Teen Titans #95 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Nicola Scott (penciller), Doug Hazlewood (inker), Jason Wright (colorist)

The Story: First rule of creepy-island exploring: don’t split up!  Geez, doesn’t anyone learn from movies?

The Review: Writing these reviews can get a little tricky.  A lot of the times, there’s so much to say even about one issue that parsing down the most pertinent points can be a challenge.  And it’s not just the good ones; even a terrible issue—dare I say, especially the terrible issues—can generate a lot of commentary.  I almost never run into a situation where I’ve got nothing to talk about.

But today’s dosage of Teen Titans proves it’s the mediocre material that offers the least interest.  Some decent action goes on, but rather than providing energy to the story, it just goes through the motions, as if Krul’s following the formula for the classic “group in a hostile environment” plot: steal away one, have the group follow, then pick them off one or two at a time, with some dashed hopes peppered in between.

Even not-Ravager’s turnaround feels a bit forced and predictable, since all of us knew from last issue she was a fake.  The whole sequence where she leads Superboy away from the group to backstab him feels very familiar, although you’ve got to enjoy how incredibly thickheaded he is to not see all the red flags: “This place.  It frightens me… Can you not feel the fear in my heart?  Please, you mustn’t let anything happen to me.”  Come on—she’s not even trying!

Most of the plot just feels stale, but there are a couple inescapably pointless moments.  It’s one thing for Kid Flash to fail in his rescue of Cassie and the others—that’s part of the formula.  It’s another to make him go through such a desperate final action, like setting a whole mountaintop on fire as a distress signal, only to have no one take note of it at any point.  They won’t need it to find the enemy anyway, since Rankor essential becomes the mountaintop at the end of the issue.

Teen Titans #93 – Review

By: JT Krul (writer), Nicola Scott (penciller), Doug Hazlewood (inker), Jason Wright (colorist)

The Story: It’s getting dark, guys.  Hey Solstice–lend us a light?

The Review: There’s a very clear separation between what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s mediocre, but it can be difficult to explain what makes them such, especially when something falls in the big, fat binbox of “just okay.”  By nature, you’re not inclined to have much feeling about something middling in quality.  You just stick through it like you would the filler tracks on a club mix, hoping the hit single will pop up next.

Krul’s Teen Titans lands squarely in serviceable territory.  His plotting offers standard fare: kidnapping in exotic locale, possible demonic origins.  The characters don’t come off completely one-dimensional, but they don’t reveal many layers either.  The opening monologue is a good example of Krul’s limitations: it rambles, avoiding having to show anything worthwhile, and re-emphasizes “we’re…a family,” as if the more it’s said, the more it’ll convince you it’s true.

The recent page-count cut may have forced writers to drop scenes or gloss over things they might have otherwise gone into detail with, but this issue features Red Robin telling Superboy that at some point since he rejoined the team, Wonder Girl ceded leadership to him for vaguely personal reasons.  Since Krul chooses not to show this presumably significant conversation to us, we have to assume no one, not even the writer, takes Cassie’s role as leader seriously.

It’d be a relief too if the whole Connor/Cassie (Conassie?) relationship drama can be ignored from issue to issue, since it seems pointlessly angsty and frankly, agonizing over it does nothing for the characters or overall plot.  It seems clear there’s no real obstacle to their being together, and their breakup is likely forced by editorial or narrative necessity—much like the will-they-or-won’t-they plotlines that frequent almost every TV show nowadays.

Doom Patrol #20 – Review

By: Keith Giffen (writer), Matthew Clark & Ron Randall (pencillers), Art Thibert & John Livesay (inkers), Scott Clark with Dave Beaty, Jose Luis, Scott McDaniel (guest artists), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Wanted—studio space for four (one miniaturized), open access to power grid, appliances included.  Must love freaks.

The Review: With Doom Patrol’s cancellation imminent, it’s worth reflecting on the series’ possibly dooming shortcomings.  Of course, it’s a niche title, with a peculiar cast of characters.  It leans more towards comedy than drama—always risky, as comic book humor tends to be very hit or miss, as D.P. frequently is.  But the title’s biggest weakness is it has always been more interested in its character interaction than actually giving those characters things to do.

This issue serves as a good example: it’s one of the strongest of the series, yet basically involves nothing more than the Patrol looking for a place to crash after getting kicked off their base.  The interest comes from how each member’s particular brand of social awkwardness rubs off on the DCU’s more mainstream characters.  The ultimate unfruitfulness of the team’s efforts serves as a good reminder of how out of place they are in their world, and with readers in general.

You just can’t get a handle on these characters.  They’re ostensibly heroes, but as Beast Boy and Congorilla astutely point out, most of the Patrol’s endeavors to this point have come across more terrorist than heroic.  They’re more a gang of losers who can’t catch a break; most of their misadventures involve them acting out of self-preservation rather than for a good cause.