At first glance, I was a little leery of this story. Sure, it was written by Sholly Fisch, and you should know by now that I’m a fan of the guy. Still, another story about movies? Returning the Titans to that well yet again? I’m kind of ready for something new.
Thankfully, this story is better and funnier than I thought it would be. It’s not a home run, but I had some fun with it.
Flipping expectations on its head, the story is about the Titans making a movie from behind the camera, not in front of it. Frustrated with their (futile) attempts to stay in the public spotlight after being the stars of their own film, the members strike out and get different careers in the industry.
It’s a funny enough concept, and two successive panels won me over after a few pages of relative indifference.
The “best boy” joke is so silly that I couldn’t help but laugh, and Starfire’s “loan shark” gag had me rolling. They’re two completely different types of humor, yet they’re indicative of the types of jokes that Teen Titans Go! excels at: silliness and sharp wit.
As I said, the team members each go off on their own and get various behind the scenes jobs in the film industry. Beast Boy becomes a stunt “man,” for instance, and Cyborg becomes the lighting department. Raven becomes an agent and uses her… let’s say “influence” to negotiate the best deals for her clients, which is pretty funny too. My favorites were Starfire and Robin, though, as the Tamaranean princess becomes a dialogue coach:
And Robin becomes an “auteur,” with films that are precisely as incomprehensible and pretentious as you’d think.
Those two panels appear in succession in the story, and no, they don’t make any more sense there either.
There are some funny, sharp insights in the script with a few laugh out loud moments, but it takes a little too long to get moving and it kind of just… ends. There’s not a real resolution to the story, or an actual conflict to drive it forward. It’s just a montage of funny scenes, and while it works on that level, it doesn’t quite achieve what it could.
From a visual standpoint it’s about on par with most installments of the series. Jeremy Lawson is a frequent collaborator on the title and his exaggerated style generally fits with the tone. That’s true here, per usual, and he utilizes some good sequential storytelling. His best gag is the nonsense during Robin’s film, which is Barney Gumbleian in intent if not execution.
While this is a bit of a step down after the past few installments, it’s still a good time. There’s some funny commentary and some great sequential storytelling, so it’s good even if it’s never quite great.
Recommended if:
- You like Teen Titans Go!
- You want some fairly pointed satire about the film industry.
Overall: It takes a while to get anywhere and kind of peters out toward the end, but a large chunk of this story is pretty great. Seeing the Titans take on various jobs in the film industry is pretty funny, and there are some sharp lines sprinkled throughout. It’s not the best installment of the series in recent months, but it’s fun enough on its own.
SCORE: 6.5/10
