New Teen Titans: Too Gamey.

 

I was soooooooooo looking forward to the New Teen Titans graphic novel, Games.  The New Teen Titans from the 1980s was (and probably still is) my favorite comic book. It was what got me hooked into reading comics for decades to come. When I heard that original creators Marv Wolfman and George Perez were teaming up to do a graphic novel based on my favorite team (ever!), I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! Sadly, I was a bit disappointed.

The story "Games" was just average. It reads like your basic technological action movie. This was nowhere near the quality I would expect from such masters of their craft. Where were stories like the first ones involving Deathstroke, Trigon, Blackfire, Brother Blood, or Terra?

More disappointing than the plot was the membership of this particular New Teen Titans. Wolfman chose not to go with the original team that burst onto the scene in 1980; he chose to use the team with members from later years. In fact, it was probably one of the weakest memberships. Donna was no longer Wonder Girl, Wally had gone off as the Flash, Terra was already dead, Speedy had already left the team, and Raven was already in her white costume (instead of the original blue).
 

Cousin Oliver...er,
Danny Chase.

Most disappointing was the inclusion of Danny Chase, the "Cousin Oliver" of the Teen Titans.  Bleh!  Whoever thought this was a good character was sadly mistaken. He's like the annoying Agent Cody Banks of DC Comics...and that's *not* a compliment. According to Wikipedia, "Problematically, the character was often portrayed as an overly snide, egotistical brat. This quickly proved unpopular with most fans, and pro- and anti-Chase letters sparked heated debate in the letter column. Wolfman tried various ways to make the character more appealing to the Titans' fan base, including having him briefly disguised as the mysterious "Phantasm" during the Titans Hunt storyline. However, negative fan pressure was strong enough to write Danny out of the series." So why was he used in this story?

Mullet-ready

Troia (Donna Troy)

In addition to the awful choice of Danny Chase, Donna Troy's weird Troia (or whatever the heck her name was at the time) get-up and Gar Logan's mullet make their appearance as well.
 

Since the story was already set in the 1980s, Wolfman would have been wiser to use the original team-up that was so successful. On a related note, Wolfman goes out of his way to point out to readers that the story is set in the 1980s, but then he throws in an Internet reference. I wasn't even aware of the Internet until the mid to late 1990s.

Naturally, I loved the detailed art by George Perez but it was mired down by the lame story. 

Overall, "Games" was a disappointment. I really think long-time fans of the original series deserved better. 

A Mediocre Joker

In The Joker graphic novel, we meet minor criminal Jonny Frost. He loses his girlfriend and joins Joker's gang, giving us a story from his viewpoint of what it's like to be side-by-side with this madman.  Although not specifically labeled, the graphic novel seems to take place in an "Elseworlds" universe. It doesn't take place in the regular DC Universe.  Regular Batman villains appear as slight variations of themselves: Harley Quinn is a killer stripper, Killer Croc is just a large man with alligator-type skin, and the Riddler is a feeble, crippled man who uses a question mark-shaped cane to walk. The Joker himself resembles Heath Ledger's silver screen version.

I liked the concept of this graphic novel, but the story didn't really draw me in that much, despite spot-on craziness from the Joker himself.  Usually when comic book stories are chosen to be placed in graphic novels rather than in a regular comic book, they're meant to be epic. Take, for example, The Killing Joke.  Unfortunately, that's where The Joker fails.  I guess I was expecting to get inside the mind of the Joker himself.  Some of the recent Joker's Asylum comic book stories have been much better.  They're better written, and have better artwork.

And, speaking of, most of the illustrations in The Joker appear like rough sketches rather than completed artwork. The characters have too many jagged edges for my taste. Ironically, some of the panels are a lot more detailed and beautifully illustrated. It seems as though the artist couldn't be bothered to do the rest of the graphic novel in a similar style. When I'm paying over $10 for a single story/issue in a hardcover format, I guess I expect a bit more effort put into it. Again, see Brian Bolland's flawless art in The Killing Joke. 

Skip The Joker graphic novel and head straight for the Joker's Asylum stories. You'll get much more value for your dollar.