Writer: Jay Faerber Artists: Barry Kitson (p), Rich Faber (I)
Publisher: DC
Plot: The book opens by looking in on the super-powered kids who have moved into the Titans Tower, as we see them settle into normal, everyday lives, which much to their disappointment includes going to school. After a brief look at Lian who continues her hostile behavior toward the other children, and seeing her accidentally create a situation that nearly kills Nikki, we then look in on the Titans who have been contacted by the DEO, as this organization is seeking the Titans' help. As the Titans discover that one of the patients at the DEO has mentally projected his mind out of his comatose body, and that this disembodied patient may have joined the children who have moved in with the Titans, we look in on the children as we see them discussing this very idea. We then discover that Epsilon's two different personalities is due to the fact that he is playing host to the mental projection of the missing patient, and when the DEO forcibly draws this "ghost" back into his own body, Epsilon's real personality resurfaces, and he's not that pleasant a fellow.
Comments: Aside from the lack of any truly gripping action, this issue is an even better example of my second major problem with Jay Faerber's run on this book. This is yet another issue where Jay Faerber operates under the mistaken assumption that the elements that he's added to the title are more interesting than the Titans themselves. Where most books operate under the format of having the stars of the book dealing with a situation that the writer has developed, Jay Faerber has developed his own creations with the DEO kids & Epsilon, who proceed to eat up huge chunks of each & every issue, which in turn leaves the Titans in almost a guest-starring role in their own title. Now I'm sure there are fans who are fully interested in what happens to the DEO kids, and are finding the mystery of Epsilon highly interesting, but you can count me among the group who buy this book to read about the Titans adventures. I mean, the only role the Titans are playing in this issue is to provide the every handy background exposition.
On the other hand, I'm glad to see Jay Faerber is finally done developing his mysteries and has finally gotten around to providing answers. I'll even credit him with coming up with some fairly solid answers, as Epsilon's personality change is a fairly clever development that nicely ties him to the DEO kids plot. Plus, now that we're finally getting some forward movement on these plots, I can only assume that Jay Faerber is going to be nice enough to remove all his toys from the sandbox, thus leaving Tom Peyer with a clean slate to start off with. I mean the one element that can kill the momentum of a new writer arriving on a title is the previous writer leaving a bunch of loose ends for new guy/gal to tie up. Thankfully this doesn't look to be the case here, as this issue finally offers up the reason why Epsilon looked to have two very different personalities, and even better is the fact that Epsilon's real personality looks to be of the decidedly villainous variety, so he'll probably be gone from the book by the time this arc wraps up.
Barry Kitson brings his nice clean style to the book, but this issue isn't exactly a showcase for his skills as an artist, as there's only a couple brief bits of action amid the talking heads, and neither is a particularly imaginative bit of action. Still, his work on the "JLA: Year One" & the "Brave & the Bold" miniseries have me convinced that his presence on this title is just what the book needs. His art does display a nice range of facial expressions in this issue, and while his DEO children look a bit older than they have in previous issues, his take on the Titans is perfect, as even the truly ugly costumes that Jesse Quick & Epsilon have been saddled with in this title look a fair sight better when Barry Kitson is drawing them. The art also does a fairly impressive job showing the DEO kids using their powers, as not only is it easy to follow what they are doing, but the visual cues for showing their powers in use are nicely done. My only quibble with the art on this issue was the outright trickery that is used on the cover.
Final Word: An issue that is entirely dependent on how big a fan you are of the elements that Jay Faerber has brought into the book during his run, and since I'm of the mind that the DEO kids & Epsilon have long since worn out their welcome in these pages, I'm of two minds when it comes to this issue. Part of me is glad to see their story is finally reaching the stage where they can all leave these pages, hopefully never to be seen again. However, another part of me is disappointed that in order to be rid of them, the book has to be almost entirely handed over to them. I buy this book to follow the Titans, not the subplots that only indirectly involve the group. I'll stick with the book, and hope that Jay Faerber has a real finish up his sleeve, but I can't say that this issue has me jumping for joy, as it's focused on the plots I couldn’t really care less about.
