the far-shot action scenes.

I'm not sure this is a book I'll be picking up in the future. The general dark tone of people seeing superheroes as something to be afraid of rather than something to be inspired by also doesn't do a lot for me. Still, fans of the original Team 7 book as well as books like the oriiginal Suicide Squad will likely find a lot to enjoy here. This is a solid-looking title, even if it isn't my cup of tea.