DCU Comic Book Reviews

TEEN TITANS #64

Pawns & Kings, Part 2:  Battle Lines

December 2008

Written by Sean McKeever

Pencils by Fernando Dagnino

Inks by Raul Fernandez

Cover by Eddy Barrows

Synopsis

In Colorado, Amy Allen (aka Bombshell) confronts her father over the fact that he used as part of the Project Quantum plan that gave her powers.  He convinces her that he had nothing to do it and that he was only trying to protect.  Just then, the Teen Titans arrive to arrest Bombshell.  She fights back.  In the fight, Wonder Girl disappears.  She reappears in the midst of a vision of Ares killing in the name of Zeus.  Then she has a vision of Zeus, who tells Wonder Girl that Ares’ son Lycus is trying to kill her.  Meanwhile, the Titans battle Bombshell.  She fights back, until her father stops her.  He tells the Titans that her life is in danger.  The Titans agree to let Bombshell stay with them while her father figures out who is the one pulling the Project Quantum strings.  Elsewhere, Zeus tells Wonder Girl that Lycus wants to be the champion of Ares and has been taking Wonder Girl’s powers away from her.  Zeus then sends her home. When she gets there, Lycus is waiting.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Hang On.  ‘Dweebs’?  Kinda uncalled for.”

Hey, look, the exposition issue.  You know, it is that issue where the writer decides he is finally gonna explain to the reader what the hell is going on, so we get a character (or in this case, two characters) telling another character (or two) the plot details, which is really more for our benefit than anything else.  This is not a bad or good thing, just a common experience in the comic world.  The Wonder Girl section is a bit more overt (with Zeus appearing out of nowhere to tell her what was going one) than the Bombshell section, which flows smoothly from the story as Bombshell’s father explains to her what is going on.  At the very least Bombshell was seeking for answers whereas Wonder Girl was just given the answer, if that makes sense.  Ultimately, I liked the Bombshell section better than the Wonder Girl section although I have to admit I am more anxious to see what happens next to Cassie more than I am to see what happens to Bombshell. 

What I think bothers me about the Wonder Girl section is that while we get the explanation fro mZeus on what is going on, it doesn’t add much to what we might have deduced on our own.  Given what we have seen, we knew it was someone related to Ares who wanted to do something bad to her.  It was nice, I suppose, to finally learn a few more details, but there was nothing much else.  In fact, the desert scene in the beginning was little unnecessary.  Zeus tells us all we need to know; the desert doesn’t add anything extra and is a confusing since we don’t know who Lycus is (or the face that he was the King of Libya) at that moment in the story. 

As for the Bombshell section, I liked a good portion of it and what I didn’t like is the predictable part.  I mean, who couldn’t see Bombshell becoming part of the Teen Titans?  Given the way the roster has been decimated, it doesn’t take much to realize that the team needs new blood.  So, yes, it was predictable when Robin asked her to come to Titans Tower.  Did it make sense for him to do that?  Not really.  Given Bombshell’s past and, hell, the way she fought them just a few moments before, I would say that Robin would be a little more cautious then simply asking her to come stay with them.  That moment aside, however I like the rest of the section, especially the way the Titans worked together to semi-defeat Bombshell and the fact that the plan actually worked.  Very nicely done.   

Actually, now that I think about it, does Bombshell become the new Ravager?  You know, the character that used to be bad, but wants to be good, but still has a lot of anger issues and issues fighting a little too much?  Is this the same character, different name?