Titans #8: In the Public Eye

Moving away from the chaotic but entertaining Beast World event, we now see it bleed into Tom Taylor’s new arc “The Dark-Winged Queen.” Bearing some similarities to past issues which were a good success, the baseline story in the book is similar to a villain of the week TV episode but instead of a villain, more like a situation where the Titans find themselves rescuing people in Key West while a category four hurricane looks to wreck the place.

Sounds basic, but if you’ve been keeping up with the series and follow the implications, it opens up an even bigger world. What it so good about Taylor as a writer is that he considers all angles and doesn’t leave anything out. When Beast World bleeds into this new event, we see the Titans, most notably Beast Boy, facing massive criticism for coming on the brink of destroying the world but also saving it.

While the Titans do face scrutiny and Beast Boy suffers to remodel his image in the public eye, we see Raven dealing with the consequences of the event as well. The Rachel Roth who loves her friends, regardless of her dark demeanor, is now trapped and the side of her clearly related to her demonic father, Trigon, is far more prevalent at the moment. The Titans are unaware, as it seems, but without a doubt it’s already established this arc is heavily Raven based. It’s easy to imagine that this story will be similar to the first season of the Titans tv show, except for the awkward introduction of the beloved characters.

The art and colors by Stephen Segovia and Annette Kwok, respectively, are a beautiful combination that knows how to match well with Taylor’s script, from casualty to gloomy.