Teen Titans #47 – Robbie Thompson, Writer; Javi Fernandez, Artist; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist
Ray – 6/10
Ray: It’s the final issue for Teen Titans, and it’s been a long, strange journey to get here. I haven’t been shy about talking about my many problems with this run, and a lot of them are still present. I don’t get this book’s take on Damian, Roundhouse annoys me, and many of the other characters feel out of focus. But with the cast mostly pared down to Roundhouse, Crush, Red Arrow, and Kid Flash, it’s improved a bit. This final issue pits them against Joystick, the sadistic teen gamer with “God-mode” powers. He ambushed Kid Flash and Red Arrow last issue, and now has them as mind-controlled zombies set to attack their teammates. Much of the first half of the issue is Crush and Roundhouse trying to get through to their friends, with Joystick almost feeling like a side threat who is defeated relatively easily—and with that, they wrap up their mission to round up all the villains who escaped from Damian’s secret prison.
But the bigger question in this issue is what’s to become of the Teen Titans now. They’re not much of a team, with their erstwhile leader in the wind and leaving them cryptic messages. There’s even some meta-commentary about how the Teen Titans seem to always be derailed by something over the years. That leads to an ending that brings in Nightwing and some of the other former original Teen Titans, who are ready to mentor this new crew. The upcoming solicits for Future State indicate a superhero training school may be in the future—but it’ll also get destroyed and kill all the students but one. That’s part of the problem here—Teen Titans should be a fun book, yet somehow it’s always one of the darkest in the DC stable. I’m hopeful that the characters here, especially Wallace, Crush, and Emiko, will build on their story arc here and wind up in a better title that lets them reach their full potential in the future.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
