DCU Comic Book Reviews

TITANS #16

A Considerable Lack Of Joy

October 2009

Written by Christopher Yost

Pencils by Angel Unzueta

Inks by Wayne Faucher

Cover by Angel Unzueta

Synopsis

In Metropolis, Kory (aka Starfire) visits a psychiatrist.  Kory has been having trouble coping after being exposed to Darkseid’s justifier helmets.  She has also been having a tough time connecting to her friends in the Titans, who have all gone their separate ways.  And she is having a tough time dealing with Nightwing telling her that he doesn’t love her.  The psychiatrist tells Kory that she has lost the joy in her life and that Kory needs to find a life outside of the Titans.  Kory fights hard for the lives of people on Earth and for her friends, but she needs to learn to fight for herself.  She needs to find out why she is on Earth.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

On the one hand, I like the fact that someone is having trouble with the images and thoughts they were having while wearing the justified helmets during the Final Crisis.  I think it is a natural reaction to having your emotions taken over by a malignant force, and especially for Kory who is sensitive about being made a slave.  On the other hand, this is the only character we have seen with these problems, so it either makes Kory look weak for not handling it properly compared to others or DC editorial look stupid for not addressing the situation in other characters.

Anyway, about half way through this issue I was wondering what the hell was going on, but when the psychiatrist started to get to the core of the problem towards, I began to really like what was going on.  It really put everything into perspective. So much of what the psychiatrist was saying rang true based on what I have observed about Kory.  I found myself agreeing with what the psychiatrist was saying.  And I like the fact that Yost was able to reach the point in the story and building so much of Kory’s pain based on recent events that we have seen in this title.  It connects what was going on with the reader, because we remember these scenes (well, not the Intergang battle) but most everything else, including recent issues of this title focusing on the other characters finding their own way (so when the psychiatrist says the team members are going their own way, we can see it).  Finally, I also like the fact that there is no true resolution.  Kory is a mess, as the psychiatrist says, but she is not fixed.  She simply recognizes the problem and will attempt to fix it.  A very good issue. 

There probably isn’t enough time to really delve into all of Kory’s history, but there is no mention of the almost wedding with Dick or a mention of her time spent in outer space with Animal Man in others, most notably as seen in 52.  I am sure there are some other things I may be missing.

Comic Connection

The scene with Vixen also occurred in Justice League of America, issue #36. 

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