While showing a definite and more grounded improvement over the last issue, Teen Titans #4 still feels off when it comes to teen dialogue and interaction. A lot happens in this issue – from the team getting together and getting a name, to finally confronting Superboy – but it’s not all gelling as well as I’d like. Or ‘gellin’ like Magellan’ if that’s how you roll. At any rate, I can definitely appreciate what writer Scott Lobdell does in this issue because I definitely want to see a lot more of these teens just hanging out and getting to know one another. But I can’t really put my finger on why that doesn’t quite work.

Teen Titans #4

Maybe it’s because everything feels so rushed and kind of sloppy.

Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.

Or maybe everything just feels forced. The same issues that have plagued this series continue here, but the specific actions and story points make up for that flakiness. N.O.W.H.E.R.E. continues to be a silly concept. The setting always seems very erratic. And this group of characters has yet to fully blend together, or feel anything other than forced together. I don’t think Lobdell found a very organic way to bring the team together. I don’t know if he came up with the members of the team, or if they were decided in some New 52 committee, but it’s like he had a list of characters he had to bring together and he just checked them off the list to ensure they were together by issue #4.

I just don’t get the feeling that this team is the team that belongs together, that this will be the Teen Titans of the new generation. But there’s still time to change my mind. The art, at least, remains phenomenal. Brett Booth is drawing beautiful, distinctive characters with great facial expressions and energetic movements. So at least good.

Spoilers after the jump.

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