Comic Book Review: Teen Titans #52

McKeever really impressed The Revolution with his debut issue on the Teen Titans with issue #51. It was a surprisingly great read. Even though I’m not entirely thrilled with having the faux Blue Beetle and Superbarbie on the roster of this team, I’m still excited about this new direction that McKeever is taking the Titans. The Titans of Tomorrow are fantastic characters and this story arc should live up to its potential of being a flat out wild and exciting ride. I’m sure that McKeever is going to crank out another excellent read with Teen Titans #52. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writers: Sean McKeever
Pencils: Jamal Igle
Inks: Marlo Alquiza, Jesse Delperdang & Rob Hunter

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Blue Beetle stumbles upon the captured JLA members in the Titans Lair. However, before Faux Beetle can free the JLA’ers, evil Bart Allen appears on the scene and kicks the crap out of Faux Beetle.

We cut to Gotham with Robin holding a gun to his head. Future Tim tells Robin that if he kills himself then Conner and Bart have zero chance of coming back. Suddenly, Prometheus appears back on the scene for round two and attacks Robin.

We see Miss Martian stunned that her evil older version is immune to fire. Miss Martian quickly takes out Firebug. Miss Martian then is about to enter the building to help out Robin with Prometheus when the evil Miss Martian stops her. The future Miss Martian says that Robin will be fine with Batman.

Miss Martian pushes past her older self and says she is going to help her friends. The older Miss Martian punches out Miss Martian and yells that she is not helping Robin at all.

We slide over to Chicago where Kid Devil decides that he is going to help Ravager. Kid Devil throws Red Devil into Livewire taking both of them out. Red Devil is pissed that Kid Devil would betray himself for Ravager and attacks Kid Devil.

We see Superbarbie all bound up by the Druid King. Conner appears and scoffs at Superbarbie for thinking she could replace him. Conner easily dispatches Druid King and frees Supergirl. Superbarbie takes a swing at Conner and he easily grabs her fist and smiles. (Beat down! Beat down! C’mon, Conner!)

We cut to Wonder Girl brawling with Brimstone. Cassie refuses to use lethal force against Brimstone despite the urging of older Cassie. Brimstone reaches the nuclear reactor. Wonder Girl makes one last rush at Brimstone who turns to launch a killing blow. Older Cassie screams out in horror.

We shift back to Robin brawling with Prometheus. Future Tim tells Robin that he has to let Cassie go. That each moment Cassie is with Conner is a new kind of special torture for Tim. Prometheus then takes down Robin. We see Conner beating Supergirl’s ass. We see Kid Devil getting pummeled.

We cut to Blue Beetle finally taking out Bart Allen with an energy sphere. We slide back to Ravager slicing off the Starro from the face of Rampage causing Rampage to collapse to the ground unconscious. Kid Devil tells Red Devil that he will have to kill Kid Devil to get to Rose. Red Devil backs off for now.

We slide back to the Titans Lair where Blue Beetle has freed all the JLA’ers. Bart is trapped in a containment tube. Wally stares at the unconscious Bart. Batman gets a call from Black Canary. Batman tells the JLA’ers that they are needed back at the Watchtower immediately. That the Titans can deal with Starro and the future Titans.

Kid Devil, Ravager and Red Devil teleport back to Titans Tower. Blue Beetle greets the returning heroes. Red Devil grabs Blue Beetle by the throat and says that he never dreamed that he would get the chance to kill Blue Beetle twice. (And suddenly Red Devil becomes one of my favorite characters in the DCU.)

We cut back to Prometheus beating the hell out of Robin. Future Tim has finally seen enough and steps in and kicks ass on Prometheus. Older Tim tells Robin that he wants Robin to think about how Prometheus was going to kill Robin. That Robin should think about all the people who died tonight because of Robin’s inaction. To think about everyone that Robin has lost. Then older Tim wants Robin to do what is right for future’s sake. Batman hands Robin his gun and then leaves the room with a cruel smile.

We shift back to Titans Tower where Red Devil suddenly gets some new memories. Red Devil tosses Ravager, Kid Devil and Blue Beetle outside of Titans Lair. The three Teen Titans look up in shock at who just arrived. We see Lex Luthor with the adult versions of just about ever past Teen Titan backing him up. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Teen Titans #52 was a fantastic read. McKeever continue to impress me with his hot start on this title. Following Geoff Johns is no easy feat. But, McKeever has certainly shown that he is more than up to the task of following in Johns’ footsteps on the Teen Titans.

McKeever delivers an excellent paced issue. Teen Titans #52 was fast paced but not rushed at all. McKeever has created a very nicely plotted story arc. The story is progressing in a pleasant fashion. McKeever clearly possess good long term vision and knows how to build layer upon layer in order to weave a detailed and complex story arc that moves with a purpose.
I dig how Teen Titans is constructed as McKeever employs nice quick scene cuts between the various scenes. McKeever also knows how to increase tension in the reader as the issue progresses to the climactic ending. McKeever shows off that he is as adept at furious action scenes as he is with dialogue heavy dramatic scenes. And Teen Titans #52 has an enjoyable balance between the two types of scenes.

McKeever also demonstrates that he is committed to performing strong character work. McKeever writes each Titan as a well developed three dimensional character. McKeever has an impressive feel for the personalities of the various characters and it shows in some wonderfully well crafted dialogue. Each character has their own distinct voice and there is some quality chemistry between the various Titans.

Teen Titans #52 has tons of action and we get some fantastic beat downs in this issue. The best one has to be the one that Future Tim lays on Prometheus. It was short but sweet. Older Tim uses an economy of moves and each one packing monstrous power. Tim definitely gets better as he gets older.

McKeever does a nice job with the scene involving the two Miss Martians. The older Miss Martian has certainly embraced her white Martian heritage and warrior attitude. Even though the young Miss Martian is clearly interested in learning how to develop an invulnerability to fire, I was glad to see our newest Titan stay true to her friend and try to go and help Robin despite the flames that are engulfing the building that Robin is in.

I wasn’t a fan of Miss Martian at first considering my general rule of hating derivative heroes. However, I have to admit that Johns warmed me to her character and McKeever is continuing the job of getting me to like little Miss Martian more and more with each issue.

The conflict between Red Devil and Kid Devil was perfect. I love seeing how an extremely likeable and somewhat insecure character like Kid Devil could grow up into such an egotistical and cocky jerk. Evidently, great power certainly has a way of boosting a person’s confidence.

And what is up with the startling revelation that Red Devil killed Blue Beetle? Wow! Talk about dropping a bomb on the reader. I mean, I can only hope that this does end up happening. Evidently, when Eddie receives Neuron’s power he really becomes a much more hostile guy. I’m interested in learning what exactly went down between Eddie and Blue Beetle to make Eddie kill Blue Beetle.

I was glad to see Eddie staying loyal to Rose and not turning traitor on her during the fight. I know that Rose isn’t the kind of girl that you take home to mom, but I love her. And I think that the odd couple of Rose and Eddie is perfect.

I dig how McKeever handles Supergirl’s character. McKeever continues to avoid pulling a Waid. McKeever keeps Supergirl’s panel time to a minimum and refuses to let her hog the spotlight and overshadow the other Titans. It seems almost as if the DC editors mandated that Supergirl be added to the Teen Titans since she is leaving the Legion rather than McKeever wanting to place her on the Titans’ roster. It is also always enjoyable seeing Supergirl getting punked out. The scene where Conner catches her punch and then proceeds to break out the whooping stick on Supergirl was great. I love older Conner’s haughty attitude.

Wonder Girl’s brawl was also well done. Poor Cassie is in denial about her relationship with Ares. Older Cassie has certainly embraced her relationship with Ares and has tapped into a much greater power than younger Cassie possesses. McKeever ends Cassie’s scene with a cool hook ending about if she stops Brimstone or not.

As much as I liked all the aforementioned scenes, the scenes that I thought were by far the best were the ones with Robin and future Tim. These scenes were incredibly well written. They were powerful and emotional scenes. The psychology of the conflict between present Tim and future Tim was fantastic.

McKeever peels back the layers of Tim’s psyche as future Tim brings a brutal and raw take on Tim’s traumatic past. McKeever actually manages to make future Tim’s position look rather understandable. McKeever gets the reader to view future Tim in a sympathetic light. Of course, that sympathy ends when we see future Tim in his final panel shot with that evil smile as he knows he has successfully manipulated his younger self.

I enjoyed the moment of weakness that future Tim displays when talking about how every moment seeing Cassie with Conner is like a new special torture. Poor Tim has suffered so many losses. And his one desire to bring back to life his best friend only serves to cause Tim even more personal pain. It is like Tim just can’t achieve any happiness in this life.

Future Tim also brings some rather painful truth about present Tim’s inaction leading to the deaths of innocents. Future Tim clearly thinks that using lethal violence against criminals is worth it since it permanently prevents that criminal from ever hurting anyone else again. There is certainly something very attractive and compelling to that line of reasoning when dealing with criminals.

Future Tim emphasizes that he is not the beast that Robin thinks he is. And I do actually believe future Tim when he says that. Tim has been through such incredible amount of trauma during his young life. It would make perfect sense that a person who continues to suffer personal loss after loss will eventually grow into a bitter older person. Future Tim is in reaction mode. He is simply reacting to his past and reacting to the painful life that he has in his future timeline.

Of course, the real trump card in the debate between future Tim and Robin was that if Robin continues to try and fight the future and refuses to accept destiny and allow the adult Titans’ future to occur, that Conner and Bart will never be brought back to life. That hits Robin like a ton of bricks. First, we now have proof that Robin is successful in bringing both Conner and Bart back to life. Second, we know that Robin is obsessed with brining his friends back to life and would do just about anything to accomplish that goal.

McKeever places Robin at the horns of a tough moral dilemma. Will Robin sacrifice his concepts of justice and right and wrong or will he sacrifice his obsessive desire to bring Conner back to life?

And speaking of Bart, it was fantastic to see Bart Allen back in action once again. It is too bad that Bart had to get jobbed out to Faux Beetle. Anyway, future Bart is certainly a dick, but it was just cool to see that Bart is still alive in the future.

It is interesting that each old Titan entices their younger counterpart with the promise of greater power if the young Titans cease trying to fight their destinies and the future. Each Titan is tempted with this increased power, yet each Titan refuses to subordinate their beliefs of right and wrong just for the possible gain of increased powers.

McKeever drops a monster hook ending on the reader. Fucking awesome. What a huge “Holy shit!” moment as we see Lex Luthor and the adult version of just about every single past Titan. I love it. I am so psyched for the next issue.

Jamal Igle provides plenty of wonderful looking artwork. I dig Igle’s clean lines and attention to detail. Igle creates an enjoyable comic book to look at.

The Bad: I found how McKeever shuttled the JLA quickly out of this story arc to be rather forced and rushed. It seemed odd that the JLA would immediately bolt out of there leaving the Titans hanging and having to deal with Starro and the adult Titans. Overall, the JLA’s insertion into this story arc has seemed terribly awkward and forced.

Also, I find it hard to believe that Wally would just split after coming face to face with Bart Allen alive and well from the future. I would imagine that Wally might want to stick around and talk to Bart and find out just how he was able to come back to life.

Even though I enjoyed Igle’s pencils, his art was hampered by the inks by committee on this issue. Having three inkers on one issue is ridiculous.

Overall: Teen Titans #52 was an absolute gem. I am so impressed with McKeever’s work on his debut story arc. I was extremely skeptical that any writer would be able to follow Johns’ large footsteps on this title. And I was even more skeptical when McKeever was tapped for the writer position since I had never heard of him.

Well, my fears were clearly unfounded. McKeever posses an incredible feel for the Titans and is serving up one of the most exciting story arcs in the DCU outside of the Sinestro War story arc. If you haven’t given Teen Titans a try then I definitely recommend doing so. This title is worth the cover price.