Written by JT Krul
Illustrated by Nicola ScottHeads up, Teen Titans! There’s a new hero in town, and while Damian might not want to join you, he’s more than happy to lead you! There should always be a Robin on the team, but if Damian is their only available option, maybe they’ll pass on having a Boy Wonder. Hopefully he’ll be able to help against the terrible menace of the rising villain, Headcase!
As a regular detractor of his work elsewhere in the DCU (see: various reviews of the Rise of Arsenal and Blackest Night: Titans), I actually found myself quite enjoying his first issue of his take on the Teen Titans. Yesterday found me with a new issue (and a gorgeous Frank Quitely variant at that), so what’s the verdict two issues in? Check behind the cut for my thoughts.
For all intents and purposes, this was the “make or break” issue of Teen Titans for me (a phrase I will use in a later review, if you check back!). Damian is the only reason I would want to read this book. I have not enjoyed Krul’s work in the past, and Scott’s art is very nice but I’m certainly not as big of a fan as other writers on this site.
That in mind, I think I’ll stay with Teen Titans a bit longer.
Here’s my thought process on why: before the issue even came out, I was linked to an article detracting from Krul’s choice of dialogue between the characters. It’s something I’ve certainly noticed in the past (his Green Arrow is unnecessarily punny sometimes), and it’s a thought that stuck with me throughout the entire read. For all intents and purposes, this still remains true: Krul is not good with established characterization. Ravager is ridiculous, Damian seems to have thrown his education out the window, and Gar isn’t the one making jokes 24/7. It’s a bit odd at a first read.
But then I sat with the issue a bit and looked over it some more. When Teen Titans originally began under Geoff Johns, it was it’s own beast with different characterization for the characters – to the point Johns even rewrote one characters entire backstory, rather famously too now I might add. On top of that, since Johns had left the book, the title had been fairly stagnant, with a lot of authors making attempts to simply tell new stories with the characters and – more often than not – failing miserably (see: Felicia Henderson’s run). So why not accept that Krul is going to write the characters a little bit differently, to the point that Ravager and Robin are a little bit jarring at first?
The thing is, the actions that both Ravager and Robin have aren’t excessively out of character. They’re just unusual. I can see Ravager and Robin having spats, and I can even see Damian lightening up a bit in a group of younger characters as he tries to fit in without making it seem like he wants to fit in. Damian is still a new character that not a lot of writers have tried to play around with, and while Krul certainly gives Damian too many one-liners, one simple fact remains: this book has been fun for two issues, and I haven’t said this about Teen Titans for a long time. Do I wish that Krul would take more time to try and write characters individually? Yes. I think that one thing the book could benefit from is the understanding that not every character needs to talk the same, and none of the characters need to really act like excessively hormonal kids despite their “teen” status. However, the book does feel like a younger character title, and for now it somewhat fits.
Certainly a book simply being fun isn’t enough to make you want to buy something, though. I suppose it helps then that the book does have two things going for it, which are inherently it’s story and art. While I am not a fan of Krul’s habit to go all willy-nilly with how he writes the characters, he is slowly putting together a large arc here, and the signs are there. There is a page with a brief reference to something that might be coming, and the all-new villain of the issue provides a suitable fight sequence, even if it is a smudge outlandish (the power is kind of … odd) and the “defeat” is a bit … well, you can read it. The book is a mix of highs and lows, pretty much on a page by page basis. I’m actually split straight down the middle when it comes to my enjoyment of the story, because there are things I like and things I don’t.
Continued belowOne thing I can’t complain about at all is the art, however. Nicola Scott has truly breathed some life into these characters that for too long have been two-dimensional and rather unexciting. Her style of art gives fully rounded individuals who pop off the page through the various action sequences, and her panel styling makes for an interesting sequential read. While the story might not fully back up the art with quality, the art does make up for the purchase all around, because it’s simply the nicest the book has looked in a long while.
We’re only two issues into the Teen Titans story, but it actually feels like a new book, and that’s something that I think the title really needs. It had it’s attempt at using new characters, but none of them stuck because none of the writers could really do anything interesting with them. I’m not always a fan of regressive teams and stories, but bringing “the old gang” back together (in a manner of speaking) does actually help to give this title a bit more energy. I’m actually looking forward to the next issue, if only because I think that the comic will ultimately be a fun and mildly amusing read. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Final Verdict: 7.1 – Buy
