Tag Make the Teen Titans Great Again!

Weekly Comic 100s: Marvels X, Batman #86, and More!

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Earth X was probably the one big Alex Ross project I knew the least about. So I got myself a nice little education heading into this week’s Marvels X. Low and behold it’s a trilogy. Now a tetralogy, with Marvels X.

Looks like I’ve got some catching up to do. But in the meantime…

TITLE: Marvels X #1
AUTHORS: Alex Ross (Story), Jim Krueger (Story and Script)
ARTISTS: Well-Bee, Cory Petit (Letterer). Cover by Ross.
RELEASED: January 8, 2020

Having not read Earth X, and with this being intended as a prequel, I’m forced to judge this issue simply at face value. And at face value, it’s absolutely fine.

Our main character, a teenager named David, is the one person on in this dystopian future who does not have super powers. Orphaned and alone, he sets out for New York City to find his idols: Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man.

Seeing an artist like Well-Bee tackle a Ross/Krueger concept like this feels different, but intriguing. For now, my interest is piqued.

TITLE: Batman #86
AUTHOR: James Tynion IV
ARTISTS: Tony Daniel, Danny Miki (Inker), Tomeu Morey (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)
RELEASED: January 8, 2019

For my money, Tynion has a better handle on Batman and his world than Scott Snyder or Tom King. So I’m anxious to see what he turns in.

As Bruce continues to mourn for Alfred, various assassins gather in Gotham. Meanwhile, the issue presents us with an intriguing idea: Over the years, Bruce has randomly sketched, essentially doodled, bits of Gotham’s skyline and architecture as he would have them look. In the wake of “City of Bane,” he has a chance to make those visions a reality. Also, something’s up with the Joker…

So far, so good.

TITLE: The Clock #1
AUTHOR: Matt Hawkins
ARTISTS: Colleen Doran, Bryan Valenza (Colorist), Troy Peteri (Letterer)
RELEASED: January 8, 2020

This is not the most gracefully executed issue. Naturally, it needs to get a lot of exposition out of the way, and it falls into the clunky dialogue trap that comes with that. Also, early on some of the the speech balloons are hard to follow. They don’t contrast with the backgrounds (specifically the outdoor ones) enough, so you have a hard time following who is saying what.

But under all that, The Clock might just be a good story about a super cancer threatening to wipe our half the Earth’s population. But the jury’s still out.

TITLE: Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #2 (of 4)
AUTHOR: Charles Soule
ARTISTS: Will Sliney, Guru-eFX (Colors), Travis Lanham (Letterer). Cover by Clayton Crain
RELEASED: January 8, 2020

If you need to be sold on the idea of a book about Luke’s post-Return of the Jedi adventures, look no further than this issue. He faces the Knights of Ren, with both Lor San Tekka and a young Ben Solo at his side. Call it The Adventures of Luke Skywaker, as a take-off of one of Lucas’ early draft titles for Star Wars.

Ben’s interactions with Snoke have a slightly different flavor now that The Rise of Skywalker has come out. Snoke is also wearing his most flamboyant outfit yet. What’s up with the hat…?

TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #101
AUTHORS: Kevin Eastman (Consultant), Tom Waltz (Consultant), Sophie Campbell (Script)
ARTISTS: Campbell, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer).
RELEASED: January 8, 2020

Basically, this book is doing what the 2007 TMNT movie did. Only, you know, better. The Turtles are split up and doing their own thing. And we’ve got kind of an Arkham City spin, as they’ve walled off a portion of New York to throw all the mutants in.

I like this. It’s a big status quo shake-up the series has probably needed for awhile now. Encouragingly, the character that shines the most in this issue is Jennika, our new female Ninja Turtle. Lots of fresh intrigue as this series moves forward.

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 (of 5)
AUTHOR: Ryan Parrott
ARTISTS: Simone di Meo, Walter Baiamonte (Colorist), Ed Dukeshire (Letterer). Cover by Dan Mora.
RELEASED: January 8, 2020

In this issue we find out why Tommy has joined the Foot Clan. He’s apparently trying to save another clan member we don’t know. This new person’s identity, and how he connects to Tommy, is now far more interesting than the interactions the Turtles are having with the other Rangers.

They pull a stunt with Shredder at the end that I can take or leave. Seeing him meet Rita is pretty cool, though.

God damn, these Dan Mora covers are amazing.

TITLE: Young Justice #12
AUTHOR: Brian Michael Bendis
ARTISTS: John Timms, Gabe Eltaeb (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer)
RELEASED: January 8, 2020

At what point do we just make this the new Teen Titans ongoing? Young Justice feels the way that book should feel. At least that’s how I…feel?

This is a pretty dense issue with a lot of standing around and talking. But Superboy does punches a T-Rex. That always counts for something.

We now appear to be headed toward a big Wonder Comics team-up, i.e. Young Justice along with the Wonder Twins and the kids from Dial H For Hero. Thankfully, it looks like it’s all staying within Young Justice, as opposed to a crossover.

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A Teen Titans: Damian Knows Best Review – A Return to Glory?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

TITLE: Teen Titans, Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best
AUTHOR: Benjamin Percy
PENCILLERS: Jonboy Meyers, Diogenes Nieves, Khoi Pham
COLLECTS: Teen Titans #1–5, Teen Titans Rebirth #1
FORMAT: Softcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $16.99
RELEASED: June 14, 2017

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

The Teen Titans have had a pretty awesome run on television over the last decade and a half. The comics, on the other hand? They’ve been a mixed bag. But this new Teen Titans series under the DC Rebirth banner offered yet another fresh start for one of the most iconic and prolific superhero teams in all of comics. A chance to make the Teen Titans great again!

I wouldn’t call Damian Knows Best a great book. But these still manage to be the best Teen Titans comics we’ve gotten in several years. Since 2011 at the very least.

In the wake of his 13th birthday, Damian Wayne, a.k.a. Robin, summons his own team of young heroes to combat a threat from his past. Damian’s grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul, has sent his own team of young assassins after the Boy Wonder. Their mission? Either bring Damian back into the League of Assassins or kill him. But as his new teammates are about to find out, Damian isn’t one to make things easy.

Damian should have been on the Teen Titans a long time ago. That last really good Teen Titans story I alluded to above? It sees Damian barge in and briefly anoint himself team leader. Why it took so long to get him back on the team is beyond me. Sticking a character as abrasive as Damian in a team environment is a natural source for tension and conflict. Making it a team of adolescents ups the ante even more. It’s an update this book has desperately needed since…well, 2011.

Perennial team members Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven are back. I’ve lamented previously about how the series can’t move away from them, presumably because DC wants to match the cartoon show. Plus, they’re synonymous with the iconic Wolfman/Perez era. Swapping one or two of them out for newer characters might open the door for even more new possibilities. That’s what a relaunch is supposed to be about, after all. We at least get a little of that with the inclusion of Kid Flash.

However, Ben Percy does a commendable job turning up the teen angst with most of our heroes. The common theme among them is the feeling they don’t belong anywhere. Like so many young people, they feel isolated.. That commonality that makes them feel like they belong together, instead of being lumped together for no real reason (other than editorial mandate). The opening sequence with Beast Boy is one of the character’s best in quite some time. As he behaves in his typical animated and boisterous fashion, the narration captions highlight his inner turmoil, most notably over the “death” of Tim Drake. Throw in how wonderfully drawn and colored the whole thing is, and you’ve got a knock-out intro.

That’s one of the things DC has failed to do with Teen Titans for so many years: Really amp up the teen element effectively, making this book considerably different from Justice League and the other team books out there. Need an example? Look what Mark Waid is doing in Champions. All those characters feel like teenagers trying to find their way in the world and blaze a new trail that’s different from the previous generation’s. Teen Titans doesn’t have that rebellious streak to it. But having these characters feel young and a little less sure of themselves is damn sure a step in the right direction.

Most of the Demon’s Fist characters are forgettable. They’re led by Damian’s cousin Mara. Despite being fairly forgettable herself, she has a strong origin story. She trained alongside Damian growing up, competing with him but never quite besting him. Damian was intended to lead the Demon’s Fist, but Mara took over in his absence. If you subscribe to the idea that all of Batman’s villains represent a distorted mirror image of him, then Mara would be the equivalent for Robin.

Jonboy Meyers was supposed to be the regular artist for Teen Titans. He made it through issue #1 before leaving due to “creative differences.” That’s a damn shame. Meyers breathed so much new life into this series, giving us an Anime-inspired expressiveness, and thus a sense of fun the book has sorely lacked for a long time. Make no mistake about it, the guy knows his way around a superhero action sequence. I’ll specifically cite the Kid Flash pages from the Rebirth issue as evidence.

Diogenes Nieves has the unenviable job of tagging in for Meyers in issue #2. To his credit, the transition goes about as smooth as you could ask. He gives us a couple of gorgeous pages of a rainy rooftop scene between Damian and Talia al Ghul. Still, the little quirks in Meyers’ art are still sorely missed. The same, sadly, can be said for when Khoi Pham takes over on issues #3-5. Objectively, he’s a fine artist. When it’s time for our team to rise up in issue #5, Pham nails it. It’s just that Meyers has that certain flair. Starting with it and then taking it away doesn’t do the book any favors.

Thankfully, one constant in the book is colorist Jim Charalampidis, who brings a valuable consistency to the series despite the changing artists. These pages look a touch darker than I might have expected. But it’s still the beautiful blaze of color you’d hope to see from a superhero team book like this.

It’s been quite awhile since I picked up Teen Titans on a consistent basis. This new series changed that. Did Damian Knows Best make Teen Titans great again? No. But it made the series good again. That’s more than you can say for any other book to bear it’s name in the last several years. Now, here’s hoping things stay good for quite some time. These characters, and this series deserve at least that much.

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A Teen Titans: Rebirth #1 Review – Make the Teen Titans Great Again!

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

Teen Titans: Rebirth #1, 2016, cover, Jonboy MeyersTITLE: Teen Titans: Rebirth #1
AUTHOR: Benjamin Percy
PENCILLER: Jonboy Meyers
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASED: September 28, 2016

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Here’s a sad truth: It’s been almost 10 years since we had a really good Teen Titans book.

Geoff Johns’ last issue as a regular writer for the book was in the summer of 2007. The man has his critics. But he knew how to write the Teen Titans, and the book hasn’t been nearly as good since he left nearly a decade ago.

Benjamin Percy, Jonboy Meyers, and their cohorts are the newest team to take a crack at it. To their credit, their take is the most promising I’ve seen since the Johns run. This issue sees Robin assemble the team in his own unique, forcible manner. Our members are Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven, and the newly christened Kid Flash, Wally West (not that one). From a plot perspective, the issue doesn’t give us much more than that. But there are some hopeful indicators for the books future.

First and foremost, Jonboy Meyers gives the series a much-needed face lift. Teen Titans has desperately needed a fresh look and energy for years now. As much respect as I have for the likes of Brett Booth, Kenneth Rocafort, and Ian Churchill, they didn’t give us that. The energy here is similar to what we’d find in the pages of Gotham Academy, or what Babs Tarr gave us in Batgirl. There’s a sense of fun in these pages. It’s been far too long since we had a fun Teen Titans book.

Teen Titans: Rebirth #1, 2016, Jonboy Meyers, Kid FlashDamian becoming a permanent fixture in this series is long overdue. They put him on the team for a few issues in 2011, and it worked out so well it became part of the inspiration for the Justice League vs. Teen Titans animated film. Part of what’s so great about the Damian character is if you add him to a story, he stirs the pot. He’s an agitator, which makes for for memorable chemistry with other characters.

For awhile now, I’ve been a proponent of removing most of the Marv Wolfman/George Perez characters, i.e. Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy, from this series. At least for awhile. I assume they’re there to tie-in with Teen Titans Go! But this series needs new blood to couple with its new look. Damian is back, and we’ve also got the new Kid Flash (shown left). Both characters offer a lot of fresh intrigue, and I’m longing for more of that. In a perfect world, I’d have swapped out Starfire and Raven for Supergirl and Emiko Queen (the latter Percy is still writing in Green Arrow), and kept Beast Boy. We can also toss Natasha Irons in there as as a techno-whiz. Notice that not only gives us an even male to female ratio, but it further diversifies the team.

Still, Percy and Meyers make the most of the characters they have by playing up the emotional isolationism so many teenagers feel. The first line in the book, from Beast Boy, is: “I’m alone…” Then we go to Starfire, who talks about how working makes her feel like she has “a place in this alien world.” In the next scene, Raven goes to a museum to “commune with my sadness.” Then we get some real-world commentary, as Wally gets mistaken for a thief, and says he can’t “outrun the assumption I’m up to no good.”

Teen Titans: Rebirth #1, 2016, Beast Boy, Jonboy MeyersThese elements were present to a lesser extent at the start of the Scott Lobdell/Brett Booth series, and again in the Will Pfiefer/Kenneth Rocafort series. But in Rebirth it feels like the thread that unites the characters. It makes them more than just teammates. A unifying factor like that is something you find in a lot of great superhero team books, and its a really good omen.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the restoration of hope to the DCU. This new Teen Titans book is barely established yet, but it’s already instilled me with a lot of hope that the series can be a hot commodity. It’s time to make the Teen Titans great again!

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