[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Story #1 – “Smells Like Teen Titan Spirit”
Writers: Heather Huhfer & P.C. Morrissey
Artists: Marcelo Dichiara & Franco Riesco
Story #2 – “Bored of the Dance”
Writer: Sholly Fisch
Artist: Jeremy Lawson
Summary
In “Smells Like Teen Titan Spirit”, Raven judges a musical competition and one of the contestants, Punk Rocket, uses his skills in an attempt to take down Jump City and the whole world! The Teen Titans must jump into action, but can they out rock Punk Rocket? Then, in “Bored of the Dance”, Starfire decides to throw a prom for the Titans, and, as usual, things don’t go quite as planned.
Positives
As this was my first issue in this series, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect, but what I got was exactly what I didn’t even know I wanted. As someone who has occasionally watched, and enjoyed, the Teen Titans Go! TV series, I gotta say, this was perfectly formatted. The two story structure is exactly how the show is done, and while reading this, it felt like an episode was playing out in my head. I even read all the dialogue in each character’s respective voice, which made the experience that much better.
And speaking of dialogue, every line spoken by these characters felt like it fit perfectly. Like how they would talk on the show. They even managed to sneak in Cyborg’s signature catchphrase, BOOYAH!! And because of this, I was never taken out of the story, and I never felt like it was dragging on.
Also, I really liked how similar the art styles were. There were a few differences, but they were both so close to the series that I almost didn’t realize that the second story had a different artist.
Negatives
The second story, “Bored of the Dance”, wasn’t nearly as engaging as the first. It was fun, and had the feel of the show, but it just didn’t hook me quite like the other one. Perhaps this is because it was what I like to call a ‘stay at home adventure’, where the Titans don’t battle a villain, but instead it focuses on their day-to-day lives. Sholly Fisch did manage to capture Robin’s never-successful courtship of Starfire and his rivalry with Speedy, but even that couldn’t hook me fully.
Verdict
If you have any interest in Teen Titans Go!, especially if you enjoy the TV series like I do, I would definitely recommend checking out this issue.
