The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
Matt Meyer
Recap
Time for a road trip! Crush, the (possible) daughter of Lobo, and pixie Djinn hit the road with a stolen Batcycle in search of Crush's chain, Obelus. It's been missing, but was located last issue by rapscallion Robin Damian Wayne.
While on the road, a brush with bigotry prompts Crush to detail her origins to Djinn, in an effort to illustrate that all of humanity, for lack of a better term, sucks. Without giving too much away, her she had her very own Superman moment when as an infant she crashed to Earth, only instead of being found by kindly farmers, she was found by kindly drug addicts (at Burning Man, no less!).
Drugs are bad, mmkay?
Despite their flaws, Crush's parents do show her love, and raise her to believe that she looks different because someday, she'll be a superhero, because that's who her real parents are. Inevitably, though, young Crush spies a battle between Superman and Lobo on TV, and realizes her parents were lying to her the whole time In true teen angst fashion, she storms out, only to find her parents violently murdered when she returns.
Today on Springer: Genocidal Bastiches and Their Love Children - NEXT!
Back in the present, Crush and Djinn track Obelus to the dealer who stole her (it?) in the first place. Their battle is short, and in the end, the two set out to find out the truth about Crush's parentage.
Review
This was a fun issue. Crush and Djinn make for a great odd couple, and play off each other very well. Considering these are brand-new characters, writer Adam Glass does a great job of conveying who they are, how their worldviews diverge, and why opposites attract. Crush could have been a very stereotypical angry teen character, but Glass manages to write her in such a way that her anger is understandable rather than cloying.
In fact, their interactions remind me a bit of Sam and Dean Winchester’s on Supernatural, which is probably not a coincidence since Adam Glass was both a writer and executive producer on that show. He knows how to write a scene with two opposing viewpoints, and make it feel natural rather than a high school debate.
Setting Crush’s wholesome interpretation of her upbringing against the reality that her parents were constantly on the run, in debt, scamming, and high was a great touch, reminiscent of some of Joss Whedon’s sharpest work. It allows for the believeable notion that despite her tough-as-nails exterior, Crush is still actually an optimistic kid on the inside. Djinn, for her part, is still a bit of a blank slate, but there’s a strong hint that she’s hiding something dark beneath her innocent facade. Which is just fine; the last thing a writer should do is a giant exposition dump. It’s not only dull, it’s a slap in the face to readers’ intellect.
Robson Rocha’s art is full of energy, capable of rendering emotion and action with the same ease. Honestly, the only really negative thing I have to say about this issue is that the drug dealer antagonist is pretty by-the-numbers. He’s a white guy with dreads, which although certainly being a certain kind of evil in its own right, doesn’t necessarily translate to interesting bad guy material. But his scene is pretty short, and it does give Crush some third-act motivation that she didn’t have previously.
No, dude. Just no.
Final Thoughts
A surprisingly fun outing focusing on two of the newest Titans, writer Adam Glass proves he has what it takes to make a reader feel invested in them.
Teen Titans #25: Lies My Parents Told me
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 7/107/10
- Cover Art - 8/108/10