DCU Comic Book Reviews

TEEN TITANS #74

Child's Play, Part Three: ...All Fall Down

October 2009

Written by Bryan Q. Miller

Pencils by Joe Bennett

Inks by Jack Jadson

Cover by Joe Bennett

Synopsis

Today, Blue Beetle and the Teen titans mourn the loss of a fallen teammate.  Yesterday, the Teen Titans fight against the new Fearsome Five.  At Titans Tower, Eddie Bloomberg contacts the FBI to tell them of a nuclear bomb at Alcatraz.  The FBI agent (actually the Calculator in disguise) tells Eddie he needs to get there right away.  When he gets there, the FBI don’t want Eddie’s help.  So Eddie breaks into the prison to find the nuke on his own.  There, he finds Geiger, who is about to go nuclear.  When he realizes the city is in danger, Eddie flies Geiger in the Titan plane to space, where it explodes, saving the city but killing Eddie.  Later, the Titans mourn.  Wonder Girl decides she is going to quit the team.  The next morning, however, she changes her mind.  It is time they started to act like heroes.  Elsewhere, Calculator holds Kid Eternity hostage, forcing him to become Marvin so father and son can talk to each other.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a very average issue.  It was the proverbial all-fighting issue, with the Teen Titans battling against the Fearsome Five with all of the characters getting the chance to show what they can do.  For my tastes it goes on for far too long, but I wasn’t completely blown away by the action.  The whole subplot with Eddie was okay (more on that below), although I’ve got to question the wisdom of the FBI agent blaming the Titans for the whole mess.  You are at a prison for metahuman criminals, and you blame the Teen Titans for the mass escape and carnage?  I think it would’ve been more believable if the FBI agent didn’t believe Eddie because he was normal and therefore couldn’t possibly be a member of the Teen Titans.  Instead, he blames the Titans and he actually believes Eddie is a Titan.  Am I missing something here? 

The impact of Eddie’s death, and the sacrifice he made for his team and for the city, would’ve been more potent if it weren’t for the fact that we have been hit over the head in the previous two issues that someone was going to die.  So it wasn’t so much, “wow, that character died” as much as “so, that’s how they decided to kill him.”  It completely removed any emotional impact.  Not only do we know someone is going to die, but it wasn’t that difficult to deduce who it would be.  Although I have to say that they manages to keep Eddie around a lot longer than I thought they would after he became powerless.  I would’ve thought by now he would have his powers back.

There are two ways Eddie could return and they are not mutually exclusive.  The first is Blackest Night.  The second is someone in Hell (or perhaps even Heaven) gives Eddie a second chance, including the return of his former powers.  Personally, I don’t think reviving Eddie is worth it (I don't thik he added much to the book, with or without powers), but it will happen sooner or later, so perhaps doing it sooner would be a benefit. 

How could the team not realize that Kid Eternity is missing?  Or think that is okay he is missing and not do anything to find him.   Don’t get me wrong, I like the ending with the Calculator, but it seems weird that a teammate is gone and the team barely acknowledges that he is gone, or even consider why or how.

Comic Connection

The presence of the Superboy statue puts the events in this issue before the events in Adventure Comics, issue #1 (in which the now-living Superboy destroys the statue).    

Fresh Hell, Chapter Three

Written by Sean McKeever

Art by Yildiray Cinar and Julio Ferreira

Synopsis

Rose Wilson (aka Ravager) is in a small northern town, hoping to settle down for a quiet night.  However, the locals arrive to kill her.  She manages to outwit the locals’ plans, turning on them, eventually capturing their leader.  Before she can learn why, reinforcements arrive.  Ravager runs, but is followed.  They shoot at her and she falls into frozen water.  The locals wait long enough to believe she drowned in the water.  But Ravager’s abilities are not normal and she is very much alive.   

Review

Just what this issue needed, a story-long fight after a story-long fight.  Again, it was okay for what it was, but it seemed to go on for far too long and accomplished nothing in terms of the story (Ravage trying to escape her past) or the plot (who is after her and why).  It was just kinda there, filling up pages until the end. 

In a previous issue, McKeever made a point of one of the characters knowing a lot of Ravager.  Since this is the character that is behind the attacks, you would think he would let his team know that ravager could spend more than three minutes under water.  Or am I just nitpicking.

 

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