Review: TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE #2

The Year One series of books from DC have been a huge success, and nothing has changed with Teen Titans Year One #2.

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The first issue started out with the instigator of the Teen Titans, Dick Grayson, aka, Robin, as he deals with a Batman who seems to have changed. A more violent and angry Batman finally “shows his true colors” when he punches Robin and leaves him alone in a store.

Naturally we know that something is up, but the few pages where Dick is trying to explain to Wally West, aka, Kid Flash, that Batman is acting strange, we are revealed to a fantastic analogy. When you’re a teenager – as the Teen Titans are (hence the name) – all adults act strange and never understand you; however when you’re a superhero teenager all of that ratchets up a notch.

Issue one showed us snippets of some of the other Titans as well, including Aqualad, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. Issue #2 however shows an unnerving trend for the teen superheroes; all of their mentors are going crazy.

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Cutting from Aquaman to Barry Allen, aka, the Flash to Green Arrow we see that the superheroes of the DCU – the members of the Justice League – are acting definitely out of character.

It is a very simple storyline being written by Amy Wolfram that nevertheless allows for the character development and team mentality that the Teen Titans have exemplified so well over the years. And because the Teen Titans have already teamed up together – an editor’s note in this issue refers to Brave and the Bold, Volume 1 #54 – we do not need the inevitable subsequent storyline.

Wolfram manages to deal simply – which is necessary if trying to bring those new to the Titans in to the game – yet so well that even if you’ve been a fan like me since the beginning, you love them even more.

The art suffers a bit too much from the animation from the TV series Teen Titans, with overlarge eyes and skinny bodies, but 85% of the book is drawn so that this is not a significant problem and, in some cases, even enhances the book. The front cover is also a bit of a worry, with Aqualad appearing in a costume that wouldn’t be out of place at a swim-meet; thus, maybe not something you want to flash about on the train or to your family.

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Nevertheless, this book (and indeed the series so far) is well worth picking up, and with only two issues out you should be able to find the previous issue. I’ll give it 4 out of 5 again, simply to keep up my run of the same score, but also because I believe this series is well done, but could grow a bit more.

Lastly, you’ll want to pick up this issue for the last page. There is a panel with the faces of four of our male Teen Titans as we are introduced to one of the female contingent; the four faces so perfectly represent the mental processes of the males pictured it is funny.

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JHill
2/13/2008
Earth's Mightiest