Series Run: The Titans #14

2000, DC Comics

Omen, aka Lilith,has been held prisoner by Tartarus for months, with Vandal Savage using her powers of precognition to form his villainous team and pressuring her into dishing out all the hot gossip on her former teammates.
 

 She manages to reach out to Aqualad in his sleep (he sleeps in the pool in the Titans Tower basement, and in the nude) and call for help. Aqualad rousws the team (waking up Donna in Roy's bed so I guess Droynna is *still* a thing).  I would love to jote interesting things about the respecive rooms of Damage and Argent and Starfire but guest arist Cully Hamner as fantastic as he is, doesn't paint them with ay exceptionally curious or notable details (though there is plenty of detail)...although Arsenal's room is indicated by a drawing Lian did.  Nightwing left a note on his door.

With Dick out and Jesse gone, there's no defacto leader so the team banters a bit to decide who's in charge of the mission.  Aqualad states his case and really it's only Roy giving him a hard time about it.  But, strangely enough, Aqualad seems ready.  Aqualad is clear, it's an in and out mission, not there to take out Tartarus but just to rescue Lilith (who was apparently a member of Dan Jurgens' Teen Titans with Argent).  The rescue goes fairly smoothly until Lilith (who's really seeming like Raven-red) can't teleport everyone because she's too weak.  Aqualad as leader elects to stay behind and survives only because Tartarus implodes with in-fighting...which was Lilith's plan by suggesting incompatibile teammates with her precognitive abilities.  Kind of a cheap, yet fun way for that gang to go out.

Meanwhile Dick turns to Bruce for advice about his many responsibilities and many many many lady friends. Bruce's advice? "I trust you'll make the right choice." Hilarious. And Wally's back.  Hopefully next issue we get an explanation of who that other guy was (knowing Devin Grayson, she'll have it covered)

Co-written by Brian K Vaughan, after two issues with co-writers I'm actually starting to miss Grayson's off-beat, overly dense story structures.  Hopefully back at it next issue.

Bryan Hitch's cover makes it look like Aqualad is fighting alongside underwater Atoms in their red and blue scuba suits

...and that forced pun feels like swallowing
shards of glass.

Kory in her wetsuit...uh, where has her hair gone, exactly?

Series Run: The Titans #13

2000, DC Comics

This is exactly what I was expecting after the events of the last storyline, and exactly what I wanted.  

I love when the big battles start revealing character flaws and exacerbate intra-team conflicts which lead everyone to a situation like this, where unity hangs precariously from a thread.  Everything comes to a head here.  Nightwing and Kory are in a bad place, Vic is basically under watch from his friend because, you know, he tried to destroy the world, and Flash just can't seem to sit still.  

Nightwing calls out Flash on his inability to trust them with his identity and secrets and yet, not long after Jesse calls Nightwing out on the same thing (so much for the "Quick-Dick" 'ship) and Jesse Quits..  Donna's about had it with everyonr coming to her with their problems, like she doesn't have any of her own.  Everyone worries Dick is becoming too much like Batman and nobody can stand to really look at him for too long these days.  Roy tries to visit a hospitalized Cheshire with Damage's help (and fails spectacularly in that Roy Harper way).  Vic goes back to visit Sarah but it's Gar who sets him straight.  The DRoynna 'ship is still a thing, but just barely, and there's strong insinuation that Garth married Dolphin because of the baby and that there's some regrets all around there and that maybe a GArthgent (Garth/Argent) affair is percolating.

DeShaun is a regular joe nice guy who's even got superheroes envious of him.

Just an all-around solid TCB issue that propels things forward for most characters.  Grayson is joined by Jae Faerber this issue on the story, which is interesting to note since he takes over the series by the close of its second year).  Fill in on art from Patrick Zircher who had already been kicking around for a few years since the mid-90s.  He's a top notch artist in today's comics world (has been for almost a decade) but he's still growing here so there are still plenty of unclean edges. There are scenes that stand out but it's a talking heads issue which he manages it just fine, and managing a talking heads issue is a true test of an artists ability to keep an audience interested visually.

Series Run: The Titans #10-12

1999-2000, DC Comics

A three-parter with a double-sized finale that basically brings most of Devin Grayson's story threads together, almost like she's wrapping up her time here completely.

"The Immortal Coil" opens with Slade Wilson waking up in Titans Tower on the Titans' couch (yep they didn't take him to a medical bay, but to their couch) and in the time he was unconscious they called in Gar Logan, still called Changeling here (but Beast Boy on the cover of issue 11...I forget if the Teen Titans cartoon had started yet, as it was their reverting to calling him Beast Boy that made it happen in the comics....the Wolfman/Perez run on Titans had long otherwise cemented the Changeling moniker in the comics).

Grayson uses the first page to introduce the team roster ala classic Justice League of America comics and then gives a rather detailed two-page splash of Slade's troubled history... at least all the relevant points required for her story here anyway.  It's classic comics flashback stuff and actually quite concise and very useful (I had forgotten a lot of this stuff, like Slade and his ex wife becoming immortals). Slade was on a mission to stop Vandal Savage but he's not revealing who he was working for (as a matter of principle).

Grayson humorously dredges up the fact that Slade has had romantic entanglements with both Cheshire and Terra in a simple three-panel aside.

The whole "Roy loving Cheshire" thing really comes to a head these three issues, and it's not just a "she's the mother of my child" thing... he genuinely has feelings for her.  Roy is one messed up dude. He even abandons his teammates in the middle of a fight to try and get her medical attention much to Donna's dismay (oh no, is "DRoynna" finished?)... but returns to save Donna's life justin time, which I guess keeps the whole "DRoynna" 'shipping alive for another issue at least.

Kory takes Damage and Argent to the hall of dead Titans (Terra, Jericho, Kole and I suppose that's Jason Todd Robin but he was never a Titan, was he?) to teach them about Slade's connection to the Titans and in the process explain how death works to Argent. Cyborg laments not having a human body and that his "Omegadrome" body kindof has a mind of its own. Jesse has it out with nuFlash.  The team, with Slade head for the nation of Zandia where Vandal Savage and Co are hiding out while HIVE plant bombs everywhere (Zandia looks pretty small..like its a city state like the Vatican).  As the Titans attack HIVE they all are attacked by Savage's Tartarbots (they're either good with fish sticks or meant for cleaning teeth).

Savage's whole ploy is to draw Cyborg to him as well as The leader of HIVE (aka "Mother" ) who, if you hadn't guessed from the obvious hinting in Slade's flashback is none other than his crazy and immortal ex-wife Adeline. Savage's ploy is to use Victor's Omegadrome body to synthesize Adeline's immortal blood into a serum that he can use to make other immortals or, at least, extend life spans.  He hopes to entice Cyborg to help by offering him a human body (presumably a clone... not sure hoe he's going to transfer the consciousness/soul between the two...probably should have the Ultra-humanite on his team instead of, well, pretty much everyone else in his "Tartarus" group (not sure where I got "Panopticon" as the name for his group earlier...?)  In fact, Savage and Damien Dahrk have a rather clever seriescof back-and-forth barbs about what being a super-villain means in the modern day... a fun exchange right up until Savage has Lady Vic run Dahrk throughbwith her sword . 

 Unlike in Arrow, Dahrk is not a magic wielder, but by the end of this all he does become immortal (through a very sketchy and unsanitary blood transfusion... I don't think you can just scoop up handfuls of blood and push them into an open wound...not sure that's actually a transfusion...unless they're saying Adeline's immortality is more like a virus...?)

HIVE's plan was to cause major disaster in Zandia to draw all the super heroes there and then drop a  bomb on them.  This situation finds Dick, Kory, Jesse, and Vic to jocky for position of who gets to save the day.  Vic somehow can't crack the bomb's computers so he Metal Mens/Plastic Mans/Metamorphos himself around it and absorbs the blast.  It's a pretty intense explosion but with ZERO drama about Vic's fate as he turns up three panels later on the opposing page all glowing green. Roy, of course, is worried about his nuts.

So yeah, Grodd had slit Adeline's throat to put pressure on Cyborg to make a decision about helping them, and Cheshire was shot by Savage to try and manipulate Roy into forcing Vic's decision (as the immortality serum would save her)... Kory however has other plans.  Having heard Addie's pleas to Slade to kill her, Kory does it herself and makes no apologies for it. Then when Dick tries to say something about it, she unloads on him about ignoring her and avoiding the team for months on end. Real appropriate timing.

I know, I'm running this all out of order... the second and third chapters of this story are truly chaotic, but in a crazy fun comic booky way.  A lot of what's going on is just complete absurdity, just a hair's breadth away from being a complete farce.  I think Grayson genuinely wanted to do classic superhero punch-'em-ups but her impulse seems to be rationalizing things in terms of continuity and character. Instead of just letting it go large on its own terms she has to get arch about it or overly playful with tropes or over-explain/overshow to the point that she seems at odds with herself in what she's trying do do with the story.

Damien Dahrk seems to be her creation for facilitating the unexpected, the anti-tropes.  He's the guy who speaks out against Savage's Bond-villain speechifying and talks about the "new school" of villain who cares about things other than money, revenge, or taking over the world.  He kills Red Panzer cold ("you always have a second weapon and you shoot anyone who asks stupid questions.... I don't make traps, I don't cut deals, and for god's sake, I don't form a team full of members who hate each other.") and for some reason Savage tries to recruit the dumb eco terrorist Justin from issue 1 as his new Red Panzer ("Aren't you supposed to be a Nazi fascist to wear this?")

The good guys win.  HIVE is in ruins, and Zandia is saved. Tartarus escapes though but on the plus side Dick and Jesse, eh eh?

Catching up on Comics -- Series Run: The Titans #9

1999, DC Comics

Dan Jurgens draws a shirtless Roy with a hairy chest
but inside Ale Garza draws him hairless.  They thought
no one would notice, but I did!

Forced into doing a tie-in to that year's event (as it was during the 1990s and 2000s), Devin Grayson brings Raven back to the Titans Tower, interrupting Donna and Roy just as they're about to get down to business.  Through Raven, Donna once again has to face up to her troubled history and her insecurities, but each time she does so, she seems the stronger for it.  Raven meanwhile is having difficulties of her own, but Donna extends to her an open invitation to join the Titans whenever she's ready.

Meanwhile, Goth is out on the loose again, having busted a kid out of juvenile detention.  He's got a sidekick that he doesn't really want in this annoying little nihilistic twerp (he's way too high energy to be a nihilist).  Goth doesn't see himself as a villain, per se, but sees that he could be so he explores the possibility.  Goth, being some form of demon creature, should be particularly interested in the whole "Day of Judgement" event and happenings, but when the annoying kid wants to go to Dis, Goth kills him to send him there, only to have the kid (his name is Rodman) immediately return and tell him Dis is closed and nobody's around.  Goth should be more concerned, but I guess, as is fitting for a demon of malaise, he could care less.  This is all weirdly played for laughs, particularly the scene where Goth slits the kid's throat and then his ghost form immediately returns to bitch about the afterlife.  It shouldn't be funny, but it actually is, but almost in an ironic way rather than an intentional one.

Meanwhile, Nightwing talks to Oracle about getting burned out defending Bludhaven, being on call for Batman's many predicaments, and having to deal with the Titans.  The latter is, for him, like falling back into a rut.  I'm unclear if Grayson means Dick and Kory or if he means Dick and the Titans as a whole.  He's not happy whatever it is.  A good, tight, one-page scene.  Grayson increasingly excels at those.

Meanwhile, Roy has it out with his babysitter (who, to his face says "you're great eye candy") as she tries to quit because she just can't reconcile Cheshire being Lian's mother (nor can she reconcile Roy's relationship with her).  Did Roy just admit to still loving Jade?

Meanwhile, Deathstroke is being hunted by Vandal Savage's band of goons.  Why, exactly?  Not sure.  Guess maybe he turned down their offer to join them.  He gets the holy hell beaten out of him and then somehow winds up on the doorstep of Titans Tower (which here, once more, looks like a proper tower, and not a hologram as was stated back in issue 5...it's another fill in artist so he may not have all the details of what's what with this series), making a pithy comment about hoping Lian is not one of the Titan's latest recruits before collapsing.  Deathstroke was in his anti-hero phase at this point still, I believe.

Meanwhile, Cyborg and his ex-girlfriend Sarah have a heart to heart, with hers trying to convince Vic that it's moved on, while Vic's still aches, feeling like the only thing human left in him.  It's a sweet and painful scene...again another nicely written one pager from Grayson.

Meanwhile, Damien Darhk is back, in that weird HIVE space with his mother, on the phone again.  I'm honestly not sure what's happening in this scene.  I think his mother, the head of HIVE just gave him whatever he wanted from the HIVE coffers, causing him to drop the cel

I can't explain it, but she's just...yeah.

phone that's almost permanently affixed to his ear.

The art here is from Ale Garza, with inks by "Cabin Boy" (seriously).  Garza gets all the details right, but his characters are all wildly exaggerated, disproportionate, unreal... it's less refined Humberto Ramos, in a way.  I'm not against this style of character illustration but I never like it for superhero comics.  It's too cartoony, better suited for funnybooks or fantasy.  And yet, even though I can't stand the style, I've still got the hots for Donna in her star-spangled Troia outfit.  Something about that costume, it's not that it's at all revealing or in any real way designed to insinuate sex, but I just love it.  It's so striking and powerful and eye catching.  My wife and I dressed up as Star Boy and Donna Troy one Halloween in matching spandex starfield costumes, and we looked great (sadly we somehow have no pictures).  Perhaps I just associate Donna with my wife (which I'm sure she won't be happy to hear, because she's not a Donna fan), but yeah, I used to love Donna in her old Teen Titans red catsuit too, so I guess I kinda think she's awesome. I supposed I'm a Donna fanboy.

Catching up on Comics -- Series Run: The Titans #7-8

1999, DC Comics

Another two-parter that highlights the growing strengths and diminishing weaknesses of Devin Grayson's Titans run.  With issues 5 & 6, Grayson's comfort with the team dynamics of the book increased almost exponentially.  With these two issues, she's showing even more capability in juggling the multiple character stories and making the stories relevant to more than one character at a time in certain circumstances.  She's also gotten far away from throwing the whole team at a problem, realizing that they do have lives of their own, while also negotiating continuity in a non-obtrusive, nor overly pointed manner.

Uh, nobody, it turns out.

For instance, this issue starts where last issue ended, with Lian gone missing.  Donna and Roy are still on their "date" and are unaware of the situation, while the rest of the Titans at the Tower are freaking out.  They contact Nightwing in Bludhaven who obviously can't make it there in time to help.  Aqualad's freaking out the most, primarily because, he reveals, he's knocked up his girlfriend, Dolphin (her name is Dolphin, she's not a dolphin, just to be clear) so he's going to be a dad.

Meanwhile, Lian is back at her babysitter Chandra's apartment, where Chandra's roommate is all hopped up on Velocity 10, a new drug on the street that gives people superspeed, but it's addictive and the side effects can be lethal.  One of Grayson's less attractive traits is her continued use of coincidence (and it's particularly flagrant this issue) to bring characters and storylines together.  Jesse's been busy working at her CEO job (and traveling through time over in The Flash with other speedsters) but when her co-worker's purse is stolen by Chandra's speeding roommate, Jesse's on the case, which brings her back to Titans Tower, which in turn leads them to Chandra's apartment where Lian is safe but now they have this whole speedster-drug to deal with.

Meanwhile Damage and Argent are back at Argent's parents home (and it's here I realize that my statement from the issue #1 write up that Argent was a former Team Titans member is totally wrong, she was actually from Dan Jurgen's short-lived Teen Titans series where the Atom led a team of young, newly created heroes, IIRC) where there's been more than a little strife.  Argent's dad is a criminal and a big asshole, giving his wife shit for getting impregnated against her will by an alien, and giving Argent shit for not being his blood child.  Also, turns out he's the supplier of Velocity 10.  What a coincidence!  Ugh.

In trying to save Chandra's roommate from the side effects of V10, they take her to S.T.A.R. Labs where Vic runs into the love of his life, who has moved on since Vic was possessed by an alien entity and tried to destroy the world.  Fancy that one, huh?  Her new man is fairly understanding, and wholly not threatened by the return of this superhero to his special lady's life.  He's quite the standup guy, this DeShaun.


Meanwhile (as I said, Grayson's gotten rather adept at juggling things), Vandal Savage recruits some goofy-looking sword-wielding chick named Lady Vic (which sounds like a type of razor for women...does she come with a lotion strip?).

Flossbutt

Issue 7 ends with the Titans all being injected with V10, which makes for a pretty good spotlight of Jesse Quick's, erm, quick thinking at the start of issue 8 when she takes charge and her and Cyborg manage to stop things from getting too out of control.  Next to Lian, Grayson has a steady bead on Jesse Quick, and she's a total breakout character.  It's just too bad that instead of shorts or full pants, the character's costume design is a bikini cut with total floss butt.  It really detracts from an otherwise powerful character.  I can't imagine that running at half the speed of light with your costume up your crack the whole time is comfortable.

So anyway, Argent figures out her Dad is involved in the whole Velocity 10 business, but so does Jesse.  Jesse, in an act of mentoring, let's Argent make her own choices about how to handle the situation, and praises her for making the right one in the end, even though it meant sending her parents to jail.

Two further "meanwhiles"... Cheshire joins Vandal Savage's "Panopticon", while a new Flash shows up at Titans tower (I forgot all about this new Flash, who I think was introduced in Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's ill-fated run on the series).  Grayson handles this continuity demand decently.

I'm actually getting a sense at this point that contrary to my earlier statements, that Grayson's run on Titans was maybe not so forgettable and maybe had a bigger impact on DC Comics that I ever knew.
Again, Damien Darhk (I'm never going to spell that right) debuted here, we have Velocity 10 (which arguably is a piggyback off of the Velocity 9 story from the Flash some time before) which was featured in Season 2 of The Flash TV show, and the Vandal Savage assembly of supervillains which seems kinda like what showed up in the Young Justice series.  Just maybe Greg Berlanti is a big fan of this run?

And now: I hate "Metal Men" Cyborg.

No.

NO!

GOD, NO! STOP THAT VIC! IT'S GROSS!

Catching up on Comics-- Series Run: The Titans #6

1999, DC Comics

Maybe I was just sleepy when I read it, but this was almost...pretty good.

Donna and Roy take focus as their date is interrupted when they face their old enemy Red Panzer -- who is supposed to be dead -- and his gang of white supremacist assholes.  They're looking outgunned, but Donna's ex-boyfriend -- and Roy's ex-teammate -- Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) shows up to help out.  At some point Donna has to face up to a man she once loved that she doesn't really remember him, and to Roy that dating him was maybe to impress upon Wally that she's not a squeaky clean good girl.  It does wind up bringing some of Devin Grayson's more frustrating asides from the past few issues full circle in a very satisfying way...so my bad.

Donna and Panzer get trapped under some rubble and have a semi heart-to-heart (but Panzer is mostly rage, no heart) and it turns out he's full of self hate over his father's murder of his mother cause she was part black and didn't tell him. It also turns out that the Red Panzer role is kind of a Dread Pirate Roberts thing where subsequent people just assume the role without anyone supposed to know who's underneath the mask.

I liked Grayson's use of "continuity logic" here for the first time as Kyle, trying to figure out how to save Donna and the other people in a collapsed building decides to call John Stewart for advice, since he's an architect.  It's actually logical for both story and continuity and not just serving the latter.

BAD MOMMY!

Grayson's script occasionally cuts to Lian and her babysitter, who are talking about their diverse ethnic backgrounds, in parallel with Panzer and Donna talk about race and his backstory.  There's also a sins-of-the-father/sins-of-the-mother parallel drawn as Panzer tells of his father's crime, Lian reveals that Cheshire is her mother, the same woman that destroyed much of the nation of Qurac where her babysitter's grandparents were killed.  Lian is totally the MVP of this series.  She could have grown into such an amazing legacy character. RIP.

Just as Donna's about to use her newfound "soul power" on Panzer to banish his evil, Vandal Savage teleports Panzer to his ever-growing cabal, which includes Sire, and Grodd so far.  I have a hard time accepting that a self-loathing multi-ethnic white supremist would collude with a millennia-old non-caucasian former caveman, a giant talking gorilla and a green woman from the ocean's depths.  Doesn't really fit the "I hate everyone who isn't white (including myself)" motif.

Catching up on Comics -- Series Run: The Titans #5

1999, DC Comics

Actually, I think Garth is one of Phil
Jimenez's favourites.

Hey, you know what doesn't sell comics?  A Titans cover featuring Argent, Damage and Aqualad ...aka nobody's favourites.  Actually, you put those characters on the cover in some form of dramatic fashion with the caption "Nobody's favourites" and you might actually catch someone's attention.  "Fall for the Siren", not so much.

In the letter column (hey DC, bring back letter columns with Rebirth...please!), they say "we have some special plans for our least-liked duo of Argent and Damage that we hope will change the way all of you feel about them".  Well, at least they're aware of how unpopular they are. Grayson has obviously been setting up Damage/Argent, Donna/Roy and Dick/Kory romances, the second of which comes to the front burner this issue.  I don't get it.  Any of it.

Aqualad fights a mermaid eco-terrorist and hands her over to the DEO, who, very quickly lose her to Vandal Savage.  We haven't seen Damien Dahrk for 3 issues now, but there's three different baddies here.  Devin Grayson's on bad guy overdrive in this series.

Catching up on Comics -- Series Run: The Titans #4

1999, DC Comics

 

The cover says "Get DISed".

The inside splash page titles this issue "The DISsing".

Consistency?  One "s" or two when adding a suffix to a proper name?

Dis here is referred to as a city just outside the sixth circle of Hell where the apathetic go (the sixth circle in Dante's Inferno is for heretics, and Dis is a city spanning circles 7-9).  They aren't evil, but they aren't worthy of paradise.  Goth has trapped a legion of teens and Starfire in Dis by getting them to sign his book and perform a ritual incantation (I guess not everyone has to participate in that latter part to be transported).

Devin Grayson here is using aspects of Dante's mythos for a parable about teenage disaffectedness to varying degrees of success.  Goth's plan is an interesting one for a teen Titans book, and the resolution cleverly deals with Goth's magic, but it doesn't feel like the pieces fit.  Starfire really could have handled this solo, it wasn't much of a team effort, and Donna was being set up as the ace in the hole but she didn't even make it to the scuffle in hell.

I notice that the horror convention the Titans go to is a Fangoria event... I don't see any accreditation in the copyright box, so I wonder if DC had permission anyway or if this is just fair use of the name?

Donna Troy exists thanks to Wally West's memories of her.  There's a parallel here with Rebirth... where Wally needed someone to remember him or he would fade away.  But instead of being grateful, Donna's kind of pissed at Wally because she is only his perception of her, and she feels he holds her up to too high a standard.  Yeah, something to be pissed about, sure.

Goth's plan is defeated by caring.  Yes, the Titans pull a Care Bears stare and win the day.  

I want to rag on Goth's design, but it's actually not *that* bad. It does hew close enough to absurd goth style, but then goes large with skull shoulder pads and demon wings to make for a supervillain-esque look.  The big "G" that hold his straps is all kinds of silly though.  Like when Green Arrow used to have a "G" on his belt buckle.  It would be like if I wore a letter "G" around everywhere, just because my name started with it.  It's not like Superman's "S" or Aquaman's "A" or Wonder Woman's double "W", which are more stylized iconography, a symbol, a shield...it's just a letter.  "What's my name? Roth?  Moth?" (Looks down) "Oh, Goth, right, I forgot."

"G" is for "goofy" and that's good enough for Goth

Catching up on Comics -- Series Run: The Titans #3

1999, DC Comics 

 

"Introducing Goth!", because 1990's.

He's a horror movie icon, like Marylin Manson meets Freddie Kreuger, and of course Damage being the youngest is way into him and puts a poster up in his new room 'cause "He's just...cool".

This issue finds the Titans hanging out, splitting up by gender.  The guys stay in, put on their costumes (because Dick is worried about secret identities around the new recruits) and watch Goth's movies.  I repeat, it's a half dozen grown men in spandex lounging around with popcorn watching --

Hey guys, let's put on our tights and masks watch movies,
you know...a real guy's night in

and getting spooked by-- gory horror films.  Cyborg however is parsing through e-mails (cause the Titans have a public email address for the public to get ahold of them, mostly teenagers it seems) and coincidentally as they're watching the film Cyborg finds that some real-life email-calls-for-help are mirroring the film.

The ladies meanwhile go out clubbing where some rather ominous sounding lyrics pulsate in the background (I never liked trying to illustrate in comics, forcing the reader to put music to lyrics and unless the reader is a particularly good musician or the writer a very strong lyricist, it just comes off as bad music). Starfire is mobbed by fans and Donna freaks out when asked about her past (again Devin Grayson's continuity niggling overtakes the story).  Goth shows up and... something happens, it seems... but it's unclear what.  Is Donna posessed?  Kory? Whatever, really.

Earlier we meet Lian's new nanny who has to precariously board an awkward floating platform to cross to Titans Tower on an island (which I swear wasn't an island in the last two issues...also the tower is a hologram with the actual base being underground, which again I swear it was an actual tower last issue).  Garth pops out of the water, scaring the shit out of her...which I guess is enough for her to confide in him that the dad of the girl she's watching is "massively doable".

Yes, this is how the Titan's welcome visitors to their island...
a lonely pier, at night, on a precarious floating platform
that you have to awkwardly step down on. Titans Go! and help
that poor woman. Jesus.

 

 

Catching up on Comics -- Series Run: The Titans #2

1999, DC Comics

Remember that website "Superman's a dick" (I think it's now the more generic "Superdickery")? Well, this issue of the Titans is a prime candidate for it, because, oh man, is he ever a dick here.

Look at that expression, that physicality...
what a dick.

Carrying over from last issue, the Titans finish mopping up the new Hive agents Damien Dahrk sent to interfere with the construction of the new Titans Tower (seriously, the way these two organizations talk about one another sounds more like Cheers vs Gary's Old Town Tavern and less like superheroes locked in a life or death struggle with a terrorist organization), when Superman arrives with the ever so helpful "Is everything all right here."  The illustration by Mark Buckingham places the camera from a bird's eye view above a hovering, hands-on-hips man of steel, which only serves to exacerbate the smug condescension going on here.

The younger Titans are in awe... well, actually they're all in awe, except Flash who is Superman's teammate elsewhere.  Supes and Flash fall into "speedspeak" which means only Jesse Quick can follow along.  Her and Argent start whispering about Superman's overprotectiveness when Garth points out the guy has super-hearing so whispering doesn't really matter.

Then Superman basically makes them fall into formation and Sarge-marches down the line making snippy comments like these Titans are preteens and not 20-something-year-old adults now with almost as many years of experience under their yellow belt as he does...
seriously this page is as big a dick as I've ever seen Superman act in the modern age.

"Jesse Quick.  Your father would be proud," says Superman, like he fucking knows the guy....Seriously, show me one modern age Superman story, from '86-'99, where Superman and Johnny Quick exchange words.  At all.  Flake off man!

Dick moves left, right and center.

As Hive's attack then escalates Superman takes the lead.  It's up to Dick to tell him to stop being a dick and back off grampa,  go unclench, and do it somewhere else.

This issue has a couple good moments, and Jesse Quick emerges as a stronw-willed, capable character (and possible leader), but overall it's bad writing.  It's that thing where someone has difficulty wrapping their head around the whole shared universe thing, and that if Superman is so powerful,  why shouldn't he be turning up wherever there's trouble.  Well the answer to that is here:  it's not good storytelling.  Just because Superman doesn't show up somewhere doesn't break continuity.  And if you're going to write him like this...don't even bother.  Blerg.

Catching up on Comics -- Series Run: The Titans #1

1999, DC Comics

When you think of the Titans, the1999 series my not exactly be at the bottom of the list but it's not quite the glory days of Titans, either.

With the growing pains of the New 52 reboot, it's far too easy to be cynical and forget that there have been rough starts and pained runs aplenty before Johns, Didio, Lee and company decided to scratch things and start again.  

This first issue of The Titans is all talk, no action.  The bulk of it takes place in a tacky looking seafood restaurant, where Wally, Donna, Dick, Garth, Roy and his daughter Lian sit down for a trashy meal and gab about recent events and re-forming the Titans.

It is an inexplicably continuity-centric first issue, and quite possibly the absolute worst way to kick off a new series.  I don't recall if this was a case of the '90's expectation that continuity is serviced above all else or if writer Devin Grayson deemed reconciling all the recent continuty annoyances to be the important place to start.

It's not that the issue is badly written as a whole, but it's the most confounding book to me.  The fact that Grayson has Wally proposing the re-formation of the team is bizarre since he's currently in the JLA, but it's not like this fact isn't lost on Grayson either.  But her witty repartee to explain it away doesn't exactly make it any more logical.  It's a case of DC wanting their Flash cake and Flash eating it too.

In the seafood shack booth, where five plainclothed superheroes and an adorable toddler (Lian is the MVP of this story, RIP) are crammed in, they decide on their roster in a weird game of "hey do you remember so-and-so".  They pick Damage, Argent, Starfire, Jesse Quick and Cyborg (in his short-lived Metal Men-esque appearance) .  I guess they recruit them mighty quick and then they all suit up to help build the new Titans tower, because that's something I'm sure they're all qualified to do.  I hope that thing gets a safety inspection before Lian moves in.

Waitaminute, Jesse can fly? (All the Quicks can fly, my wife tells me.  That's dumb.  Speedsters run, they don't fly).

If The Titans #1 is notable for any reason, it's that it's the first appearance of
Damian Darhk, the scenery-chewing villain of Arrow season 4 (as played by awesome Neil McDonough).  Here you can see some of the flavour that was brought to the character on the small screen.  He isn't your typical villain.  His mom is the queen of HIVE, but he's not exactly cowtowing to her.  He's too busy on his mobile, brokering deals and being glib.  You want to smack him right away, but it's obvious he thinks himself better amd above everyone and everything (even if it's not quite reality).