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| Teen Titans (volume 2364) Annual #1 |
I just read "The Culling" storyline that ran through the recent issues of Teen Titans, Superboy, and Legion Lost (although I didn't read the Legion Lost issues because I don't normally read that comic). At one point, I had to flip back to the cover of the comic I was reading to check out the credits and make sure it wasn't Felicia Henderson writing Teen Titans again. (We all know how that turned out the last time.) It felt rudimentary and written by a beginner who didn't care a whit about character development. It was like reading a script for a porn movie vs. reading the script for Schindler's List. That's how awful the story and dialogue was.
The concept of "The Culling" itself might have been better if it wasn't already so prevalent in everyone's minds as a little story called The Hunger Games. Worse, this story has already been done before in the last volume of Teen Titans, when it was called the Dark Side Club, pitting Titan against Titan in the ring for others' enjoyment. Only this time, instead of getting the Terror Titans series out of the story, we get The Ravagers. Worst, the name "The Culling" itself only brings to mind Edward Cullen from the God-awful Twilight series. They're trying to capitalize on the popularity of both Twilight and The Hunger Games in one fell swoop. [Insert barf here.]
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| Superboy and Bunker |
The best part of the story came after all was said and done and the team was bathing half-naked in some spa pools in a mystical dinosaur-laden land. Here, we finally get some real character interaction that doesn't feel forced (or poorly written). We also get a bit of comedy as we see Bunker calling out Superboy's hotness, something we don't get to see anymore now that he's no longer in a tight-fitting T-shirt and jeans.
And speaking of costumes, where did the Teen Titans get theirs? At the estate sale for the latest Tron movie?
Now on to The Ravagers, their name taken from the former Ravager herself, Rose Wilson, daughter of Deathstroke, leaving the new Rose Wilson in DC's New 52 without a codename. She's just known as Rose Wilson. Not Rose, but Rose Wilson. This Rose Wilson still has both her eyes, though, having never lost one of them to her father's madness. In fact, I don't think we even know if she's related to the new Deathstroke. Who knows in the New 52? And, seriously, at this point, who cares? Please, please, please let this all just be happening on Earth-52 and eventually get back to Earth-1 where all of my favorite characters still reside pre-Flashpoint.
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| Ravagers #1 |
In The Ravagers, the team consists of Caitlin Fairchild, Terra, Beast Boy, Thunder and Lightning, Rose Wilson, Warblade, and Ridge. Fairchild has the ability to pump up her boobs. Terra, Beast Boy, Thunder, and Lightning aren't the characters we know (and love!) from Teen Titans past. Rose Wilson is...well, Rose Wilson. Or some cheap white-haired knock-off of her. Warblade is a character that might have (and did) come out of the 1990s when comic stories started to get as lame as the generic codenames that came along with them. (See: any 1990s X-title.) Ridge, a new character to DC Comics, seems to be the only decent character, and maybe that's because there is no former character or past history of his to fuck up.
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| Young Justice #0 |
To summarize, Marv Wolfman and George Perez's New Teen Titans is what made me seriously start reading and collecting comics in 1981. Geoff Johns' Teen Titans is what made me start reading comics again in 2007 after a 15-year absence. Unfortunately, DC's New 52 version of Teen Titans might make me stop reading comics again all together. Young Justice, the cartoon series and related comic from DC's kid-friendly all-ages line, does a better job of treating the legacy of Teen Titans (and its long-time readers) with respect.
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