Titans #24
Derbs
Recap
Nightwing has assembled a new Titans team consisting of Beast Boy (suffering from unstable powers caused by the emergent effects), Steel, Donna Troy, Raven and Miss Martian (the Titan’s “liaison” to the Justice League). Their mission is to investigate the dangerous emergent metahuman effects created by exotic debris and cosmic energy caused by the breach in the Source Wall (see Dark Knights #6).
Two dangerous and exotic looking figures appear in what seems to be a park in San Francisco, and the Titans respond quickly to their presence. When they arrive, the park seems peaceful save for a relaxed old man reading a paper on a bench. Suddenly they are attacked by monsters that, surprisingly, the old man seems to recognize. As the fighting ensues, he is revealed to be Ernest Kirkpatrick, a Tolkien-type author whose four books set in a world called “Unearth” failed miserably. The troll-like monsters called the “Urkesh”, are led by a sinister Loki-like character that calls himself “Prince Travesty of Unearth”
The invaders have been created by a dimensional breach created by Kirkpatrick’s newly emergent mind. Miss Martian and Raven use his mind to travel to this new dimension of Mordor-like Unearth, and will the breach out of existence (but now the reality has become an actual parallel dimension). Though the Titans believe the threat to be neutralized, it’s revealed that Prince Travesty was not banished and is now staying with an accommodating Kirkpatrick in his home. However, he was only able to do this by switching places with someone in the Unearth dimension, namely a terrified Raven, whose magically created double remains on Earth.
Review
This new team of Titans still needs to be sold to its fans, and the incredible quality of the artwork in this book reflects that necessity. The choreography of the combat is perfect, the panels are beautiful and will hopefully continue to be.
The concept of putting out cosmically-created meta-fires is adventurous and fun. I think this Titans roster is solid and I really look forward to seeing how they evolve. Unfortunately, we will need to wait for future books to develop these relationships since the action, which is very well done, has been the priority. The most internal drama generated so far is the mysterious secret mission Miss Martian is undertaking as her mentor, Martian Manhunter, looks on. But again, next to nothing has been revealed concerning that drama either. Don’t get me wrong, the story is written very well, but it isn’t gripping or even very interesting yet.
The main purpose of this story is to showcase how powerful these new source-wall-fallout metas can possibly be. It’s not just a few big-bads or power-blasters running amok downtown. It’s possibly an innocuous civilian that can create an entire alternate dimension with his own imagination! This ramification is truly disconcerting for the DC universe, for how many Dark Knights: Metal-type conflicts can Earth survive?
Final Thoughts
A fun-filled, pretty, action-adventure that needs some internal drama between these new characters to give them real staying power. Titans Go!...get Raven!!!
Titans #24: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste WIth Your Fists!
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 6/106/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10
