[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artists: Khoi Pham, Wade Von Grawbadger & Jim Charalampidis
Summary
The Teen Titans give a guided tour of their base, and new threat — as well as a new Teen Titan — emerges.
Positives
One of my favorite DC television shows when it was on was Young Justice. Even now I watch reruns on Netflix from time to time, recapturing some of those amazing stories and heartfelt moments. As I recently started to read Teen Titans, I hoped it would capture some of those feelings from my Young Justice days.
This issue did resemble some of those feelings. The banter and chemistry between the Titans was authentic, and pretty funny at times. Beast Boy’s tour of the Teens’ headquarters was pretty good, and served as a good launching point to readers who might not know any of the Teen Titans, or their characteristics.
Negatives
Unfortunately, I found there were more negatives in this issue then positives. The issue was titled “The Rise of Aqualad,” but I didn’t really find his story all that interesting. There were only a few pages that shows his upbringing and his powers, and his love interest which I know will turn some heads. But this isn’t the Aqualad we know. He doesn’t know anything about Atlantis, or Aquaman, and is very unsure about himself. It might have been better if Percy built up Aqualad in previous issues leading up to him joining the Teen Titans, or maybe even an issue all for himself.
The art in this issue was definitely something to get used to. At first, it looked very off putting, as some of the faces in some panels looked very strange. But as I flipped through it a second and third time, I got used to it, well, most of it. Some panels still looked strange.
Verdict
The banter and chemistry between the Teen Titans was great, but Aqualad’s side story did bring the book down for me. I’m not sure why Percy felt it necessary to bring up Aqualad’s sexual orientation either. Perhaps it was to demonstrate how he was feeling different then everyone else, or for shock value. Either way, the story in general fell flat, and made me uninterested in Aqualad, which is really to bad as his character was great in Young Justice. Here’s hoping that Percy can make me care about Aqualad again.
