Titans #32 – John Layman, Writer; Pete Woods, Artist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: It’s been a long time since the Titans franchise was in order – some might say it’s been since before One Year Later over twenty years ago! The franchise suffered the most from the various reboots, but this run reuniting the old-school iconic New Teen Titans gang has been the most successful in a long time. Tom Taylor set up the big-scale storylines, and John Layman has kept the momentum going with a DC KO tie-in. But it all ends here, as the team is being replaced with a new, younger-skewing team and a new creative team next month. So for this issue, Layman and Woods look to bring it home with an issue that focuses on one of the most troubling ongoing plot points in the franchise – the fate of Terra. She’s one of the team’s deadliest enemies, but she’s also a girl who was manipulated and destroyed by Slade at a very young age, and Raven isn’t quite willing to give up on her yet.
Terra is often written as a megalomaniac and a sadist, but as they battle for control of the power of Gemworld, Raven is able to get through her defenses and potentially make her see the possibility for something better. I’m not sure if it’ll take – we’ve seen this story before – but there’s definitely more hope for her than there is for Darkseid’s daughter, Grail – who is facing off against Donna Troy and Roy Harper back on Earth. This subplot, hinting at a romance between the two, hasn’t been the most compelling, but this run has absolutely helped Donna Troy come back to prominence as an Amazon and a Titan. She gets some great moments in this final battle, and in the end the Titans are able to mostly reunite for one last moment of glory before they pass the torch. This was a back to basics run, and I think it did what it needed to do in order to give the franchise its momentum back.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
