DCU Comic Book Reviews

TEEN TITANS #70

Deathtrap, Part 3

June 2009

Written by Sean McKeever

Pencils by Eddy Barrows

Inks by Ruy Jose

Cover by Eddy Barrows and Ruy Jose

Synopsis

[continued from Vigilante, issue #5] In New York City, Jericho (in the guise of a woman) forces an officer to keep his open to watch something across the street.  Elsewhere, the Teen Titans’ plane continues to plummet towards the ground after Jericho had overrode the computer controls.  The plane is falling close to where the Titans are evacuating citizens caught in a blast caused by Jericho.  At Titans Tower, Beast Boy watches over Cyborg, who is getting worse.  Meanwhile, the Titans and Teen Titans are trying to save the ship when it is rocked by explosion and it falls into the river.  Afterwards, the two teams debate what happened until Ravager appears.  She caused the explosion, forcing it into the water.  At STAR Labs, Beast Boy is told Cyborg is stable, but it will take some time to repair his cybernetics and heal his body.  Meanwhile, the Teen Titans aren’t crazy Ravager followed them, but she wants to help them find her brother, Jericho.  Suddenly, Jericho appears and takes over Raven, who then captures Ravager.  Jericho tells her that Vigilante is trying to kill him.  They find Vigilante nearby and apprehend him.  However, Jericho gets away.  The next day, at the grand opening for the opening D’Olivia restaurant, Jericho (in the guise of someone else) proclaims it will be a party to die for. [continued in Titans, issue #13]     

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

There is a lot of noise in this issue and not much of it makes sweet music.  This isn’t a bad issue, but it is too hectic and chaotic and doesn’t quite come together as it should.  For as much as there is going on, very little of it means much to the overall story.  It takes far too long for the T-wing to crash into the water (and can I ask why three powered individuals can’t hold the plane and bring it down gently).  And the endless debates about Jericho are going nowhere.  It is nice for the team to discuss Jericho and what they think they should do with him, but at some point they need to make a decision.  Talking about it over and over again is bringing the story down.  Finally, Ravager’s sudden appearance, I think, was supposed to be a big moment but it failed to make an impact, largely because the sequence of events was unclear to me.  Regardless, Ravager arrives and suddenly the debates begin again.  Enough already.  The story needs to progress forward rather than stand still making a lot of clamoring noise. 

The brief appearance of Vigilante feels forced, almost as if McKeever was rewriting the ending to make sure he hit the plot beats that needed to be addressed for the crossover to work.  And that force feel makes me wonder why Vigilante is in this story.  Yes, I get it.  Vigilante is investigating the Election Bombings, which was due to Jericho.  Beyond that, there is no connection between Vigilante and the Titans, besides the Part of the problem, I think, of Vigilante’s role is that we don’t know why he wants to find Jericho or why he feels the need to kill Jericho (something the Titans specifically ask him not to do in this issue). If his role was better defined, it might work, but as it is Vigilante sticks out like a sore thumb. 

The most annoying aspect of his issue is Beast Boy whining about Raven.  Besides the fact that this seems so out of place for the character, it also seems so out of place within the context of the story.  Wouldn’t it have been better for Beast boy to whine about Jericho, to talk about all of the things that Jericho has done over the years, both good and bad?  It certainly makes much more sense in the context of the story as well providing the reader point/counterpoint in terms of whether or not the Titans should help Jericho and put him away for prison. 

 

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