[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artists: Khoi Pham, Phil Hester, Wade Von Grawbadger
Summary
The Teen Titans take on King Shark as a new hero comes to their rescue in part 2 of “The Rise of Aqualad” titled “Terror from the Deep.”
Positives
One thing you could always count on in these Teen Titans books is humor, and Percy gives us that in spades. The chemistry between the team is great, especially during the action panels when they’re trying to form strategies. You can’t help but chuckle watching trying to work as a team.
This story arc is about the origins of Aqualad, and although the first issue wasn’t all that interesting or make me really care for him, this issue does do better job with that. It was pretty endearing to see Aqualad leaving his old life behind for a chance to fit in somewhere. It’s this desire that led him to the Teen Titans. Even though it was a rough start to get accepted into the fold, by the end of the issue, Aqualad’s true heroism shines through, and even Robin could not doubt his value to the team, and offers him a probationary spot with the Teen Titans.
Speaking of Robin, I wasn’t to sure how I felt about his character after reading though this issue the first time. Damian, in this issue, is very full of himself, and orders around the rest of the Teen Titans quite a bit. He seemed very egotistical. After reading a second time or so, I noticed one panel that really stood out. While in the tower, he tells the rest of the Teen Titans how he wants them to be better then the Justice League, and how he sees their tower just as important as the Watchtower. He goes on to say they he recruited each one of them for their unique skill set. That panel shows me that even though he may be egotistical and annoying at times, he puts the Teen Titans in very high regards, and wants them to operate at their best. Those are high qualities of any good leader.
The artwork in this issue wasn’t amazing, but did seem better then the last issue.
Negatives
As mentioned before, Damian’s character in this issue can be regarding as annoying, which will of course turn some readers off. It did for me at first. I wouldn’t mind seeing Damian tone down the bossy and annoyance level a bit, and remember that he’s also a kid, either the same age or younger then the rest of the teens.
The antagonist in this story arc has been King Shark thus far, with a new enemy appearing at the end of this issue. So far, King Shark has not been very interesting in this arc, and even though we get a little more information into his plan in this issue, we don’t get much depth into his character. Humanizing King Shark a bit, or give the Teen Titans some sort of ethical dilemma besides just stopping the bad guy from doing bad things, would give this story arc a bit more depth. Perhaps with the addition of the new enemy, and their interest in Aqualad, might just do that.
Verdict
This second book in this story arc was an improvement on the first for sure. If you don’t mind Robin’s annoyances, then you will definitely love this issue. The last page sets up what should be an interesting next issue, and the beginnings of the massive 3 book crossover, “The Lazarus Contract.”
