Major Improvement! Lots To Cover!
New creative team for the next few issue of Teen Titans, Bryan Miller, Joe Bennett, and Jack Jadson are set to deal with the fallout of the Titans/Teen Titans/Vigilante crossover, "Deathtrap". And for the most part, it's a great reintroduction to the Titans and the new lineup of members.
The issue starts out at a decimated Titans' Tower that still has a few operational floors, mainly the living quarters, and where the majority of the team is enjoying an afternoon of down time and begins preparing for a rare night out. Only team leader, Wonder Girl, doesn't seem to be in the partying mood. Cassie's moping, while rightly deserved, could be described as her permanent mood over the last two years, but it seemed she was over it, until today. While the young Amazon attends the weekly check-in with Alcatraz (full of dangerous human and metahuman criminals), the rest of the group head off to have fun. Miller hits almost every perfect note with the Titans, it's great to see most of them acting like kids and close friends. For the most part the writer continues with ideas planted by previous writer, Sean McKeever, allowing this issue to flow nicely. Even the small scene where we see member, Kid Eternity, sitting in the range rover by himself in the far back made sense (poor guy!). A small qualm I had was that Aquagirl definitely seemed more interested in Static in previous issues, but all of sudden here, she seems more fond of Blue Beetle. This puts Beetle in a few uncomfortable, and hilarious, spots when his girlfriend, Traci 13, joins the evening's festivities.
Meanwhile, solo Wonder Girl quickly realizes too late that her attendance to Alcatraz was planned and she's fallen into a trap when the inmates are released. Bennett dazzles with his artwork as Cassie bravely plows through supervillain after supervillian, until facing the main cast of rogues, Shimmer, Mammoth, and Jinx (among others). What's more, to taunt the other Titans, Wonder Girl's defeat and capture is video tapped and broadcast live as the master planner behind this attack is revealed as, the Calculator!
But wait, there's a back up story starring a twelve-part Ravager story! Rose's attempt at bonding with her former teammates last issue basically blew up in her face so we find that she's on her own, trying to find herself through a haze of addiction to Epinephrine (it enhances her prognetive powers), and self doubt (due to the abuse at the hands of her father, Deathstroke, the Terminitor). Former fulltime Teen Titans writer, McKeever, introduces a brilliant stroke by having Rose's conscience appear as a hallucination of Wonder Girl, the one Titan Rose most despises (or is jealous of --?). But even the make believe Wonder Girl cannot stop Ravager from breaking into a pharmacy to steal the drug she craves so much. It's not long before Rose realizes that soon after from fleeing the police she had zoned out and finds herself somewhere up North, possibly in Alaska or Canada -- a land completely full of snow. Her motorcycle is also completely out of gas and the only place she sees with actual people is a bar full of not so pleasant locals fond of travelers. As Ravager defends herself she's caught unaware by an inner spasm that erupts into convulsions, spouting blood. The final panel shows an an unconcious Ravager in pool of inky death.
Both tales had excellent writing and art and I can hardly wait for more! In fact I've read through the issue so many times at the gym, at the beach, and even on the train, that my copy has begun to show some wear and tear. We have a group of teenagers, all vastly different than one another, but bound together by an unbreakable bond -- that's what Teen Titans is all about. We also have the spotlight on two of my favorite Titans, Wonder Girl and Ravager, I hope when both stories have reached their conclusion we see these girls both on the team, and as friends.
~ Hype
