DCU Comic Book Reviews

TEEN TITANS #55

Paradigm Rift

March 2008

Written by Sean McKeever

Pencils by Jamal Igle

Inks by Ruy Jose and Jimmy Palmiotti

Cover by Eddy Barrows and Rob Hunter

Synopsis

Supergirl quits the team.  While Robin and Wonder Girl make plans for a date, Ravager shows Blue Beetle around Titans Tower, but to the dismay and jealously of Kid Devil.  He tries to talk to Miss Martian, but she is not in the mood to talk to him.   She is still trying to deal with the future version of herself.  Elsewhere, Robin and Wonder Girl are enjoying their date when it is interrupted by an explosion.  They go to help.  Meanwhile, Ravager finds a lightsaber-device among Robin’s things, which upsets Kid Devil that she went through Robin’s things without permission.  Later, Robin tells the Titans they need to stick together.  Afterwards, Wonder Girl breaks off her relationship with Robin.  As she flies away, Dreadbolt and an unknown mentor watch what is happening, biding their time before they set their plan in motion.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I enjoyed this issue.  As a single issue, I don’t think it works that well and I am sure newer readers or readers returning after a layoff will not find much to like.  But as a bridge between the previous storyline and the next, it hits the right notes.  We get from there to here and set the stage for whatever will hit the Titans next.  The key for McKeever is to keep the narrative thread and the character interactions moving forward and not lose it in the next plot or action.  We have invested time with Cassie and Tim as a possible couple, so we should invest some time in the break-up.  The same is true for Kid Devil and his infatuation with Ravager. 

What struck me most about this issue is that McKeever manages to make the characters feel and sound like teenagers.  A lot of writers try to make teenagers speak in slang or whatever phrases are trendy, which completely misses the point; it is not how they speak, but what they are saying when they speak.  The situations confronted in this issue are typical teenage angst, albeit wrapped around the superhero genre. 

I liked the fact that McKeever used the events of the last storyline and continued to build on it with some character moments rather than trying to delve into another action-fill story arcs.  Most of the characters in some fashion or another are still trying to deal with the ramifications of what they saw in their future and McKeever addresses that.  Yet, I don’t want the Titans of Tomorrow to become the dominant theme in the next few issues; at some point, this needs to be dropped.  I don’t want, a year or two from now, Tim and Cassie arguing over their possible futures.  Of course, since they are both since trying to get over Connor’s death about two years ago, so maybe I am just being optimistic. 

Moreover, there are a number of characters in this book and McKeever successfully weaves all of them into the issue.

 

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