Teen Titans #2 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), Brett Booth (penciller), Norm Rapmund (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: All that talk about sewer mutants and mole people are just rumors, I swear!

The Review: Just like in Justice League, this title has taken the strategy of introducing the cast in stages, which has a few downsides.  For one, it goes against the reader’s eagerness to see the entire team come together all at once.  The writer also has to ensure the few characters he puts in play manage to keep the story substantial and engaging.  You also have the danger of turning those characters into the “stars,” making all who come after accessories to the storyline.

Here we have a mix of all three problems.  We get yet another Wonder Girl and Robin-centric issue, with Kid Flash showing up in a couple pages and Superboy in just the one.  The opening with Kid Flash does nothing except establish his Emily Dickinson style of narration (“…and I’m locked in a cell / who knows where / by who knows who / or why.”), and the Superboy page is almost completely redundant if you read his solo title.  Not the best use of either character.

You also get intros to two future Titans, the mutated Skitter and the smoky Solstice.  Skitter actually gets a whole sequence to herself, but ultimately squanders it by doing little more than creep around like your typical sewer creature and hissing unintelligibly (“Kikt!  Kir kritik kih”).  So don’t expect her to add much personality to the issue.  Don’t expect Solstice to pick up the slack either, since she appears briefly and looks far from her formerly sunny self.

Granted, at this point, we still know close to nothing about Solstice or what direction Lobdell plans to take her, but just from the little we can see, it feels like Lobdell is utilizing the Grim Method of character development: when in doubt, just grim them up.  Though hardly thrilled with J.T. Krul’s version of Solstice, I at least appreciated the effort in making a character who was down-to-earth, positive, and had a loving, stable family life.  Lobdell starts on the opposite foot, turning Solstice into yet another teenaged basketcase.

These feel like unnecessary changes to the characters, like turning Cassie into a thief with major attitude.  At least Lobdell has the good sense to tone her down once she gets to know Tim a little better, but once the action gets hot, she turns cold once again.  In response to Tim’s rant about how they need to stick together against N.O.W.H.E.R.E., she states, “Do you have any idea how little I care?”

Instead of all this artificial drama, Lobdell should’ve simply established N.O.W.H.E.R.E. as a genuine threat, instead of having Red Robin prattle on about it in such a Chicken Little way.  So far, the “evil” organization has only managed to not capture Robin, Wonder Girl, or Skitter, and they even lack the common sense to not only turn off the (power-inhibiting?) force-field on Kid Flash’s cell, but then also tell him about it.  Not the way to impress, to say the least.

Booth’s art isn’t really a detriment to the series, but it’s oftentimes distracting.  I don’t know about you, but I still feel vaguely unnerved by the characters’ faces.  They feel overly triangular, and the eyes and noses frequently look too big and peaked.  But Booth also offers some fine action sequences, packing great energy into the fight sequences.  Overall, though, the art has only serviced the story competently, not really with finesse.

Conclusion: The original and subsequent Teen Titans series started with the premise of bringing young heroes together to grow, learn, and have fun with each other.  This darker direction hasn’t proved its value, and you’ll long for the good ol’ days when Young Justice had campouts.

Grade: C

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – Here’s a gem from the revised Wonder Girl: “Yo.  Up here.  And before you ask—yes, they’re real.”  Way to call attention to your own knockers, Cassie.  Well done.

– I’m ready to get off the fence where Red Robin’s wings are concerned: thumbs down.  In the sewer battle, you can clearly see how unwieldy they are and how often they get in the way.