Writer: Jay Faerber Artists: Mike Collins (p), Bud LaRosa (I)
Publisher: DC
Plot: After opening with a flashback, where we see the super-powered kids managed to escape from a DEO facility in a highly undramatic sequence that has them basically walk out the front door, we jump to the present where we find the Titans are helping the kids find the limits of their powers at the local junkyard. However this little outing is interrupted by the arrival of the DEO, who have come claiming these children are wards of the state, and that for their own safety, as well as their potential to harm others, these children have been placed under the care of the DEO. Naturally the children object, and soon everyone's involved in a big battle, where the Titans find themselves fighting both the DEO and the children. However, Argent is able to use her powers to bring the conflict to an end, and everyone heads off to lick their wounds, with the children returning to the Tower with the Titans. We then see Nightwing pays a visit to the DEO head, whom he tells to back off.
Comments: I guess if you've been interested in the mystery of the young super-powered teens that showed up at the Titans doorstep, then this issue will be right up your alley. As it stands, this issue just acts as another reminder of why Jay Faerber remains sat at the bottom of my list of Titans writers, as he seem fundamentally unable to craft a story that focuses on the Titans as a team. Now I realize every book has its subplots, and that there are times when a team book will focus on one or two of its members. However, this book is driven solely by its subplots & aside from an extremely brief tussle to save Donna from the Dark Angel, Jay Faerber's run has been notable for its aversion to present the Titans as a team. I mean, if nothing else let's see the Titans presented as an effective team, when they are allowed to go into action, as this issue has them getting their heads handed to them by a bunch of kids. This book needs to get its focus back, as right now it's drowning in a sea of mediocrity.
Now when I write up a negative review like this I always get a couple of e-mails telling me that if I don't like the book, I should leave it on the shelf. Now this argument would work most times, but Titans is a book that I must take a stand on, as it's one of four books that I've followed during my entire 20+ years of comic collecting. There's the JLA, the Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man and the New Teen Titans. Simply put I was here first! I know it's wrong of me to be possessive of a title simply because I've read it for a long time, but frankly I can't help the way I feel. I want this book to be better. I'm not asking for a return to a past status quo, nor am I asking that Jay Faerber be replaced as the writer. What I am asking for is a realization that this is a team book that earned its sizable fan base by being a team book that combined high-tempo action with engaging characterization. It's sad to see this cast being wasted on such banal material.
Mike Collins has a style that is remarkably similar to that of the previous penciler Paul Pelletier, which is rather nice as I rather liked his work, and it also maintains a nice sense of artistic continuity until Barry (JLA Year One) Kitson's much anticipated arrival. It's a shame that the art wasn't given more to do though, as except for a brief tussle with the DEO, this is once again a largely talking heads affair, and while Mike Collins does a nice enough job, these types of issues are largely reliant on the dialogue to carry the scenes, and this really isn't the case here. Sure he could've spiced up the issue with some more imaginative perspectives during the quiet moments, and the brief bit of action that he did deliver didn't exactly leap off the page, but in all honesty I doubt George Pérez himself could've added much energy to this lethargic issue. As for new cover artist, his/her work is colorful, eye-catching, and tells one zilch about the story inside, but two out of three isn't bad.
Final Word: Maybe I enter the issues looking for stuff to dislike, and my prejudicial attitude makes me overlook the good stuff that other fans are finding so enjoyable. Maybe I'm no longer the audience that this book is being aimed at, and my negative reaction is simply my way of refusing to let go of what has become another vestige of my childhood. Maybe I'm become an older comic fan whose function is to be grumpy about the state of today's comics, and to point out how today's writers are incapable of producing the masterpieces that I saw during my youth. Then again, maybe I'm simply not willing to accept hot dogs, when I ordered a steak. There's no rule saying that comics aimed at a younger audience have to be cliché ridden & light on plot, but this is exactly what I see when I read this book.
