Comic Book Review: Teen Titans #57

The Revolution enjoyed the last issue of Teen Titans. I found the new Clock King and the Terror Titans to be pretty interesting antagonists for this story arc. I’m looking forward to learning more about these villainous teens. Let’s go ahead and do this review for Teen Titans #57.

Creative Team
Writers: Sean McKeever
Pencils: Eddy Barrows
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti & Julio Ferreira

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Wendy and Marvin complaining about having to clean out a sandwich that was hidden in the main computer at the Titans Tower during the party that Kid Devil threw last issue. Suddenly, Wendy spies a nice looking pocket watch.

We cut to Ravager meditating. Ravager loses her patience and comments that meditation is a load of crap. Copperhead attacks Ravager from behind and gets a swift kick to the head by our one-eyed silver haired chica.

We shift to Robin visiting Wonder Girl at her Georgetown house. (Wow. That is a seriously fancy address.) Tim mentions that Kid Devil has gone missing and that Ravager is worried. Cassie laughs saying that Rose doesn’t care about anyone. That is Rose is a psychopath.

We hop back to Titans Tower where we see Persuader having tied up Wendy and Marvin. The pocket watch begins to spin. Persuader comments that Clock King’s scrambler has killed security in the Tower and that they have the only clear signal in or out. Persuader contacts Copperhead to see if he has finished with Ravager yet.

We slide over to Ravager still beating the hell out of Copperhead. Suddenly, everything goes black and white and Ravager totally dodges Persuaders surprise attack. Ravager squares off against the two villains and spits that she feels bad for the villains that they are outnumbered and outgunned. Ravager proceeds to kick ass on both Copperhead and Persuader. Persuader snarls that Ravager should have seen the horrible things that they did to Kid Devil.

We cut to Clock King watching the fight over at the Titans Tower. Clock King tells Disruptor to get over to the Titans Tower and help Persuader and Copperhead take down Ravager. Clock King tells Disrupter not to kill Ravager. Evidently, Clock King saw something on the screen and he has to be sure about it.

Clock King then goes and visits Kid Devil who is shackled to a wall and is broken and bleeding from all the horrible torturing. Clock King says that Ravager didn’t react at all when she was told that the Terror Titans had tortured Kid Devil. Clock King proclaims that Ravager could care less about Kid Devil. Clock King urges Kid Devil to join the Terror Titans. That with them the can finally be free and us his special attributes for which they were intended. That Eddie can finally be what he was always meant to become: a monster.

We cut back to Ravager suiting up into her costume. Evidently, she had Persuader have agreed to have a duel. Persuader’s atomic axe that can cut through anything versus Ravager’s laser swords. The two start brawling and Ravager quickly gets the upper hand and slices Persuader with her energy swords. Ravager is stunned to find out that the blades don’t slice open Persuader. They just knock her out.

We hop back to Cassie and Tim talking about Ravager. Tim mentions that he purposely let Rose find his energy swords because they have organic tissue sensors that render the blades nonlethal. That maybe it will help tone down Ravager’s lethal instincts. Cassie dismisses Tim saying that Ravager will never change. That Ravager is only happy when she is manipulating saps like the Teen Titans. Tim says that maybe Cassie is right, but that they shouldn’t give up on Rose. Cassie counters that Rose is already too far gone.

We slide back to a rage fueled Ravager brutally pounding Copperhead into a bloody mess. Ravager snarls that she just wants Copperhead to hurt. Disrupter appears on the scene and tells Ravager to back off or else Wendy and Marvin will die. Ravager spits that she can’t stand the condescending Ivy League twins. Ravager tells Disrupter to do whatever he feels he has to with the twins and then after he is done, Ravager is going to beat Disrupter within an inch of his life with one hand behind her back. (Damn! And I believe her.)

Once again, everything goes black and white as Ravager is seeing every move before Disrupter makes them. This lets Ravager perfectly avoid his attacks and then Ravager launches successful counter attacks. We see the Clock King watching the fight from his base. The Clock King is stunned and mutters “It’s true. My God, it’s true.”

We cut back to Ravager having finished beating the hell out of Disrupter. Ravager quickly unties Wendy and Marvin. Ravager tells the twins to take the submersible and get out of here. Wendy tells Ravager to come with them. Wendy says that Ravager is being stupid by staying. Ravager spits that the Terror Titans have got Eddie and besides “this is my damn home.”

We see Wendy and Marvin hopping into the submersible. The three Terror Titans regain consciousness and begin brawling with Ravager. Ravager then slashes the main power lines in the Tower.

We cut to Cassie and Tim. Tim’s cell phone rings. Tim looks at it and exclaims that he just got a picture from Wendy. That the Titans Tower has been blown up. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Teen Titans #57 was an entertaining read. And this issue was all about one thing: Ravager kicking ass. God, I love Ravager. No, seriously, I absolutely adore her character. What is interesting is that I was never even remotely interested in Ravager before Johns brought her into the Titans. And when she first joined, I was initially not a fan of her addition to the Titans’ roster.

However, I kept and open mind and gave Johns a chance to get me hooked on Rose. And man, have I ever gotten hooked on her character. Ravager is hands down my favorite female character in the DCU. You can have your ditzy mega powered bimbo in Supergirl. You can have your bondage mask wearing Batgirl. Stargirl, Cyclone, Spoiler, Wonder Girl all do nothing for me. Ravager is the most bad-assed female hero in the DCU.

I loved seeing Ravager just kick so much ass. She laid some serious beatings on Copperhead, Persuader and Disrupter. I’m talking bloody, nasty and brutal violence. Ravager certainly has a mean streak in her and likes to see her opponents bleed. It was cool getting to see Ravager grab the spotlight and showcase her abilities in this issue.

I dig how McKeever handles Ravager’s personality. Ravager is tough as nails and has a no bullshit attitude. I also like her extreme confidence in her own fighting prowess that makes her one cocky fighter who isn’t afraid to take on multiple opponents at the same time. And there is no doubt that Ravager knows how to trash talk.

McKeever does a good job getting the reader to question if Ravager actually cares about the other Titans or if she is truly as bad as Cassie claims. On the one hand, we see Rose refusing to abandon Titans Tower because it is her house and she is determined to protect it with her life. Rose also mentions that the villains have Eddie so they can’t just run away. Yet, on the other hand, we see that Rose certainly had zero reaction when told that Kid Devil had been tortured. And the reader is also left wondering if Ravager would have let Disrupter kill the twins.

Cassie and Tim’s conversation also gets the reader to question is Ravager is a loose cannon who is still at her core a hero and a loyal Titan or if Cassie is correct that Ravager is just a manipulative psycho. McKeever does a fine job keeping the reader unsure of just how to view Rose. And this move by McKeever of keeping the reader guessing about Rose’s true intentions makes her character even more intriguing. At this point, Ravager is completely unpredictable.

Now, since I am not all that up on Rose’s character prior to her joining the Titans, I was stunned to learn that she has the precognitive ability to see into the future. Clock King was certainly surprised about her ability. And this leads me to wonder why Clock King is so obsessed by Ravager’s precognitive power. I’m curious to see where McKeever goes with this plotline.

I feel terrible for poor Eddie. He is really getting dumped on as of late. Now he is captured, tortured and has Clock King messing with his mind and trying to get Eddie to become a total monster. Hopefully, McKeever will allow Kid Devil his moment in the sun to show his worth to the Titans at some point in this story arc.

Teen Titans #57 is a well paced issue that is a fast read due to the furious action scenes. The plotting is solid as McKeever methodically moves this story arc along in a positive direction. McKeever dishes out plenty of solid dialogue. This issue doesn’t offer much in the way of deep and interesting dialogue or quality character work. But, it isn’t supposed to since this issue is all about adrenaline pumping action.

The art in Teen Titans #57 is fantastic. Barrows does a wonderful job getting me to buy into the power and fighting prowess of Ravager. Part of why I have a hard time buying into some of the other “bad-assed” female characters is that they just aren’t physically imposing. Well, Barrows definitely made sure that Ravager was plenty physically imposing.

Barrows delivers a Ravager that looks buff and intimidating. Barrows got me to readily believe that Ravager possessed the muscle and attitude to literally tear your head off. Barrows does a great job conveying the power, intensity and nastiness in Ravager’s character. Barrows’ artwork really helped to breathe life into McKeever’s story and really deliver some wonderfully dynamic action scenes. .

The Bad: The Terror Titans as a group are a bit unimpressive. McKeever doesn’t really do anything with these villains to make me interested in them. Plus, the Terror Titans have a repetitious feel. First we dealt with the Titans East. Then we got the evil Titans of Tomorrow. And now we get the Terror Titans. Enough already. I would like to see the next villains who appear in this title to not have “Titans” in their team name and to be something different than just an evil version of the Teen Titans.

Overall: Teen Titans #57 was an absolute blast to read. Readers who that enjoy furious action will definitely get a kick out of this issue. Teen Titans has been a bit of an average read for several issues and this was exactly the jolt that the title needed to crank up the intensity. McKeever has certainly grabbed my undivided attention with a fantastic hook ending and I am anxiously awaiting the next issue.