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Sunday, May 21, 2023

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3015 - Titans #1 - review for Comic Book Sunday for May 21, 2023



A Sense of Doubt blog post #3015 - Titans #1 - review for Comic Book Sunday for May 21, 2023






https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dc-comics/titans-(2023)/1



I admit it.

I am biased.

I joined Titan fandom back in the late 1980s, near the end of the Wolfman-Pérez years. I contributed to the APA (Amateur Press Association) TitanTalk. I wrote fan fiction.

I am huge fan if Nightwing and Donna Troy. (I ship a love affair between them that we will never see in the comics).

AND so, I am pre-disposed to like anything Titans related especially if it's not dreadful.

That said, I really love the new Titans  book from DC, and it's issue #001 that I bought Wednesday off the rack even though I have one coming from Michigan early next month.

Now, before I render a review of the book, I must confess that unlike other fans I am not an encyclopedia of Titans-lore. I have not read all the issues a hundred times, and I have not even watched the entire TV series yet, though I did finish season two a few months ago and so am ready to binge through the last two seasons as soon as I get a chance.

As for the issue, I loved it.

One thing many creators forget is that groups of superheroes, the Titans in particular, are a family. This point was driven home in the TV show, even a little artificially as they forged the bonds of family much more quickly than in the years of development in the comics.

Fans like the "family" theme because their fan groups feel like chosen families as well. Even more so than in the late 1960s when the Teen Titans were invented, the idea of a chosen family as opposed to the family one is born into without a chance for choice is a very currently relevant and powerful idea.

As one of the flagship titles in DC new reinvention project -- Dawn of DC -- Titans will surely be a cornerstone if it can proceed with longevity and a consistent creative team.

Tom Taylor has distinguished himself as one of the best of a cadre of young, new-ish comic writers. His current work on the Nightwing comic has proven to be one of the single best superhero comics in the industry. Again, the secret is history and the relationships of the characters. Most comic book readers are long time fans or new fans who plug into the history in various ways. Forgetting or ignoring the history is a fatal flaw of many creators in the industry. Comics have graduated from the "Battle of the Month Club" long ago. Readers want relationships, long story arcs, multiple sub-plots, character development and growth, and story lines with real stakes and significant events. Taylor has delivered that type of content in Nightwing and looks to be planning the same material in Titans.

Likewise, Nicola Scott has proven herself as one of the industry's elite artists with work on Wonder Woman, Black Magick, and Birds of Prey among other titles. Her work provides realistic humanity to the characters and reminds me of some of the greatest to draw comics and the Titans especially like George Pérez and José Luis García-López. Though rooted in tradition, her own style and shapes and develops new concepts for these characters, as we early in the first issue in which Beast Boy (Changeling) is rendered beautifully in his tight undies. On the very next pages, her depictions of Garth (Aqualad/Tempest), Nightwing, and Donna Troy are just gorgeous -- realistic and true top tradition (and somewhat with nods to the TV show).

Colors by Annette Kwok provides fullness and depth to Scott's art without altering her style dramatically and lettering by Wes Abbott enhances the story text without getting in its way.

The issue sets a classic frame with an inciting incident that returns at the end as a lead in to the next issue and first story arc -- solve the murder of Wally West (Flash/ Kid Flash).

I was a little disappointed by this choice as Wally has been through A LOT in recent years and yet we all know that he's not going to stay dead. After all, he has his own title on the horizon as well as being the main Flash in the current Flash comic.

But as a way to get reader attention, having him shot dead on page one and race against time in the scant seconds he has before his heart stops, not only shows his super power (how much can one do in those few seconds) and leaves both the Titans and readers with a mystery. After all, speedsters are only powerful for foes they face, challenges they can see and respond to. If at rest and caught unaware, shot before they can react, they are as vulnerable as the rest of us. Then again, does the sound of  a gun shot happen before the impact of the bullet at nearly any range? Especially at the kind of range a shooter would have to be from the Flash to catch him by surprise? Fractions of a second are like hours or days to us non-Speed Force-enhanced humans. Couldn't the Flash start vibrating to let the bullet pass as soon as he hears the gun shot, just a reflex to any gun shot? Or does the sound follow? The bullet already having pierced his heart. I hope the future episodes detail this answer a bit more. Wally narrates as much on the first page, shares that he has no chance to react as the bullet has pierced his heart before he hears the sound, but let's see Dick Grayson and crew mastermind this thought process in their investigation.

And so, the comic ends with a dead Flash (from the future??) and "SOLVE IT" all over the Titans Tower computer monitors.

In between, the story focuses on the gathering of the heroes with revisions to their characters from the TV show. The Raven of the Wolfman-Pérez years would not be involved in public displays of affection with Garfield, but the TV show girl would and does. Cute bedroom scene with them as Gar processes his PTSD. A great scene follows as Nightwing and Donna Troy (fan geek out -- those are my ship duo) trying to lure Garth back to the Titans with no success. Both Garth and Donna Troy are dead in the Titans  TV show at the end of season two, so maybe I need to watch the rest.

Then the heroes arrive at the new Titans Tower in Bludhaven (smart move and ties in with Taylor's work on Nightwing also set in Bludhaven, which is across the river from Gotham City for those who do now know) and the family feels are established and Raven kisses Gar in public, no big and good for media attention: they are officially a couple!

And then the battle of the week: Oracle calls - Giant Ape, nuclear reactor, the usual.

And with the comparison of Gar as a mouse in that earlier bedroom scene with Rachel, he's now a Tamaranean Apex Predator (or a Kaiju as one reviewer mistakenly called it).

And then it's time to establish another subplot and a long-term story arc with the interference of Peacemaker, Suicide Squad, and Amanda Waller, another popular DC property.

Titans be Titans and don't mess with Nightwing (my Main Man!!). 

Raven with the cowl drawn low even sends more of a Wolfman-Pérez years vibe in confronting the Peacemaker. Don't mess with her, either.

And then it's time to close the frame and set up next issue and the main story arc: can they solve the murder of the Flash?

Top to bottom I love this.

It gives me all the fannish feels. And it's just good storytelling, which is why the Critics rating of 8.6 and the reader's rating of 7.6 bothers me.

Then again, I am well aware that I am 10000% biased.

It's just great to have my Titans back!

10/10


Addendum - 2305.27 - 



I rarely get DMs on Twitter. So I was thrilled to get one from this lovely human admonishing me for not mentioning Kory, Princess Koriand'r, Starfire.

Part of my reason for not mentioning her was that she was not a very significant part of the first issue story. She had very few lines, and though she did help Donna drop the giant ape, she did not factor into the story significantly.

Still, it was great to see her. She is part of the team and has great history with the characters, especially Nightwing.

I also did not mention Cyborg for much the same reason. Though in both cases, I like how Taylor and Scott make them both either human (in Cyborg's case) or more human-like and relatable in Starfire's case.

I confess that I was not a shipper for the Dick-Kory romance, originally, in the comics. Though Pérez drew Kory with very large breasts, which for a young man was reason alone to love a character, I liked Dick with Donna, though it was never to be as they are and always have been securely in the friend zone.

Sidenote: I like the Scott is drawing Kory with much smaller breasts (more in line with the TV show?) and without the traditional costume that showed off her ample cleavage. It's important in comics to have realistic body types for female-identifying characters, especially since the trend for gigantic breasts, which really hit its zenith in 1990s, is WAY over and needs abandonment.

I have shared about this issue in this post (which I have reprinted in 2022 as shown below):

Sunday, November 6, 2022

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2819 - SoD Reprint of 1292 - De-objectify Women in Comics

However, on the Starfire-Nightwing romance, I do like it in the TV show. Though he and Dawn (Dove) were hot together, it makes more sense for her to be with Hank (Hawk). The Dick-Kory romance was WAY hotter in the TV show, as the Twitter person who admonished me posted with the following:



Still, I really like seeing Dick and Babs, so that was a better move than any of his other relationships, and I can ship Nightwing-Batgirl over Nightwing-Starfire.

One the subject of Victor, Cyborg, he has been written many ways since the original Wolfman-Pérez conception and often as more machine than human. About to star in his own title, it seems that the move is to position him well in-between. He's very human and relatable, being cocky in his retort to Peacemaker about being "far beyond anything you can comprehend" but also very operationally focused throughout in giving sitrep and assessment: "you were three minutes away from a major nuclear disaster."

It's good stuff.

I am hoping we see both Starfire and Cyborg have bigger roles in future issues and we see more Titans join the team or at least make cameos.

DC Comics need to remember the HISTORY of the comics and the saga they have told (which they seem to be doing here) with some not unreasonable connection to the portrayals in the TV show.




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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2305.21 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2879 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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