"Third times the charm". Could never really get behind that saying. Who even decided a third try was instantly the best? Like, the third try must have worked three times before some jackass started saying that. Luckily, the third try for The Teen Titans is more of a soft flop than a complete disaster. Today on Current Issues we talk about 2017's Teen Titans.
Writer: Ben Percy
Artists: Jonboy Meyers, Diogenes Neves, & Khio Pham
If you honestly don't know who the Teen Titans are, what are you doing here? Well, if you go check out my post "Titans Triumphant" you'll get the lowdown. You'll also get a lot of love for the characters involved in Dan Abnett's Titans, love I was hoping would extend to Ben Percy's Teen Titans. Hoping. After the Teen Titans were savagely ruined by Scott Lobdell in 2011, and again mistreated by Will Pleifer in 2015, I assumed they could only go up from here. After all, now in 2017 DC Comics has been hitting it out of the park with the DC Rebirth initiative. But somehow Teen Titans is still suffering in my opinion.
The team was a breath of fresh air. Whereas The Titans are made up of veteran Teen Titans all grown up, Teen Titans uses a team we are familiar with thanks to television. Leading the team is Damian Wayne/Robin, the stubborn, overconfident, moody brat sidekick/son of Batman. Starfire is treated as the big sister of the team as she's considerably older than most of the members. She also retains her misunderstanding of human analogies. Raven returns in a more traditional costume with new aesthetics, and comes off as depressed rather than depressing. Beast Boy isn't the kid of the team anymore and instead is a Hollywood celebrity superhero like his 1980's incarnation. Difference here is that he's more of a modern celebrity, being on Youtube and acting like a douche when he's trying to be funny. And finally-the urban voice of the team-Kid Flash! Cyborg? Oh, no. He's a founding member of The Justice League. He's far too important to be a Teen Titan. Seriously DC Comics, you want to get back to basics and honor your history? Stop pretending like Cyborg is worth anything without the Teen Titans. This Kid Flash is Wally West. But that red-headed Flash-who used to be Kid Flash-is also Wally West? Quick explanation: They are cousins who were named after the same grandfather. This Wally's father was another Reverse Flash so Wally's got a bit of complex to him.
At first I really liked this team. It was reminiscent of the older roster, but the characters were different enough that it didn't feel repeated. However, the roster becomes an issue. You see, this series is currently on issue #9 and the team has already gained a new member and lost an old member. The first arc is about the team being formed by Damian in an attempt to honor Tim Drake's dream (Tim is "dead") of inspiring a better youth for tomorrow. The team is attacked by a group of assassins raised to specifically hate each of them. This arc leads to the team bonding over evil relatives, Damian fighting his cousin, The Teen Titans battling Ra's al Ghul, and Batman giving his approval. The following arcs are kind of bullshit. Follow me here: First arc is the team-builder, second arc introduces a sixth member, third arc ties into a crossover event with Titans and Deathstroke, and the newest arc is about the sixth member again and sees Kid Flash leave the team. Nine issues in and the book is already shifting focus and being bogged down by events. That sixth member, by the way, is Jackson Hyde/Aqualad. Remember Aqualad from Young Justice? Basically that character if he was raised as a human and didn't know about his heritage. And look, his arc is fine. Really, I'm enjoying his character. But this series has an odd issue of choosing when to slow down and when to hurry up. They slow down when it comes to Jackson finding his name despite all the arc titles calling him Aqualad, and they speed up when it comes to developing the roster. Again, to introduce a new character in issue #6 and then kick one out in issue #9? Seriously, you couldn't wait another four issues?
Ben Percy is a competent writer. He's currently on Green Arrow and that book is so good it makes "Arrow" look like the "Catwoman" movie. According to Green Arrow diehards it's "as Green Arrow as the character can be". Percy has also written several novels in his career. I never want to slam a writer based on one piece of work. I roast guys like Lobdell and Frank Miller because they've done enough bad stuff to warrant the hate. But Percy-like Pleifer-just doesn't understand the material. Green Arrow is pretty simple when you narrow him down: he's rich, he's an archer, he's a goofball, and he is a strong liberal activist. But with The Teen Titans you're juggling five very different characters. An alien, a shapeshifting celebrity, the daughter of a demon, a troubled youth with super-speed, and the arrogant spawn of Batman. The most well-rounded characters-Kid Flash and Aqualad-suffer from either overexposure or fast-pacing. And Percy's version of Damian is such a step backwards. Damian Wayne is hated because of his arrogance, so how do you fix that? You mature him, give him a noble mission, help him grow. The first arc seemed to imply that, but after that crossover Damian has been acting like he never changed at all. Worse yet, Damian is made to look like he has favoritism on certain Titans. When Aqualad joined the team Damian was upset because Jackson had no experience. But after Kid Flash made a big mistake and was kicked off the team by Robin, Robin suddenly gave Aqualad all his attention. It just really sucks that nine issues in and the book just feels crooked already.
The art for issues #0 and #1 was done by Jonboy Meyers and my God was it great. Soft, yet sharp designs. Well blended colors that showed various shades and effects. Great distinction between powers like Raven's demonic powers and Kid Flash's speed powers. Just really cool looking art that could have made the book a success. Could have. For whatever reason, Meyers left the book and Diogenes Neves took over. Which was fine. The color was the same and the art was similar enough. Noticeably different, but similar. But then in issue #3 and onward Khoi Pham got the art duty and it is not pretty. Damian looks like a cave-child with every expression, Beast Boy's face is as obnoxious has his humor, and when he's tasked to draw members of The Titans, Khoi's art almost sank that part of the crossover for me.
All and all, the current Teen Titans is really disappointing. It just feels as though the book is moving too fast and Percy is doing too much. I'm afraid that after establishing Aqualad he's only going to shake up the roster again or get tied up in some crossover. And based on the solicitations of Damian introducing The Teen Titans to Jon Kent/Superboy? My fears could come to pass. Hopefully Ben Percy can focus on a story between these characters. Something classic. Fight Cinderblock or something. Establish some relationships, build friendships, do something that isn't flashy or just to "spice things up". The Teen Titans aren't all flash and noise. Why, if the Teen Titans were just entertaining because they look cool and sound funny the world would be dumber as a result.
Thanks for reading.
Pick up "The Titans" by Dan Abnett.
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