February 14th is approaching quickly, and love is in the air around Titans Tower. Robin, ever the lovesick Boy Wonder, seeks refuge in the tower’s (only, it seems) bathroom to try and put to paper the perfect words to describe his love of Starfire.
It goes about as well as you’d expect™.
Fearing unbearable embarrassment at his friends discovering his awful, ambiguously plagiarized poetry, Robin stuffs all of his sonnets and such down the toilet.
And flushes.
You know where this is going.
Yes, the Titans get to take a little venture underwater, and it’s super-duper gross. To that end, kids will probably think this is hilarious, what with toilet humor always being hilarious and what have you. Being that I’m a mature, cultured grown man who only sometimes finds toilet humor funny, I couldn’t get into it.
If the concept itself isn’t that funny, some of the dialogue is. I found myself laughing at quite a few lines, and as much as I love Robin, it’s always funny seeing this one as the butt of jokes. Jeremy Lawson’s work is fine as always, too. His characters are unique enough tgat it feels like he has his own voice, yet he imbues them with characteristics that are recognizable from the show. Plus, his toilet water environment looks appropriately disgusting and gag-worthy, so… success?
Look, this book has no pretenses whatsoever. It knows exactly what it is. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s always unabashedly itself. If nothing else, your kid will love it.
Recommended if:
- You’re five.
Overall: Do you like toilet humor? Fantastic, this is your book. While I can usually give Teen Titans Go! a pass, this was just a bit too juvenile to work for me. While it looks pretty good and there are a few funny lines, I guess today I needed to be an adult and not laugh at toilet jokes. It feels kind of terrible, I’m not gonna lie.
SCORE: 5/10
