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Review: Teen Titans #3
I realized something kind of important after reading Teen Titans #3: I don’t really like any of these characters. I don’t mean that in the general sense, not like ‘Beast Boy sucks!’ or anything like that. I mean I don’t like them as people. I don’t really want to spend any time with them or be seen with them. The Teen Titans are kind of uncomfortable to be around. I realized this because new writer Will Pfeifer is kind of doing exactly what I wanted him to do in the relaunch: he’s treating the Teen Titans as people first, superheroes second…kind of. He’s not exactly there yet, but this new issue is filled with scenes of the teens just hanging out and being friends, and subplots that don’t have anything to do with punching super-villains.
Teen Titans #3
The problem is that DC and the previous writer, Scott Lobdell, have made the Teen Titans so unlikable that I just don’t care that Pfeifer is doing exactly what I want.
Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.
The great thing about this new issue of Teen Titans is that it is filled with character-based subplots. The main plot is still all about that dumb robot chick and whatever ax she’s grinding (I have seriously forgotten), but Pfeifer fills the rest of the issue with actual, worthwhile character interaction. That was the #1 thing missing from Lobdell’s Teen Titans. He was only interested in bringing on new super-villains for the team to fight. Pfeifer, at least a little, views these characters as teenagers. They’re still mostly in costume all of the time, but he’s getting there. He’s mixing real teen drama with superhero drama, and I think it has a chance to be interesting. He just needs to work harder at making me (or anyone) care about these characters.
I think part of the problem might be the art. Kenneth Rocafort is a damn fine artist. He’s great for superhero comics, but I just don’t think he fits Teen Titans. His characters look pointy and fragile. He’d be great on one of those excess Batman books, like Detective Comics, where he could draw awesome pictures of Batman in a big, scary cape. But Teen Titans needs to be a softer book than Rocafort’s style.
For my money, I wish Teen Titans had been given the Batgirl treatment. They need an artist like Babs Tarr to really sell them as likable teen characters. As it stands, Pfeifer and Rocafort have a long road ahead of them to rehab these characters, and frankly, I don’t think both of them are up for it.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
Review – Teen Titans #2
By no means do I want Teen Titans to be a bad comic. I may be a comic book blogger, who loves to complain about a medium I claim to love, but I would like nothing more than for Teen Titans to be the best comic on the stands. I remain a die-hard Tim Drake fan, and if his comic was great, I would gladly sing its praises month in and month out. That’s why I was so excited for this Teen Titans relaunch. I held out hope that Will Pfeifer could salvage one of DC Comics’ most (in)famous franchises.
Teen Titans #2
But you know what they say about polishing a turd…Actually, no, it’s not that bad. Pfeifer has some solidly good ideas for the Teen Titans, but they appear to be only subplots crowded out by a clunker of a main plot.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
I was cautiously optimistic about Teen Titans #1. It was solidly made, and relatively entertaining, but it was marred by the simple fact that it was just a big, generic superhero adventure when it could have been so much more! We are sitting at the dawn of a great new era in comics. Just look at the reaction to DC’s new plans for Batgirl. Teen Titans, more than any other comic in the industry, is poised to embrace this new, hip style. But Pfeifer seems determined to forge ahead with a big, dumb super-villain storyline that couldn’t be more boring if it featured Harvest.
Hopefully if I don’t say that name three times he won’t appear…
Pfeifer introduces a lot of fun ideas in Teen Titans #2 – ideas that I desperately hope he explores further – about the kind of impact the Teen Titans might have on today’s hip youth culture. Beast Boy with his own Youtube channel? Bunker as a gay culture hero with a major Twitter following? Raven inspiring punk rock bands? Wonder Girl inspiring a female empowerment movement? Why are these not the focus on the series? These are interesting stories that nobody else at DC is doing! (I might not be right about that, I never read The Movement or The Green Team.)
But no, instead we’re stuck with the same S.T.A.R. Labs storyline that doesn’t have anything to do with the Teen Titans. Ugh. And the surprise addition of a semi-classic, pre-reboot villain does not make a lick of difference. He’s not even a Titans villain!
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
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!
Review: Teen Titans Annual #3
Holy crap, you guys, I actually liked Teen Titans Annual #3! I fully expected an explosion of horror and bad writing. But damn if Scott Lobdell doesn’t pull one out in the end. I would like to think, that over all these long years of me writing Teen Titans reviews, that you readers have come to trust my judgement. Or maybe you’re finding my blog for the first time and don’t know what to believe. Perhaps you, like the rest of us, just wanted to see how the final issue of Lobdell’s Teen Titans would turn out. I’m happy to say–no, ‘happy’ isn’t the right word. I’m…comfortable saying that Teen Titans Annual #3 isn’t the train wreck I thought it was going to be.
Teen Titans Annual #3
In his final issue on the series he introduced to the New 52, Lobdell manages to go out on a high note, so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
Two things make this final issue pretty good: focus and teenagers. This Annual features the return of Harvest, the villain that technically brought the Teen Titans together at the start of the series. He was a bad character then and he’s a bad character now. But it’s clear from this issue that Lobdell had intended to stretch this story out across several issues. I would bet dollars to donuts that he had always expected to get around to this story, and he never intended it to be only one issue long. But time makes fools of us all, and here is is cramming everything into a single, oversized issue. On the one hand, it sucks, because there are a lot of themes and moments here that would have benefited from a little room to breath, like his attempts to flesh out Harvest’s character and motivation. Predictably, they’re terrible. But maybe Lobdell could have done something more with them. Of course, that’s a big maybe.
On the other hand, forcing Lobdell to rush through this story keeps the focus of the issue tight. I can’t say that the story is all that good, but at least it doesn’t meander and he doesn’t have time for all of his worst traits, like he did in the recent space story. The whole adventure is over and done with in a single issue, and, again, it wasn’t half bad.
As for the teenagers, Lobdell actually takes the time to treat his characters like real people. The first half of the issue, or at least the first few pages, are the Titans out of costume talking to one another about the future of the team and their duty to try and stop Harvest. This was the #1 thing lacking from Lobdell’s Teen Titans: real, human interaction. Had this series regularly contained even an iota of what we see in this issue, maybe it would have been good. Of course, this is still Lobdell’s Teen Titans, and we quickly leave that human stuff behind, but while it’s there, it’s enjoyable. I can say that with conviction.
We also get our first look at what Kenneth Rocafort will be like on art duties. There are times it looks good and times it looks bad, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what he really brings to the table.
Teen Titans Annual #3 finally brings to an end Scott Lobdell’s horrendous comic. It was all mostly bad, but in his final issue, he wraps the comic up nicely, fixes a few mistakes and hopefully hands the thing off to some much better creators. Join me after the jump to finally put a cork in this sucker.
The Teen Titans Return in July!
We all knew it was going to happen eventually, but I didn’t realize how closely it would follow the current, horrid Teen Titans series. Either way, the Teen Titans are coming back from cancellation with a new #1 issue by writer Will Pfeifer and artist Kenneth Rocafort! The roster isn’t going to change, keeping Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Raven, Beast Boy and Bunker!
The new Teen Titans are just the old Teen Titans
Newsarama made the reveal today, posting the cover and an interview with Pfeifer. Most recently, he’s been writing a few issues of Red Hood and the Outlaws. Beyond that, he hasn’t been in comics for a few years now. That’s not a good sign, as far as I’m concerned. But maybe he has some good ideas in store.
From the interview, it looks like Pfeifer is kind of going to keep things the way they are. The Titans are going to be heroes and fight bad guys. Though Pfiefer does claim that he’ll be focusing on them more as teenagers. That’s a good sign as far as I’m concerned, and it was the No. 1 thing missing from Scott Lobdell’s series. The key to a really good Teen Titans comic, in my opinion, is a focus on the characters as teenagers first, superheroes second. Just because they wear colorful costumes doesn’t mean they have to be in those costumes all the time.
Pfeifer had this to say about the series:
The fact that these characters are actual teens (and we’re going to be writing them like actual teens, too) opens up a whole world of possibilities. I mentioned before how they’re going to screw things up from time to time, and though that has some serious implications, it’s also a way to put some genuine comedy into the book. Plus, the Titans haven’t been heroes for too long, which means they’re not burned out or jaded by the (insane) pressures of the superheroic life. They’re actually having fun themselves – well, sometimes – and I want that to come across in the comic.
I find it very interesting that Teen Titans is starting over with a new #1 issue. This is a tactic that Marvel does a lot, but DC hasn’t done it since the start of the New 52. This is a new gimmick for DC. And I really, really, really think it has to do with washing off the stink of Lobdell’s run. That comic was just horrendous. Clearly, though, Pfeifer is going to keep the same cast and tell the same stories. So what other reason could DC have for starting with a new #1 than trying to lure back readers that Lobdell scared off?
Of course, Pfeifer doesn’t put it like that.
Putting the #1 on the cover of our first issue accomplished a couple of things: First of all, it draws attention to the book. There are so many comic books competing for the readers’ attention now – not just with other books but with video games, TV and that little thing called “the internet” – that anything we can do to lure some eyes to our cover is something I’m all far. But even more importantly, that #1 lets the reader know that this isn’t just a continuation of the other series. Yes, the Titans are the same heroes, and no, we’re not going to kick things off with a year of origin stories, but we are heading in a new direction and exploring some new themes.
If you’ve been reading the book, by all means, keep reading it. (Please – I have a daughter who’s going to need braces soon!) But if you haven’t been reading Teen Titans, give this version a shot. I don’t think there’s another book on the shelves quite like it.
I am always willing to give a series like this one a shot. So consider me on board, and definitely keep reading the in depth reviews that will continue with the new creative team.
Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get an enjoyable Teen Titans comic in the New 52.
Also, why is Beast Boy suddenly green again? Another sign that DC are trying to correct their mistakes?
Henchman-4-Hire 