[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers!]
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artists: Brandon Peterson, Guillem March, Denis Medri
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Summary
With Nightwing and Miss Martian fighting amongst themselves, the team finds themselves in conflict when a larger threat arises! Three separate crises break out at the same time across the city, causing the team to split up to tackle the threat! Can the Titan’s stop this all out assault in the city due to the remnants of the source wall?
Positives
Right away Abnett immediately carries over the tension between Nightwing and Miss Martian from the previous issue into this one. The distrust between Nightwing and Miss Martian even spills over into the team itself during a tense argument between them. It seems that Nightwing severely distrusts having a liaison on the team, feeling as if the league doesn’t trust his choices. However Miss Martian points out that being a liaison wasn’t her choice either. She’s struggling with trying to live up to the standards of her mentor–Martian Manhunter. Each one is dealing with their own internal struggles, and thanks to being trapped together in an alternate reality the two actually work out their problems and eventually come to terms. If you’re a fan of Nightwing at all then you’ll love how he takes charge of this team in this issue. Right away as soon as reports of the crises break out, Nightwing takes command of the situation and immediately splits up the team to tackle the threat. Nightwing and Miss Martian tackle a reality warping old lady, Beast Boy, Raven and Steel take on an immense robotic creature, while Donna Troy takes on the remnants of Brother Blood, who possesses a device that seems to increase the power of the energy of the source wall!
Negatives
I have no complaints about this issue at all. Abnett does a great job of showing the faults and cracks within the team while at the same time showing the immense courage to face all these threats at once. I think the most interesting story so far has to be with Raven. If you may recall a few issues ago, her body was replaced on an astral plane when they fought a magical being. However it’s been revealed in this issue that it was Raven’s soul that was taken, and not her actual physical self. The taking of her soul has caused a massive drain on her powers, which was shown in this issue to have life-threatening consequences. As Raven struggles to help her team, she tries to think back to how her soul was taken–and who exactly has it.
Verdict
If you’re a fan of Nightwing I think you’ll really appreciate Titans #25. The story is great, the action is intense, and by splitting the team up in the book Abnett gives you a chance to see the inner struggles of each teammate more personally as well. Each page showed us exactly the type of problems each teammate of the Titans deals with–without giving unnecessary weight to the story. I especially enjoyed the conversation between Nightwing and Miss Martian. If these two can get on the same page as a team I really think they would be a force to be reckoned with on a team-up with themselves. Hopefully we can see it at some point in the future. I can’t wait to read the next issue!
