Comic Book Review: Teen Titans #58

Teen Titans continues to be an entertaining read. I concede that McKeever is treading very well worn ground with yet another evil version of the Teen Titans in the Terror Titans. However, the story has been fast paced with good action and solid character work. I fully expect Teen Titans #58 to be another quality read. Let’s go ahead and hit this review.

Creative Team
Writers: Sean McKeever
Pencils: Carlos Rodriguez
Inks: Bit, Rebecca Buchman & Jimmy Palmiotti

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with a flashback scene to one week ago. We learn that this issue takes place during the events of Teen Titans #56 and #57. We see Megan in Sedona, Arizona because the desert reminds her of her home Mars. In her head Megan hears the voice of the evil future white Martian version of herself. The white Martian persona ridicules Megan for not embracing her heritage. Megan responds that just because the white Martian is from a possible future doesn’t mean that Megan isn’t in control. The white Martian comments if Megan is sure about that.

We then see Megan wake up in a bathroom stall with a guy standing over her with his pants unzipped and another man waiting outside of the stall. Megan quickly takes out the two men. The white Martian’s voice then asks Megan who she thinks is in control now.

We cut to Clock King in bed with Disruptor. Clock King tells Disruptor that Dreadbolt will go help them lure in Kid Devil so that they can capture him. That Disruptor is to follow Megan and keep an eye on her. That they have to take Megan out quickly so that she doesn’t alarm her other teammates once they attack the Teen Titans.

We shift to Megan in human form attending a high school. All she wants is to live life as a normal teenager. The white Martian voice mocks her attempts to fit in with the humans. The white Martian reminds Megan that their white Martian parents where viciously murdered by humans. That Megan should want to kill all humans. Megan responds that she doesn’t do vengeance.

We see Megan attending her first class. The teacher comments that she doesn’t have Megan on her list of students. The teacher says that if Megan shows her a student I.D. then they can get the situation sorted out. Megan is crushed as she realizes that she has no student I.D.

We cut to that night in Gotham City with Miss Martian meeting Robin on a rooftop of a building. Miss Martian asks Robin if he could forge her a social security number and birth certificate so she can start a normal life on Earth. Robin says that forging federal documents is something that is too much of a big illegal activity for him to agree to do. The white Martian voice mocks Miss Martian about how quickly her so called friends dismiss her in her hour of need. The white Martian says that she will always be here for Miss Martian.

Miss Martian screams for the white Martian to shut up. Megan turns half white Martian while yelling “Shut up!” Robin is stunned and asks Megan if she is all right. Megan is horrified at what just happened and immediately takes off.

On her flight back, the white Martian tells Megan that their parents tried to show them that they weren’t born weak. That they knew their potential to be the greatest warrior their people has ever seen. The white Martian shows Megan in her mind how easily they could kill all of the Teen Titans.

We cut to Kid Devil captured by the Terror Titans and shackled to the dungeon wall. Clock King then orders Disruptor to blast away at Kid Devil. That they have to make Kid Devil look hungry enough to win a fight before they sell him to the Dark Side Club.

We shift back to Miss Martian waking up from a nap. She sees a folder full of forged federal documents including a social security card, birth certificate a driver’s license and a passport. The white Martian tells Miss Martian that she did all of this for her to let her perform her little fantasy role-play. That this will enable Miss Martian to learn that humanity deserves nothing to be crushed by them and they can finally of one mind and be done with Megan’s childish rebellion.

We zip to the next day with a happy Megan arriving at school. She is introduced by the teacher to the rest of the class. Megan gives a dorky little speech about how she wants everyone to know that she likes it here already and she is looking forward to the opportunity to be herself.

Suddenly, Disrupter busts into the classroom and blasts the teacher. Miss Martian and Disrupter begin brawling. Miss Martian gets the upper hand and starts pounding away on Disrupter. The white Martian voice then tells Megan to kill Disrupter. Once Megan refuses to do so the white Martian voice says that she is taking over Megan. Megan yells “NO!” Megan says that the white Martian voice is not real.

Disruptor seizes on this distraction and blasts Megan. We then see the white Martian form of Megan begin to emerge from Megan’s body. The white Martian says that this is a second chance at life. She orders Megan to let her out. Megan refuses to do so and shoves the white Martian back inside of her. Megan says that she will not let the white Martian into the world. That the white Martian is her responsibility and hers alone.

Megan shoves the white Martian back inside of her and then collapses to the ground. Disrupter then blasts Megan unconscious.

We cut to Miss Martian waking up in a dark room. Suddenly, out of the shadow steps Kid Devil. He is all scarred and cut up and is insane looking with fire jetting out of his nostrils. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Teen Titans #58 was a better than average read. I will admit up front that I am not really much of a fan of Miss Martian. I don’t dislike her character, but I can’t say that I really like her either. I’m pretty much neutral on her character. McKeever delivers a nicely plotted issue as we begin with slower introspective scenes with Megan and escalate to a nice fast paced action scene at the end.

McKeever cranks out some solid dialogue. It isn’t incredible, but it gets the job done. McKeever does manage to give Megan her own distinctive external voice. McKeever does a nice job pulling off some quality character work on Megan. McKeever fleshes out her personality a bit and makes Megan a bit more complex and intriguing than simply being a really friendly but somewhat vacuous teen Martian girl.

I enjoyed the internal debates between Megan and her white Martian persona. I dig that no matter what dirty tactics that the white Martian persona pulled off that Megan’s positive outlook never wavered. I am glad that McKeever is actually keeping Megan as a person who truly and honestly is a really nice, kind and positive soul. You just don’t see that type of character that often in comic books anymore.

I loved the swerve at the end when the white Martian persona physically split apart from Megan for a moment. That was totally unexpected. Clearly, this white Martian persona is more than just a figment of Megan’s imagination. This is definitely more than a split personality disorder. This was the moment when McKeever managed to hook my interest into Megan’s plotline.

We learn very little new information about the current story arc involving the Terror Titans other than the fact that the Dark Side Club wants to purchase Eddie. The Dark Side Club is some new mysterious group that is part of Final Crisis. I know that they are from the Seven Soldiers of Victory when the New Gods were turned into humans and Darkseid was a crime boss named Dark Side and he owned a club. This newest wrinkle piqued my interest and I am interested to see how McKeever plays this out.

Teen Titans #58 delivered some solid artwork. I like Carlos Rodriguez’s pencils. It is unfortunate that it got burdened by inking by committee in this issue which gave the art an inconsistent look from page to page.

The Bad: This was a poorly timed spotlight issue. I have no problem with McKeever wanting to pull off a spotlight issue on Megan in order to perform some much needed character work on her. However, the middle of a story arc is not the appropriate time for a spotlight issue that really doesn’t have much to do with the current story arc.

Teen Titans #58 merely served break the flow of the current story arc. This issue slammed the pacing of this story arc into neutral. Nothing happens in Teen Titans #58 to further the story arc along at all. This spotlight issue on Megan should have been done after this story arc concluded as a bridge issue to the next major story arc.

Overall: Teen Titans #58 was a solid issue that does a nice job casting the spotlight on Miss Martian. If you are a fan of her character then you are sure to enjoy this issue. However, if you aren’t a big fan of Miss Martian then you will probably be a bit bored with this issue. And seeing that Teen Titans #58 does very little to progress the Terror Titans story arc then you could easily skip this issue and just get the next issue.