A Sense of Doubt blog post #3791 - So, I finally Finished Watching TITANS and SoD Reprint of #3015
TITANS.
I finally finished watching it all. Four seasons is not a lot, but with limited time and opportunity to watch, it can take a while. Maybe six years? Maybe a little more?
I loved it.
I thought I had a post on the Titans show already, but I cannot find it. I know I have almost 3800 posts, but using categories or even searching for key words would bring it up. So maybe I dreamed posting about this show.
I adored the casting.
I loved the new conceptions of Gar and Rachel as heroes and characters.
LOVED LOVED LOVED Hawk and Dove and especially DONNA TROY (my second fave after Nightwing).
Okay, I did not like the casting of Kory at first nor the different conception of her character, but ultimately, I loved it and this actor. Superb.
I mean, could they really do an orange, big-breasted alien, whose hair is often on fire?
The big breasts thing were surely the mode of the times, a feature of women in comics that has faded with the years (especially after Jim Balent's Catwoman, which was absurd).
So, since I cannot reprint a former post on the Titans show, I reprinted a Titans comic book post below and shared an article on the finale.
Loved the final scene with Dick and Kory.
It was a feel good moment and gave me a realization.
S.T.A.R. Labs has been hiding a secret project called the Icarus Gate that’s housing a wormhole. While the gate is operational, powering it up requires the energy of over 10,000 Earth suns. Guess who has that power—it’s Kory! Kory has determined that Sebastian plans to use the wormhole to destroy her home planet of Tamaran because it’s ‘everything he’s not’. This plot point also goes back to Season 1 when Starfire was sent to Earth to destroy Trigon’s daughter so that she wouldn’t open the doorway to bring him to Earth which would then result in the destruction of Tamaran.
The gate is located beneath S.T.A.R. Labs and Sebastian just enters the building without anyone stopping him or IDing him. The only person to confront Sebastian is Dr. Espenson (Kyana Teresa) and she, along with everyone else at S.T.A.R. Labs, is soon killed by Sebastian. And why does he kill them? Because they destroyed his game Abraxus. Sebastian personifies the caricature of the entitled white guy who thinks he deserves greatness without earning it. Abraxus is a terrible game that he’s been trying to pitch since the season began, and which only got off the ground because Conner wanted to prove he could defeat Sebastian on his own. The game was a brief success because Sebastian “Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos”-ed the players into enjoying it and then sucked their life forces out while they played. Tim Drake/Robin 3.0 (Jay Lycurgo) shut it down with Conner’s help. And now S.T.A.R. Labs’ employees pay the price. Except one—Bernard Fitzmartin (James Scully), who wakes up from his Abraxus-induced coma just in time to reunite with his boyfriend Tim and help the Titans during the final showdown.
Link to the original post I am reprinting below:
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
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.
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I have one take-away, a realization: I AM A GOOD PERSON.
Recently, through an event in my life, some people castigated me, impugned my character, didn't just imply that I am not a good person, basically SAID that.
They are wrong.
They have issues that they need to work on.
Watching the ending of Titans, the sense of family, the love, and the final scene with Kory and Dick together, maybe at the start of their relationship, I was filled with a feeling of love, acceptance, gratitude, and hope. They are good people. So am I.
I take on a lot of responsibility for things I do wrong. I can run myself down. I can wallow in hopelessness.
Titans taught me not to do that.
Never give up.
I am enough.
I am good.
So are you.
Thanks for tuning in.
https://collider.com/titans-series-finale-ending-explained/
Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the finale of Titans Season 4.After four seasons of strife, sacrifices, near-deaths, and team changes, Titans concludes with a triumphant team embracing a future where they’re still a family, even if they aren’t together. Like several superhero shows before it, including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Supergirl, and Arrow, the Titans series finale allows the main cast of characters to spread their wings beyond their team dynamic. But first, they have to take down a half-demon villain with a god complex.
Titans Season 4 has, in many ways, been a look at what’s come before. The show began with a cult called The Organization desperately attempting to kidnap Rachel Roth/Raven (Teagan Croft) to bring back her inter-dimensional demon father Trigon. This season follows the Church of Blood, a remnant of The Organization. Run by May Bennett/Mother Mayhem (Franka Potente), she successfully manipulates her and Trigon’s son Sebastian Sanger/Brother Blood (Joseph Morgan) into bringing the demon back to Earth. By the finale, “Titans Forever,” the Titans are in disarray, and the only way to win is if Kory Anders/Starfire (Anna Diop) sacrifices herself. How does the team defeat Brother Blood in the Titans series finale?
Titans Season Four Trailer
Thanks for tuning in.
'Titans' Series Ending Explained: Is Brother Blood Finally Defeated?
By
Monita Mohan
Published May 11, 2023
Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the finale of Titans Season 4.After four seasons of strife, sacrifices, near-deaths, and team changes, Titans concludes with a triumphant team embracing a future where they’re still a family, even if they aren’t together. Like several superhero shows before it, including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Supergirl, and Arrow, the Titans series finale allows the main cast of characters to spread their wings beyond their team dynamic. But first, they have to take down a half-demon villain with a god complex.
Titans Season 4 has, in many ways, been a look at what’s come before. The show began with a cult called The Organization desperately attempting to kidnap Rachel Roth/Raven (Teagan Croft) to bring back her inter-dimensional demon father Trigon. This season follows the Church of Blood, a remnant of The Organization. Run by May Bennett/Mother Mayhem (Franka Potente), she successfully manipulates her and Trigon’s son Sebastian Sanger/Brother Blood (Joseph Morgan) into bringing the demon back to Earth. By the finale, “Titans Forever,” the Titans are in disarray, and the only way to win is if Kory Anders/Starfire (Anna Diop) sacrifices herself. How does the team defeat Brother Blood in the Titans series finale?
Titans Season Four Trailer
At the end of the penultimate episode of Titans, Sebastian finally killed his mother (for good this time) and absorbed all her power. Conner Kent/Superboy (Joshua Orpin) tried to kill Sebastian with the “Project Starfire” nuclear grenade orb, but since the orb had not reached 100% power, it didn’t hurt Sebastian at all—instead, he attacked Conner, seemingly killing him and blew the Horn of Trigon to summon his father.
One person who does need to be saved is Conner. Dick Grayson/Nightwing (Brenton Thwaites) tries to revive him with a specially-created super-injector, but Conner is unresponsive. Even loving licks from Krypto don’t seem to be working. The Titans may have lost one of their own, but Dick is not ready to let go. In the weirdest writing choice ever, Dick, standing over Conner’s seemingly dead body, chooses to book a dinner reservation for six people for Friday (Titans airs on Thursday, so we can assume he’s booking it for the following day). If a delicious-sounding dinner doesn’t tempt Conner back to life, then what will?
'Titans' Finale Introduces the Wormhole
S.T.A.R. Labs has been hiding a secret project called the Icarus Gate that’s housing a wormhole. While the gate is operational, powering it up requires the energy of over 10,000 Earth suns. Guess who has that power—it’s Kory! Kory has determined that Sebastian plans to use the wormhole to destroy her home planet of Tamaran because it’s ‘everything he’s not’. This plot point also goes back to Season 1 when Starfire was sent to Earth to destroy Trigon’s daughter so that she wouldn’t open the doorway to bring him to Earth which would then result in the destruction of Tamaran.
The gate is located beneath S.T.A.R. Labs and Sebastian just enters the building without anyone stopping him or IDing him. The only person to confront Sebastian is Dr. Espenson (Kyana Teresa) and she, along with everyone else at S.T.A.R. Labs, is soon killed by Sebastian. And why does he kill them? Because they destroyed his game Abraxus. Sebastian personifies the caricature of the entitled white guy who thinks he deserves greatness without earning it. Abraxus is a terrible game that he’s been trying to pitch since the season began, and which only got off the ground because Conner wanted to prove he could defeat Sebastian on his own. The game was a brief success because Sebastian “Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos”-ed the players into enjoying it and then sucked their life forces out while they played. Tim Drake/Robin 3.0 (Jay Lycurgo) shut it down with Conner’s help. And now S.T.A.R. Labs’ employees pay the price. Except one—Bernard Fitzmartin (James Scully), who wakes up from his Abraxus-induced coma just in time to reunite with his boyfriend Tim and help the Titans during the final showdown.
Brother Blood and Starfire Face-off in the 'Titans' Finale
While the team gets into a battle with a meta-human task force (where did they come from?), Starfire is possessed by Sebastian and taken to the Icarus Gate. First of all, let’s just reiterate here that S.T.A.R. Labs, a facility with a literal wormhole in it, has absolutely no systems in place to prevent some rando from waltzing in and using magic to enter the gate room. Sebastian can “Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos” the password to the room, but this wouldn’t be an issue if the front door wasn’t unlocked.
Once Starfire comes to, she reminds Sebastian that destroying Tamaran and Earth were Trigon’s wishes, not his, but Sebastian has drunk his father’s soul, so he’s just doing whatever his father would have. Sebastian then hooks up Starfire to the gate’s mechanism, and it’s a freaky scene that seems to homage to the nightmarish cyborg scene in Superman III. It’s not quite as scary, though.
Deus ex Conner Kent Saves the Titans
Instead, Raven’s relegated to jogging Starfire’s memories, which again, doesn’t make sense because the last time Starfire was incapacitated, in Episode 8, “Dick & Carol & Ted & Kory”, it was Dick’s voice and him professing his love for her that snapped her back to reality. Titans gets a lot right and then the show’s writers falter at the finish line.
The day is saved by Conner who blasts Sebastian into an electrical field and Dick’s escrima sticks disable Sebastian for good measure. But Sebastian isn’t dead which means he could still be a threat in the future. Kory, now free, grabs Sebastian and flies into the stratosphere. Is she gone? Is she dead? Nope, Starfire comes back, and her old powers have returned. And she and Dick finally kiss, and the team group hug out their victory. They don’t explain exactly what happened to Sebastian, but we can assume he’s gone boom. Earth lives for another day.
'Titans' Ends with a Bright Future for the Characters
We’ve reached a point in pop culture where no one dies in finales—yes, there were a couple of close calls and Ryan Potter most likely gave himself a headache with all the times Garfield Logan/Beast Boy cried over the apparent deaths of Conner and Starfire—but we are here for the happy endings.
Conner is taking off to be with his genetic father, Clark Kent/Superman (no, he doesn’t cameo here, we only see his boots) who will be giving Conner flying lessons and hopefully some sage fatherly advice. Conner does worry if he’ll meet Clark’s expectations. He did some terrible things in his Conner Luthor phase, including killing one of Mother Mayhem’s acolytes. Dick, who is no stranger to murder and death, tells Conner to forgive himself. The show has certainly see-sawed on heroes killing people, and it’s just something that the heroes, and fans, will have to live with.
Dick and Kory are sticking together, but it doesn’t look like superheroing is at the top of their priorities. Back in Season 3, Dick had a vision of a little girl (Lillian Monize) calling him ‘daddy’. In Season 4, Kory has a similar vision of the same little girl in Dick’s arms. This is an obvious reference to the Kingdom Come comic series (Mark Waid, Alex Ross) where Dick and Kory have a daughter named Mar’i Grayson/Nightstar. In both their visions, Dick and Kory saw the girl with a red balloon. As a throwback to their visions, Dick and Kory see a child with a similar balloon walking by and look wistfully at it. They’ve only just rekindled their romance, but it looks like they’re already dreaming of their future child.
'Titans' Ends on a Happy Note, But Still Leaves Us Wanting
Titans ends on a positive happy note, but is anyone else disappointed that the team never said “Titans Together”? That’s the team’s comics catchphrase, and I expected a moment like in Avengers: Endgame, but it never came. In a way, that makes sense. The Titans aren’t together anymore, and throughout the four seasons, some members have been at odds with others, so the team haven’t been able to gel well. The Season 4 characters have been the closest to being a cohesive unit, a family, except for Conner’s rebellious phase.
The finale didn’t feel as epic as it could have—though it didn’t look rushed, there was an essence of getting this one out the door as soon as possible. Finales are hard; there’s always an expectation, and everyone’s is different. All we can say is, we had four years with these beloved characters, so many of whom made their live-action debuts on the show. It wasn’t long enough, but we’ll always have these four seasons of Titans forever.
Sunday, 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 -
Not a word about Kory😟
— Сауле Сандыбаева (@SScoach777) May 26, 2023
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
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:
the roller rink was only the beginning...#DickKory #dctitans pic.twitter.com/flWxid3AQB
— DC Titans (@DCTitans) May 8, 2023
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
- Days ago = 2879 days ago
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2507.05 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3656 days ago & DAD = 310 days ago
- Days ago: MOM = 3656 days ago & DAD = 310 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. 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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