Review: Teen Titans #1
After only a few short months, Teen Titans is back with a new #1 issue and a new…not much else. Scott Lobdell’s reign of terror is over. Bring on Will Pfeifer’s reign of terror! I say that with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek, but after reading and digesting Pfeifer’s first issue in this new, relaunched Teen Titans, it doesn’t look like much has changed. I’m willing to go easy on Pfeifer, and artist Kenneth Rocafort, and give them the benefit of the doubt, but the problems with Lobdell’s Teen Titans were very clear and very easy to fix. So why Pfeifer and DC didn’t do a complete 180 and try something totally new is beyond me.
Teen Titans #1
Teen Titans #1 could just as easily have been Teen Titans #31. It picks up exactly where Lobdell left off and brings absolutely nothing new or interesting to the table.
Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.
I was ready to forgive and forget, and embrace a new approach to the Teen Titans comic. I stuck with Lobdell’s stink pile for the entire run, watching and wincing as DC let him have 30 whole issues and some annuals. Whereas nearly ever other comic in DC’s New 52 was given a new creative team at some point, or cancelled outright, DC stuck with Lobdell despite the fact that everyone pretty much hated and abandoned the comic. Lobdell’s Teen Titans was a frantic mess, unwilling to sit still for even a second to focus on the characters, the team or anything other than hectic superhero action. I could go on and on about all of the problems with the first run of Teen Titans, but I don’t have the time or energy. We’re here to talk about the new relaunch.
And you better believe I’m disappointed.
Pfeifer’s Teen Titans #1 is wall-to-wall action, starring pretty much the exact same Titans team that Lobdell left off with – only now Beast Boy is green for some reason. No explanation given on that change. It’s Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Raven, Beast Boy and Bunker stopping a group of terrorists on a speeding bus (yep!), while Pfeifer hints at some kind of future plot with S.T.A.R. Labs. There’s plenty of chatter among the team members as they go about their business, but there’s little in the way of actual, meaningful interactions. No effort is made to explain why they’re still a team or why they spend any time together beyond being the selected roster for the book. No background is given, no establishing information is put out; nothing beyond a bunch of superheroes responding to a sudden emergency on the streets of New York.
In that regard, Peifer and Rocafort make a fine comic. The action is well-paced and well-drawn. I suppose it’s as exciting as any generic action scene in a comic might be. There’s a good use of everyone’s powers and abilities. Everybody is generally likable. I don’t necessarily think Rocafort’s hyper-detailed, sketchy style is the right fit for Teen Titans, but it works fine. No real complaints from my end on art. It’s also definitely a colorful comic.
But Teen Titans #1 doesn’t do anything new to warrant the relaunch. It looks like business as usual, even after I got my hopes up that something would be different this time around.
Oh wait, there is one change. After 30+ issues of Bunker’s sexuality not being an issue for anybody, Pfeifer is apparently totally going to make it an awkward, clumsy issue. Great.
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
First Official Sneak Peek at Avengers: Age of Ultron
Entertainment Weekly continues to be a magazine in circulation, and they have landed the first official look at Avengers 2: Age of Ultron! I used to love that magazine in high school in the swinging late 90s. So good for them at this pretty awesome scoop. Check out this cover, with our first real look at Ultron himself!
He looks pretty gnarly. And Captain America and Iron Man look pretty cool too.
You can check out an early sneak peek at the Avengers 2 interview at their website. It gives a lot of details on the plot, so be careful of spoilers, and talks about a few of the new characters. You can check out a few pictures by clicking here, including an official look at Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, as well as a possible surprise superhero cameo. Or you can just wait for the actual magazine, because people still apparently buy those. Right now, I’m legitimately considering it.
The 6 Best of Hercules in Pop Culture
Hercules! Hercules! Hercules! That’s still a reference people get, right? Good. The Rock’s big Hercules movie comes out at the end of this month, and that’s reason enough to celebrate as far as I’m concerned! He’s the Rock! Doing Hercules! It’s kind of perfect, actually.
I’m torn as to whether or not the word ‘smackdown’ should be in this movie
I am a huge fan of Greek myths. I can still remember the Big Book of Greek Myths I used to devour from my middle school library. So seeing a big budget Hercules movie (that isn’t that earlier big budget Hercules movie from January) is kind of a treat. It’s the Rock fighting all the great Greek monsters. That alone should be pretty cool. And you know what else is pretty cool: the idea that people have been playing Hercules for centuries. This is a character that has existed since before the Roman Empire. How cool is it that we, as a society, are still telling the story of Hercules?
And why can we do that? Because nobody owns the rights to Hercules! Anybody can make a Hercules movie or cartoon or video game or comic book…and they have! Join me after the jump to check out the 6 greatest pop culture appearances of the Lion of Greece!
Thor Becomes a Lady, the World Loses Its Mind
I love it when comic book storylines somehow become mainstream news. I love watching reporters or celebrities or whoever try to interpret something that probably doesn’t make any sense to them, but they’re being paid to promote it nonetheless. Like when Fox News freaked out about the death of Ultimate Spider-Man. Or when Fox News freaked out about the introduction of a half black, half Latino Spider-Man.
Today’s comic book news is that Marvel is going to tell a story about a female Thor. This was announced on The View, of all places, and it’s all over the Internet. Lady Thor is even trending on Facebook!
Still blonde
First of all, why the heck is Marvel using The View to announce anything? Is there really a big crossover audience? I think they’ve done it before, and while it may be a female-centric show, is that the only place they could think of to announce news about a female character? Why not package the announcement during Sex and the City reruns? There has to be a better way to reach women.
Second of all, who cares?! It’s a comic book storyline! It may be getting a new #1 issue, but it’s still just a single storyline that Marvel feels like doing. Why does this warrant mainstream news coverage?
Why the metal face mask?
I’ve felt pretty cynical about the world for a few years now. This sort of thing falls squarely in the whole ‘the mainstream news is distraction’ sort of conspiracy theory. Why bother reporting on important things when the news can talk about a comic book storyline? Or the search for a crashed airplane? Does any of this coverage talk about how awesome Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder has been? Did Whoopi Goldberg on The View tell people where, how and why they should start reading this Lady Thor comic? Or is this just an announcement for announcement’s sake?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely going to read the comic, because Jason Aaron’s Thor has been pretty amazing. But how weird is it that it’s getting this much attention? I wish the universe cared this much about comic books for real. But why not have reporters who actually understand comics talk about real comic book news instead of paying Whoopi Goldberg to read a press release?
Maybe then they could make jokes about Frog Thor or Horse Thor.
Or Valkyrie, who already is a blonde, female Thor.
Green Lantern Taken Down Yet Another Notch
The good folks at Screen Junkies have finally gotten around to doing an Honest Trailer for Green Lantern.
It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. I feel like they could have done a lot, lot more with this wreck of a movie – which, I’ll admit, I liked after I first saw it. No, don’t go back and search for my original movie review. You won’t like what you see.
Henchman-4-Hire 