New Titans #39: Jungle Cruise

It’s a homecoming for Wonder Girl as the Titans head to the Brazilian Amazon to investigate the dreams Yara has been having. However, not everything in this homecoming is happy as there are mysterious forces at work looking to destroy everything Yara knows and loves.

After a breather to help get new readers acclimated as well as re-introduce Static to those that haven’t read The Dakota Incident (shame on you if you haven’t), New Titans is entering its next story arc, this one focusing on Wonder Girl.

Yara Flor has been somewhat of an anomaly since her introduction way back in 2021. She was part of DC’s failed attempt to create a new Trinity in the wake of DC’s Future State initiative (along with the also forgotten Jace Fox Batman and, to a lesser extent, Jon Kent Superman). While she made sporadic appearances in a few books since Dark Crisis (including a few issues of the current Wonder Woman run) but she never really had a story of her own to latch onto, until now it seems.

Tate Brombal centers the story around nature vs. technology as well as tradition with Yara and the crisis in the amazon. Commodore Murphy from the Green Team (remember them?) makes an appearance as an opposing force in the story, but so fast his role is minimal (aside from him seemingly knowing Eva). The biggest parts of this story takes place when the Titans reach the home of the Esquecida who are more spiritual and in tune with nature than their Themysciran cousins. Their interactions with Yara in this issue help flesh out her character more, as her normally headstrong demeanor becomes a bit more passive when faced with the scrutiny of her sisters. Static also remains as the narrator, but his inner monologue can get a bit monotonous by the end (If I hear about him getting dumped one more time…). While Yara and Virgil get some good moments, the rest of the cast plots highlight an issue with Brombal’s writing. There are simply too many character stories to juggle and he seems intent on doing them all at once. Aside from Virgil and Yara, there’s Batgirl and Nightwings butting heads about leadership, the aforementioned Eva plot, whatever secrets Cyborg and Terra are hiding, Red Devil’s increasing frustrations, and Jon just being there. The cast is varied, the narrative just feels a bit bloated at times.

The art by Sami Basri and Bruno Abdias looks good but there aren’t many things to write home about. The design of the Esquecida are very unique and their village is shown in a very elaborate two page spread with some impressive scale. The action scenes flow well enough, but again nothing that will really wow you.