Titans #36 – Dan Abnett, Writer; Bruno Redondo, Artist; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 6/10
Corrina: That Cover Is the Best Thing About the Issue
Ray: Titans #36, the final issue of Dan Abnett’s Titans tries to wrap up all the ongoing stories, but it also goes back to the beginning of this run to try to show us a little more of how this story began. That includes bringing back Nightwing, who put the team together before he took a bullet to the skull. Raven’s been one of the main characters of the run and this issue shows how Nightwing recruited her. These segments are the strongest part of the issue, as Dick pitches Raven on how her talents as an empath make her a perfect fit for the team. Raven and Beast Boy have always been in a sort of odd limbo, caught between two generations of Titans. So seeing her come into her own as an adult hero is good. I just wish everything surrounding the issue was as strong, but the swan song on this title goes back to the well with all the bland plots involving generic villain Mother Blood.
Much of the back half of this run has taken place on the mystical Unearth, where Mother Blood has taken control with the help of a twisted version of Raven’s soul-self and the Maker and Travesty are trying to turn the tide. Bruno Redondo is the artist on this issue and has a lot of freedom to show off. The big-scale fight scenes in Unearth have some of the best art of the run, but again – it’s all very generic. Mother Blood, despite having a full issue devoted to her origin, remains a standard doomsday villain and her eventual fate befits a cosmic foe with no personality. The issue seems mostly to be concerned with setting things up for the next creative team – Beast Boy’s sudden reset comes out of nowhere and is a very convenient way to eliminate a status quo no one was a big fan of. Kyle, Natasha, and Ben have barely any role in the issue. It’s not an overtly bad comic, but it’s one that never did justice to its characters.
Corrina: I only think of how much stronger this run might have been had segments like Nightwing and Raven’s talk been part of the beginning, instead of spliced into this end. Those moments are why the original series of Titans always worked and those moments have been few and far between with this series. And they’re basically in there as filler to explain the current happenings in the issue.
I guess the best I can say about this run is that it probably did no permanent damage to any of the characters.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
