Teen Titans #40 – Adam Glass, Robbie Thompson, Writers; Eduardo Pansica, Penciller; Julio Ferreira, Inker; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 5/10
Ray: Teen Titans #14, part of the final arc of Adam Glass’ run, literally takes the Teen Titans to hell and back, sending each member of a dark night of the soul – but it really only emphasizes just how skin-deep most of these characters are.
Damian has an idea to bring Djinn back from the underworld, but it involves killing the team and sending them to the afterlife. The team continues to be utterly horrible to each other – Damian has been keeping fail-safes to kill each member of the team and is shocked that they don’t have one for him, Roundhouse – who caused this whole thing – wants to back out because he’s a coward, etc. But ultimately they do decide to go to the underworld, with the help of Jakeem watching over their bodies and resurrecting them when the time is right. There, they enter a cursed labyrinth that subjects each of them to their darkest fears and attempts to trap them as hostages to their demons.
The problem is, most of these fears are things that have been gone over before, and some of them are very repetitive. Emiko, Wallace, Crush, and to an extent Damian all fear that they’re going to give in to their villainous instincts or become the villain their parent was. For Wallace in particular, this delivers a good visual but there’s virtually nothing new here.
Roundhouse, meanwhile, fears being taunted by his dead sister that he’ll never be a hero. I mean, given that he’s done very little to prove her otherwise, I can’t argue. The villain, Elias, only gets one scene this issue where he declares war on heaven, and the title ends with a cliffhanger that shows the heroes may not have made it back in time. But this book’s biggest weakness is its main characters, and a creative team shift and an increased focus on Damian in the next arc may be for the best.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
