DCU Comic Book Reviews

TITANS #17

The Only Constant

November 2009

Written by Christopher Yost

Pencils by Angel Unzueta

Inks by Wayne Faucher

Cover by Angel Unzueta

Synopsis

At breakfast, the Titans discuss a variety of things, including why Gar goes by Beast Boy rather than Changeling, before they start their day.  Gar wants to spend the day with Raven, but she gently lets him know their relationship is over.  Cyborg tries to tell Gar that he needs to let go of the past, stop playing the role of the goofy sidekick, and just be himself.  Gar then gets a call from his agent, who has a gig signing autographs.  In San Francisco, Gar finds himself at a convention and is known as Beast Boy who “knows a guy who knows Batman.”  When Dr. Double X attempts to gain extra cash by offering to allow others to Deathstroke’s mask, Gar gets angry, turns into an ape, and tears the mask to pieces.  When his action garners a lot of attention, Gar turns into a bird and flies away.  He then encounters the Teen Titans fighting Cinderblock.  They are not doing well and cede leadership to Beast Boy, who guides the team to victory.  Afterwards, the Teen Titans are taken task by the news media for not doing well against Cinderblock.  Meanwhile, Gar fires his agent as he stares at the Titans Tower from his hotel window. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

So far, these spotlight issues have been hit and miss and I don’t mean the overall content, but hit and miss within the comic, if that makes sense.  Like, in this issue, I liked the opening sequence, with the Titans sitting at breakfast and enjoying their time together.  It is a nice scene, but once it is over and Gar jumps into soap opera mode, it killed the moment for me.  The whole Gar and Raven relationship feels like it has been played out and I think these two have agreed to not date at least a half dozen times over the years.  And what was the deal with Donna?  At least there is an in-issue explanation that I hope will addressed in her spotlight issue, if she gets one.  Anyway, the whole convention thing worked for me, it was amusing and fit well with Gar’s character.  The Teen Titans section, however, was off base.  The team is fractured and hurting from Red Devil’s death (in this issue), but to have them unable to fight together just feels hollow.  I realize that DC probably used this issue to push Gar to the Teen Titans title, but there should’ve been a better way than to show the team acting incompetently, especially against Cinderblock.  Having said that, I liked the ending and I liked the little touch of maturity from Gar that we see at the end.  Overall, there were some good and bad, and I think it kinda balances out for an average issue. 

Wasn’t Gar in charge of the Teen Titans at one point, during Geoff Johns’ run on the title back a few years ago?  Or was that more of Gar being the most veteran member and taking control because no one else was around.  I can’t remember.  I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing to put Gar in charge, but DC needs to let him grown up a little bit and show he can handle it, like we saw at the end of this issue. 

It was extremely hard to tell Wally and Roy apart.  Part of that is the artist, but part of that is the fact that both are white males with short, light red hair, so yeah, they do look the same.  Donna and Raven look somewhat similar as well, but the artist is able to differentiate with hair style and earrings, which you can’t do for the guys. 

The “Mr. Raymond” that Gar replaces at the last minute could very well be Roy Raymond, who is a known newsman celebrity and currently Owlman in the Outsiders title. 

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