Hey, so this review article is pretty late, huh? As some of you may already know, I went to NYC this week to visit the DC offices and stomp around Manhattan. It’s Saturday, I’m back in St. Louis and I’m ready to sit down with Teen Titans #18.
As you can tell by the cover, Tim Drake is smiling. Seems odd, right? Well, from what I understand Timmy is possessed so that’s the reason for that. Still, it would’ve been nice to have had a straight-up cover showing the real Tim Drake mourn. Let’s face it, people are going to remember the time Damian Wayne died. They aren’t going to remember the time Tim Drake was possessed by Raven. That means we’re going to have generation after generation looking up the Requiem days and wondering “What the hell is Tim Drake’s problem?”
Something else I though I’d point out is that it’s funny to me how author Scott Lobdell found a way to get the last word in both of this year’s big bat-events (so far). He was the last person to use the Joker (issue #18 of Red Hood) and here he brings Damian in as a vision and gives him some new lines.
Anyway, so you’re picking this up for the Requiem bits because Teen Titans overall isn’t a very good series. Well, the first four pages are indeed about Damian but you can find those pages for free online. I didn’t find the moment all that touching. The facial expressions looked rather Old Navy mannequin-like and seeing Tim on his knees embracing nothing was kind of awkward. And wasn’t Tim supposed to be possessed or something?
As for everything that followed? It’s tons and tons of plot points that I don’t really care about so I could never get all that invested in it. Teen Titans is trying to cross over with Suicide Squad, Superboy is returning from somewhere, and this demon fellow named Trigon is here to cause trouble. It’s kind of hard for me to review a book like this because I’m really out of the loop on most of it and I also find it impossible to care because it’s just not my cup of tea. I’m part of the crowd that flips through this book wishing it was more like the Young Justice animated series.
I will say that the artwork looked kind of cool during the Suicide Squad fight near the end–not really a spoiler, every time super heroes cross over into each other’s book they have to trade blows for at least a page or two. That’s just a law of comics for whatever reason. I don’t like how Red Robin is being drawn though. His hair really makes him look like a dweeb.
Do I recommend you buy it? No. I found myself skimming through it for the most part. In fact, this is probably my most half-assed review ever. I’m tired! And I would rather put my energy into writing about books that I want folks to get excited about reading. This isn’t one of those comics. I suggest you peruse the 4 preview pages that actually deal with Damian and then save your $2.99. Unless you’ve actually been keeping up with the Trigon storyline or love Superboy or the Suicide Squad this isn’t going to be worth your time. As for a number score… I’ll give it like a 4/10 or something since I really didn’t focus that hard while reading it. Again, these numbers are arbitrary. You should probably check the comments section to find some feedback by a fellow reader who cares more about these characters and give you deeper insight. I’m honestly not the guy to be talking about Teen Titans.
SCORE: 4/10
