Ray: Teen Titans continues to be the most frustrating in the DC stable, because it has a team of characters with a lot of potential, but seems to use them in the most bizarre ways. Chief among the problems – its take on Damian seems fundamentally darker than any we’ve ever seen, to the point where it’s really hard to square it with his appearances in any other titles. This is the kind of stuff where Batman wouldn’t be willing to work with him after it – and in Teen Titans #33, he commits possibly the most fundamental breach of trust and ethics for Batman, maybe even more so than killing.
It’s a while before we get there, though, and first we get to see Lex Luthor essentially undo the events of last arc – removing the mind alteration whammy Djinn put on Lobo, restoring him to his kill-frenzy personality and giving him the opportunity to get revenge on Crush and the rest of the Titans. Someone call Killer Frost and Atom to let them know what their friend is up to.
A month later, the Titans – sans Red Arrow, who left – are working together better, but tensions are high. They manage to foil a plot by Shimmer and Mammoth that involves human trafficking, and capture the villains. Damian visits Emiko in New York, where she’s been living and trying to recover from her decision to kill Deathstroke. This segment is decent, with Damian being appropriately paranoid and Emiko accurately pointing out the flaws in his thinking.
You’d be fooled into thinking Damian is learning – until it’s revealed he’s started up his secret prison again. This time with Djinn’s help. And Djinn is mindwiping villains to forget who they are and live under false identities as peaceful civilians. Not only is this a monstrous violation of ethics for a hero, it’s the plot of Identity Crisis – where Batman found out he was mindwiped. This is one of the most fundamentally wrong takes on a DC hero I’ve seen in a while, especially when Tom King gives Damian a fantastic spotlight this week.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
This post was last modified on August 20, 2019 3:40 pm
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