Comic Book Review: Titans #1

The Revolution is full of mixed feelings about the debut of Titans #1. I grew up a diehard fan of the wonderful Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans. For me, this is the iconic version of the Teen Titans. Still, I’m hesitant about having the Wolfman/Perez Titans getting back together. First, I staunchly believe that you can never go home again. The past is the past and it just cannot be relived. What Wolfman and Perez did with this roster is something that should be praised and enjoyed. However, I don’t see any reason for bringing the Wolfman/Perez Titans back. There is just no way that this current take on the Wolfman/Perez Titans will be able to compare to what we got the first time around.

Second, the writer DC tapped for this title is none other than Judd Winick. I always think it is incumbent upon a reviewer to openly state any inherent or uncontrollable biases immediately prior to reviewing a comic book. Let me make it clear that I have rarely been even remotely impressed with Winick’s writing. And Titans #1 follows on the heels of Titans East #1 which is quite possibly the worst comic book I have ever read in my entire life.

So, while out of pure nostalgia I’m happy to see the Wolfman/Perez Titans back together I simply don’t expect to get much of a quality read on this title. Nostalgia only takes the reader but so far and I simply don’t believe that Winick has the writing chops to do the Wolfman/Perez Titans justice. We can only hope that nobody gets killed by a laser beam being fired from off panel. Let’s go ahead and do this review for Titans #1.

Creative Team
Writer: Judd Winick
Pencils: Ian Churchill
Inks: Norm Rapmund

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Nightwing in Gotham and deciding to crash at one of Batman’s twelve safe houses that he has across Gotham. Nobody knows about them except for Batman, Alfred, Robin and Nightwing. They are designed so that no matter where they are in Gotham they can go to a safe house to get sleep, shower and get some civilian clothes.

Nightwing enters the safe house and evidently now has spider-sense because he suddenly turns around and runs out of the condo and jumps through the window. A huge explosion destroys the condo unit. Nightwing slides down the side of the building that was next to the condo’s building.

Nightwing thinks how this had to be random since nobody could have known about this safe house and been targeting him. Suddenly, a bunch of rejects from a BDSM convention appear on the scene and attack Nightwing.

We cut to Kory lying by the pool outside Animal Man’s house. Kory is naked and is soaking up the sun trying to continue to recharge her powers. Kory thinks how being naked is natural and that Earthlings hang-up about nudity seems silly considering how sex obsessed people are. Kory is totally baffled by human prudishness. Kory then figures that it is probably just mainly the United States that has a problem with nudity. (Yeah, that’s right, Winick. Only the U.S. has a hang-up with nudity. That is a mind bogglingly uneducated statement.)

Animal Man’s son, Cliff, walks out to the backyard and is shocked by the beauty of Kory’s naked body. Cliff then gets a terrified look and points behind Kory. We then see a giant demonic monster jumping out of the pool and about to attack Kory.

But, we get no action because we cut to Raven in high school. Raven tells two bimbos that they can’t have her notes. Suddenly, we see a giant monster appear in the hall and attack Raven.

But, once again we get no action scene because we cut to Red Arrow on his motorcycle. Red Arrow talks to his daughter and tells her to behave while he is out. Red Arrow thinks about how cool it is that he is a part of the Justice League of America. Suddenly, strange spikes sprout from the road and attack Red Arrow. (Okay, we are all seeing the pattern and formula for this issue, right?)

It appears that any action scene is going to remain elusive as we shift to Beast Boy in the Doom Patrol castle. Garfield is in bed thinking about how he knows he has the qualifications to lead the Doom Patrol, but that he simply sucks at giving orders. The phone rings and Beast Boy crawls out of bed to answer the phone. Suddenly, Beast Boy is attacked by what appears to be lava.

Oops, that looks like the beginning of an action scene, so this means we have to immediately cut away from the scene to Donna and Kyle in space arguing with each other. They are quarreling over what to do next after all that they have been through with the events of Countdown. Suddenly, a giant multi-tentacle monster appears in a rift in space and attacks Donna and Kyle.

However, no soup for you! We still don’t get an action scene as we cut to the Flash arriving home after a tough mission. Wally yells down to Linda that he will be at dinner in just a second after he takes a lightning fast shower. Wally steps in the shower and suddenly is attacked by some strange fleshy red vines.

And I know this would be a great time to actually get an action scene, but we don’t because we are off to Titans Island. The Teen Titans are about to do some training sessions when the island sprouts arms and a head and attacks the Teen Titans.

Ha! You thought you might get an action scene? No way, amigo. We hop back to Gotham where Nightwing is still brawling with the bondage crew. Nightwing pulls off the mask of one of the bondage ninjas and sees that he has a face of a demon.

Batman arrives on the scene and takes out the last of the bondage crew. Batman says that Nightwing’s teammates have been trying to reach him and since they couldn’t get a hold of Dick they contacted Batman. Nightwing responds that he does not have any teammates. Batman responds that someone seems to think otherwise. Batman says that something has happened and that he doesn’t think it is over.

We cut to the location of the final scene of Titans East #1. Power Boy is dead. Little Barda is in critical condition. Hawk and Dove are in serious but stable condition. Son of Vulcan, Lagoon Boy and Anima are all comatose. Cyborg is in pieces and is unconscious but stable.

Nightwing, Flash, Red Arrow, Donna, Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven are all on the scene. They state that someone is trying to kill anyone who was or is a Titan. They agree that all of the attacks were supernatural in nature. Raven then says that she can sense it. That her father, Trigon, is back. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Titans #1 was a most decidedly pedestrian read. However, I can still easily satisfy The Revolution’s Rule of Positivity. At least no one died from a laser being fired from off panel. All right, that is about all the positive comments that I have for the writing in this issue.

I loved the gorgeous artwork that Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund deliver in Titans #1. My three favorite aspects of the art would be how Churchill draws Kory and Beast Boy and the great looking new outfit that Churchill designed for Donna. It is a nice blend of her black starry outfit and her original Wonder Girl outfit.

Titans #1 may have been a dull issue to read, but it was certainly a beautiful issue to look at. Titans #1 is kind of like a really attractive bimbo: fun to look out but no substance at all underneath the skin.

The Bad: Titans #1 lacked any creativity, originality and excitement. Winick tosses out an issue that reads like a passionless standard issue comic book. The mechanical and “paint by numbers” feel to the story makes the reader wonder if Winick is simply going through the motions in order to collect a paycheck. There appears to be no real effort put into this issue.

Titans #1 was a great example of how to not kick off a new title. Not much really happens in this debut issue. All the Titans get attacked by supernatural creatures. We don’t see any of the fights. The Titans then all gather at the end and reveal that Trigon is back and after all of them. That’s it. There really wasn’t much substance to this issue for the reader to chew on.

Winick could have at least shown us some action scenes in this issue and teased the reader for an issue or two about the identity of the mysterious assailant. Instead, we get no action and no mystery.

I know that it is just the first issue, but this is arguable the most important issue of the series. There is so much competition in the current market that a writer needs to immediately establish a strong theme and flavor to the title and also hook the reader into wanting to come back for more. Winick fails to do anything on Titans #1 that makes the reader believe that we are going to get anything other than a run-of-the-mill super hero comic book.

Winick slaps together some generic dialogue. It isn’t the worst that I have read, but it certainly isn’t anything more than a journeyman’s effort. None of the Titans have much of a distinctive personality. All the characters come across flat and one-dimensional.

The only characters that display any type of personality are Kory and Raven and their personalities are simply basic stereotypes for each character, i.e. Kory likes to be nude and Raven isn’t friendly.

Titans #1 is a poorly plotted debut issue. Winick picked possibly the most boring and unexciting way to re-introduce Trigon into the story. Absolutely all of the action scenes take place off panel. That is just a horrendous way to construct an issue. On a debut issue, the writer either needs to deliver some cool action scenes or the writer needs to craft a deep and complex story with incredible dialogue. Unfortunately, Winick does neither.

All Winick does is give us extremely repetitious scenes where the same thing happens to each of the Titans. This terrible method of laying out the story gives Titans #1 such a rote feel. Winick’s approach to framing this issue amounts to nothing more than continual teases of the reader with numerous possible action scenes but never actually delivering any payoff. It would have been nice to actually see at least one of two of these action scenes.

I can’t say that I’m entirely thrilled with the first story arc featuring Trigon as the big villain. I will readily admit up front that I have never been a huge fan of Trigon. I’m not crazy about supernatural villains and I prefer the Titans when they are not traipsing around in the world of the supernatural.

Having said that, Wolfman did a wonderful job dealing with the massive conflict between Trigon and the Teen Titans. I really don’t see a need to revisit this exact same story arc. Kind of like how the greatest Legion of Super Heroes story arc is the Great Darkness Saga when the Legion took on Darkseid. That was twenty-six years ago and no writer has every thought to recycle a Legion versus Darkseid story arc. Some things are better left alone. (Just a point of clarification. An astute reader commented that I left out two other Legion vs. Darkseid story arcs. The reason I didn’t include them is because it is a violation of The Rules of The Revolution to acknowledge the existence of the TMK Legion or the DnA Legion unless it is to mock them mercilessly.)

Seeing the Titans square off against Trigon once isn’t all that original or interesting. And there is no way that Winick can come close to delivering the excellent read that Wolfman did in his Titans versus Trigon story arc. It would have been nice to see Winick show the reader that he has something original and different with this version of the Titans.

Overall: Titans #1 was a mediocre read. Winick did absolutely nothing on this issue that would give me any reason to buy the next issue or get me to recommend this title to anyone else. I am going to stick with this title only because I absolutely love these characters. So, I’d only recommend Titans #1 to readers who are long time fans of this classic line-up of the Teen Titans. For everyone else, I’d suggest you spend your hard earned money on some of the more demiurgic, original and creative reads currently on the market.