Teen Titans #6

Originally posted on my blog, The Comics Cove, not too long ago...

Fairly epic cover, though it's another "this scene isn't in the story" cover. Red Robin actually never takes on Grymm, and there's certainly never any danger of the skirmish landing on Kid Flash and Static. Still, it's a good action shot, and it lends some context to Bart's condition in the aftermath of the Superboy skirmish.

The Titans are starting to limp away from their fight with Superboy, when the N.Y.P.D. try to arrest them. Skitter shows up and webs them all up, and Kid Flash starts to spark and vibrate violently. Red Robin takes him to a nearby S.T.A.R. labs office, where Virgil Hawkins, a.k.a. Static, is on duty. While he works on finding a way to stabilize Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Bunker square off against another metahuman imprisoned there, named Grymm, who takes over Skitter's mind and tries to use her to escape. They knock him out, and Virgil uses a prototype suit designed for the Flash to keep Bart stabilized. It works, and he makes his debut in his new yellow costume, confident and cool. The team starts talking about a rematch with Superboy, but Red Robin vetoes the idea, saying they need to return to base and prepare for a war.

I'm guessing the character of Jocelyn Lure will be somewhat significant later, especially considering she's apparently some kind of alien (along with Kid Flash), but her appearance is too brief to glean much more than that from her.

The overall story remains interesting, but I wasn't too terribly impressed with the Grymm side-story. We get almost no explanation of who he is, he repeats key pieces of information unnecessarily and awkwardly, and his existence is never mentioned once Bunker and Wonder Girl get him under control. I think that story could have been tightened and structured better.

I enjoyed the appearance of Static, who I don't know too much about but have an overall positive opinion of based on the little information I know about him. I was also amused by Tim's connections to the Justice League, and the fact that he came to Virgil only after trying to get in touch with them. It makes sense, and furthers the idea that, while Red Robin may be just a kid and not even metahuman, he, like Batman, brings a lot to the table where his team is involved.

Art-wise, I loved Kid Flash's new costume, and the cool debut pose he strikes while wearing it. Grymm was interesting visually, but odd. He has a weird mouth line, and apparently never opens his mouth, even though he has plenty of spoken dialog. I wonder if that was an intentional choice on the part of the artist or writer. Overall, things continue to look stellar.

Overall, this respite from last issue's high-octane action keeps the character development going, and continues to develop the team's abilities to work together. I'm curious to see what Red Robin means by preparing for war, but I'm sure it involves dealing with N.O.W.H.E.R.E., and possibly Superboy. Can't wait to see more of that. Highly recommended.