DCU Comic Book Reviews

TEEN TITANS #75

Wyld Thing

November 2009

Written by Bryan Q. Miller

Pencils by Joe Bennett

Inks by Jack Jadson

Cover by Joe Bennett

Synopsis

Raven has been telepathically called to a cave near the ocean.  When she gets there, she is attacked be a six-headed monster.  She runs away, but collapses on the beach.  A creature finds her and carries her away.  At Titans Tower, the team is enjoying pizza when Beast Boy arrives to help get the team back on their feet, as the new leader.  As he is talking to the team, the alarm announces a visitor.  Outside, Aquagirl finds Raven unconscious and beaten.  The contacts Dr. Mid-Nite to examine Raven.  He determines that she came into an extra-dimensional entity of unknown origin.  With the help of a shock from, they force the evil out of her.  Later, a little cat that no one recognizes coughs up a hair ball, which turns into the six-headed creature from the cave. It has come for Raven.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

The good news is that with a new writer jumping on board, there really isn’t much of a new direction or a change in the cast of characters.  New writer Henderson continues to explore the team disunity and dysfunction, with Beast Boy arriving and not making anything better.  I hope at some point Henderson will finally fix this part of the team, but at the very least it just doesn’t disappear right away.  I like the idea of the team coming together to help save Raven.  However, the bad news is that this issue was an awkward read, especially with Beast Boy’s arrival.  Almost every part where Beast Boy appears does not work for me.  It just doesn’t seem to flow, as if Henderson couldn’t quite figure out how to work Beast Boy’s jovial, flippant attitude into his role as the leader of the team.  And I get the idea of the team not respecting him because of the way he acts.  However, the issue would’ve benefited from Beast Boy acting like a leader rather than just talking about it.

The way Beast Boy flips out because of Raven is part of the problem.  Is he acting that way because he loves her or is he acting that way because her empathy is causing him to do it?  And if it is because he loves her, this title has done a poor job showing us that he cares for her.  One could argue that this was done in Titans, but DC should not assume people read both books. 

There are moments where the story lacks clarity; the transitions were a little odd (such as when Miss Martian goes to say goodnight to Bombshell) and some of the plot explanations are a little hazy (such as Beast Boy going wild because, I think, Raven empathy was going all ker-flooey).  And I am still trying to figure what that creature was who saved Raven on the beach.  At first I thought it was part of the six-headed monster.  It still could be and took pity on Raven or it could be something else that helped her or (because of what she was saying) could have been compelled to help or definitely part of the creature and helped her to Titans Tower in order for it to get inside.  (That was one hell of a sentence).  Anyway, the issue is choppy in places, as if there were missing pages. 

I think the issue tries too hard to incorporate a little bit of the history of the Teen Titans.  I realize that this is an anniversary issue of sorts, but the flashbacks felt forced.  I don’t think it really needed it.  The speech that Beast Boy makes, for the most part, works on its own, without the need for the accompanying visual.  I think it might’ve even had a bigger impact if the visual stuck with him rather than the team from the past.  Instead of reading what Gar is saying, we are looking at the picture, noticing the details that marks it within a certain period of continuity. 

Fresh Hell, Chapter Four

Written by Sean McKeever

Art by Yildiray Cinar and Julio Ferreira

Synopsis

While fighting against the locals in an unknown town, Ravager fell into the ice.  She remained under water long enough to convince the locals she is dead.  She then swims to the surface with plans for revenge against the locals’ leader:  Will.  Before she can track them down, she follows a caravan of trucks, which leads to a submarine.  There, she watches as Will and the locals unload a shipment of guns.  And human slaves.     

Review

There really is not much to say about this second feature.  We know Ravager is going to escape the watery grave and then prepare herself for revenge on Will, so nothing happens in this story that is at all surprising, except maybe the end part.  And that is not so much surprising, since we knew that Will must’ve been up to no good, as it was just letting us know exactly what it is.  At the very least we know now the reason why Will is trying to kill her, although one could argue if you just ignore her perhaps she would never notice what was going on.  Beyond that, Ravager now has a mission other than just revenge, although at some point there will be a reckoning. 

 

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