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.

Wonder Girl #1 – Review

By: JT Krul (writer), Adriana Melo (artist), Mariah Benes (inker)

The Story: Cassie visits her mother, who disapproves of her being a superhero. The conference gets attacked. Wonder Girl leaps into action.

What’s Good: Melo and Benes did a good job on the art. Cassie looks like a perfect princess at all times (an action princess), if mildly cartoony. The poses are suitably dynamic and express the story and the mood. The layouts were competent, but really didn’t push the envelope of innovation, serving instead a lot of stacked rectangles. A few exceptions showed why Melo could have taken more artistic risks, like the earthquake, where layout really contributed to the visualizing of the story, and page 12, where the panel edges were all converging diagonals and added dynamism.

Soulfire #9 – Review

By: JT Krul (writer), Marcus To (pencils), Richard Zajac (inks), Beth Sotelo (colors) & Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: A super-powered teenage boy in a modern land of dragons and magic starts to come into his own with devastating results.

What’s Good: A caveat before getting into the review…  We were given this issue by the publisher and I’m not a regular Soulfire reader.  So, this review is my “coming at it cold” impressions.  Take it for what you will…

The story for this issue is pretty standard fare in terms of its general concept: teenage boy just beginning to realize his power is sought by the bad guys who want to tap/use that power.  During the ensuing battle, the boy unleashes his full might and overcomes all the bad guys, but with some nasty, unintentional consequences.  This well told story could have been pulled from an X-Men comic, but what makes Soulfire unique is that this story is set in a near future where dragons and magic exist.

I’m a huge proponent of comics outside of the Marvel/DC duopoly, so I give Aspen a lot of credit for doing something to distinguish this title because I (personally) don’t think there is a lot of room for more superhero fare.  But, neither Marvel or DC does much with this type of setting featuring noble dragons, so this is a niche that Aspen can exploit.  Plus it is probably appealing to readers outside the traditional comics demographic: 30-45 year old men.

I’m a fan of Marcus To’s art on Red Robin and I was unaware that he also was the regular artist on Soulfire.  That kinda makes me wonder how fast he works because most artists have their hands full with one title and even though Soulfire doesn’t ship monthly, it still represents an impressive amount of drawing from Mr. To.  While I think I enjoy To’s art in Red Robin more, this is very solid work featuring good layouts and storytelling.  A fantastical setting such as this also calls for more than the standard art and we get that.  Beth Sotelo’s colors are what really catch your eye with this issue.  She makes good use of brilliant whites and vibrant blues to accentuate magical things.

Teen Titans #90 – Review

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

The Story: The Titans track down the source of the genetically modified teens to a seemingly normal high school, only to be buried inside with a slew of crazed adolescents.

The Review: The biggest pitfall a writer can fall into when writing teen fiction is fixating on how maladjusted and self-conscious they can be.  It plays out the same almost every time: the adolescent in question mopes until some significant event slaps them out of it, and boom—one step closer to maturity.  And with that, the after school special ends.

JT Krul stands on the edge of that very same pitfall.  Throughout this issue, the old monsters of the teen world, Loneliness and Low Self-Esteem, haunt not only the highschoolers in danger of becoming even freakier than they apparently feel themselves to be, but also our heroes.  Krul plays out these timeless themes well, but that doesn’t help the material feel any less tired nor, at times, nonsensical.

The characterizations of the Titans take major steps back in their emotional maturity.  Raven waxes poetic over her solitude even among friends.  Superboy feels torn between his loyalties to Smallville and Titans Tower.  Wonder Girl views her leadership capabilities diminishing against her relationship with Superboy.  These aren’t completely terrible conflicts to work through; they just seem like issues these characters have long outgrown.

The shining departures from this trend are Ravager and Robin (Damian flavor).  They bounce well off each other (partnering the two most antisocial young heroes in the DCU almost guarantees good times), but they also exhibit one thing the previously mentioned Titans don’t: self-awareness.  They know how they come across to others, even if they don’t really care that much.  Besides, they have actual problems to deal with: how they’ll redeem their grim backgrounds.  The angst Raven, Superboy, and Wonder Girl are experiencing seem self-inflicted by comparison.

It also doesn’t help that Krul builds up the characters of the “villains” using clichés rather than motivations personal to them.   He literally gathers the triumvirate of teenage tropes: the nondescript kid who feels invisible, the girl who thinks she’s not pretty enough, and the jock trying to outplay the other athletes.  It’s just too easy (not to mention a tad insulting) to limit their characters in this way.  Besides that, Krul doesn’t make much effort in giving them more personality, so throughout the issue, they remain more like caricatures of teenagers than a serious attempt to capture any relatable teen spirit.

Mindfield #1 – Review

by JT Krul (writer), Alex Konat (pencils), Saleem Crawford & Jon Bolerjack (inks), John Starr (colors), and Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: An elite CIA squad of psychics does some counter-terrorist wetwork as we’re introduced to a whole new side of American security.

What’s Good: As far as first issues go, this is a solid outing.  The concept is cool, the world is cool, and the characters seem likable enough.

All this aside though, this issue lives on its depiction of its characters’ psychic powers, which Krul writes in spectacular fashion.  I never imagined psychic powers could be so damned slick.  Telepathy is brief, crisp battlefield communication.  Characters are able to see what their enemies see in a shoot-out in order to get the drop.  It’s fast, brutal, and generally awesome.  More importantly, these powers lend the comic a sort of visceral thrill that feels empowering in its breaking of sensory limits; the characters are ice-cold ESP experts, always three steps ahead of the competition.

For all the breakneck action and coolness delivered by these powers, Krul also shows diversity in his ability to slow things down through these same psychic abilities.  When used outside of a firefight or ambush, our characters’ powers create what feels almost like a sort of pathos.  One of our heroes, Connor, incidentally reads a rapist’s mind, leading to some really, really creepy and somewhat metaphorical imagery that was startling in its effectiveness.  Through this scene and others, Krul makes it clear that these characters are never free of their abilities; they’re far more than battlefield aids, as they continue to haunt long after the mission is over.

Artist Alex Konat very much mirror’s Krul’s performance, as his illustrations of these psychic powers in action are pretty astounding and quite often very creative.  Psychic visions take on a dreamy, painted quality that stands in instant contrast with the style of the rest of the book.  Konat’s neatest trick comes early in the book, however, when he fuses a “remote viewer’s” illustrations with their real world counterparts; a building, for example, will be half black and white sketch as a character, holding the drawing of it, walks up to it.  It’s a surreal representation of an internal thought process.

Blackest Night: Titans #3 – Review

by JT Krul (writer), Ed Benes (art), Rex Ogle (assistant editor), Brian Cunningham and Eddie Berganza (editors)

The Story: The Titans are trapped in a massive slugfest with the dead.

What’s Good: Krul did a great job of tying a lot of the feeling of Blackest Night together. Blackest Night is about making every hero in the DCU feel loss, regret, horror and despair, as much as humanly possible, and then seeing how they react. Donna Troy turns out to be a serious badass. You can tell that Krul got James Robinson’s memo that Donna Troy is going to be a major heavy in his new JLA in January, because she’s a major heavy in this one. She’s a great hero. She feels pain, regret and sorrow, but she does what she has to do to lead her friends out of the darkness. It’s a great show. Krul also worked with Gar, the perennial loser at love, who regrets and yet still loves, even though he feels stupid about who he still loves. Krul has caught something important about love here. You don’t get to pick who. Love doesn’t make sense, but you still have to deal with it. Gar’s arc in this book is great to watch. On the writing and story, I finally have to say that I love that they found a new weapon to use against the Black Lanterns. They found two in Blackest Night: Superman, one here, and one in the main Blackest Night series, so I’m feeling a bit of hope.

On the art, I know some people don’t like Benes’ stuff. He likes to draw beautiful people. But even if Donna Troy’s neckline seemed to plunge especially low in this issue, every panel told the story clearly and cleanly. At no time did I have to ask myself what was going on. Everyone, hero and zombie, had a distinctive look, even if half the cast was colored with gray tones. And Benes delivered a few great visions. Garfield, as a bear or a dinosaur, turns out to be pretty effective at kicking zombie tail. Donna Troy’s hands turn out to be WMDs against these villains, even if the villains come back two minutes later.

What’s Not So Good: Okay, I’ll take a shot at the necklines. Donna Troy’s almost reaches her navel and Starfire’s costume looks like it got left in the drier too long. I know that companies have to push up (pun intended) sales to pubescent boys, but when heroines are over-sexualized for reasons that have nothing to do with the story (there are many examples in many comics), it takes away from the story. That’s the definition of gratuitous, plain and simple.

Conclusion: Krul and Benes delivered a very fine conclusion to this miniseries. Gar and Donna went through some heart-rending experiences that will change them as people. If you are fans of those characters, then this miniseries matters to you. And if you are not, you will be by the end of this book. Recommended.

Grade: B+

-DS Arsenault

 

The Joker’s Asylum: Poison Ivy

JT Krul (writer), Guillem March (art and cover), Rob Leigh (letters)

I’m a person who likes consistency in my life. Without consistency in comics there’s no way to tell in advance how you’ll feel from one issue to the next. This series is a collection of one shots, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating for readers. In spite of that, this is one of few mini-series that somehow improves each week.

JT Krul paints quite a picture of Poison Ivy. The retelling of her origin isn’t forced and isn’t intrusive for vets, yet is very clear for the newcomers. As an Ivy story, it’s more of the same (people who hurt Mother Earth must die) but its tone and style feels very fresh. The way sadistic ways she goes about killing these guys (especially the last one) actually makes me feel sorry for them. Another impressive thing about Krul’s work is how much he makes you root for Ivy. Maybe I’m sick in the head, but I really wanted her to get rid of these guys. It may be a lesser of two evils, but then again, I may have a thing for green-skinned redheads. Either way, Ivy makes for a pretty compelling protagonist and that’s a tribute to Krul as a writer.

Guillem March’s art is every bit as good as Krul’s writing. Ivy is drawn perfectly, she’s sexy, and has enough danger to be inviting, but not offsetting. Another testament to March is his panels of Gordon and Batman. Each show someone who’s seasoned, but not old (a common mistake) in glorious detail. An interesting style choice was how different The Joker was drawn from everyone else. It’s so different I thought a different artist was drawing him; March’s pencils do a good job of illustrating his insanity. The downside is it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the book.

Consistency may be hard to find in weekly comics, but there are a few elements to this series that carry through. Batman has a small roll in each, keeping the focus on the villains. Even though we get a new look and writing style each week, the overall tone has remained constant and hopefully that can carry through with the series soon wrapping up. (Grade: B)

– Ben Berger