They’re no longer the Teen Titans, but they’re still heroes. It’s just that now, they’re the DCU’s first line of defense. Your Major Spoilers review of Titans #1 from DC Comics awaits!
TITANS #1
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Nicola Scott
Colorist: Annette Kwok
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Editor: Brittany Holzherr
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 16, 2023
Previously in Titans: The Justice League is no more. Now, a new team must rise and protect the Earth… Titans, go! Danger lurks around every corner as heroes and villains alike challenge the new team before they’ve even begun. Will the DCU ever be the same? Or is this the end for the world’s greatest (former) teen team?
STARTS WITH A BANG
We open with Flash, Wally West, who has just taken a bullet to his heart. Knowing that he only has seconds to live, he visits his family for a split-second, then leaps to his cosmic treadmill, determined to change fate. That somewhen fades to the present, where Beast Boy awakens from nightmares of his own shooting some months ago, comforted by Raven, who has finally committed to a relationship between them. Having assembled most of the team he wants, Nightwing scouts his final recruit, who is coincidentally one of his oldest friends. Tempest, however, has other plans and indicates that he will be working with someone else, leaving Nightwing with the team that launched the New Teen Titans back in 1980. Before they can move into their new tower in Bludhaven, though, there’s the matter of a giant ape attacking a nuclear power plant… and a hostile Peacemaker waiting in the wings!
Oh, and one of his teammates is already dead in the lobby of their new home.
ENDS WITH A MURDER
This issue’s conflict is interesting, as the President wants the Titans to work for the United States and its interests, but Nightwing flatly says no, following that with the caveat that he’s not Batman, and that the Titans will share all their information with Peacemaker and Task Force X. The Flash mystery that bookends the assembling of the team is a bit of a sore point for me, as it involves both the ol’ time travel shenanigans AND the threat of breaking of the West family again, but there are indications in the art that make me wonder if this is actually the same Wally West we’ve been seeing in the pages of The Flash. I do like the fact that Nightwing’s first instincts as team leader are to reassemble his old friends, and it’s even more satisfying that Garth says no, but conflict with Amanda Waller and secret government agencies feels awfully familiar. The star of the issue, though, is Scott’s art. The Titans in battle against Titano, the Super-Ape make for an amazing visual spectacle, allowing Cyborg to do his tech thing, Beast Boy to become a green kaiju, and Donna and Starfire to just plain punch down a giant ape.
BOTTOM LINE: HAS ITS MOMENTS
All in all, Titans #1 feels like a graduation day moment, even though these heroes are all well-versed in big league world-saving already, with simply wonderful art and a story that coheres even in the face of a couple of wobbly moments, rounding out to 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. It’s not a world-shattering crisis, but that’s actually a nice change of pace in recent years, so I’m willing to give this creative team some time to put it all together.
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TITANS #1
The team has barely assembled and things are already going sideways, but it's a beautiful book with some really strong notions, even if the ending puzzles me.
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Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.