4.13.2008

Titans (whatever) #1

TITANS #1
written by Judd Winick
art by Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund

Okay...
When this book was first announced I was kind of excited. I mean, THE NEW TEEN TITANS has always been one of my all-time favorite comics. I love these characters and having them come back together was just too much to ask. Even though the previous TITANS revival kinda fell apart, I still wanted to love that one, too.
Judd Winick wasn't really a stumbling block for me. I know a lot of people on the internet seem to hate him, but he's written some good stuff (GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY, the first couple years of THE OUTSIDERS) along with the bad (TITANS/YOUNG JUSTICE: GRADUATION DAY, TITANS EAST SPECTACULAR). So, I wasn't too worried.
Ian Churchill's art on the other hand had me a little trepidatious. I just don't get it most of the time. He can draw a pretty man on occassion, but on the whole it just does nothing for me. But I read the interviews, and Winick seemed like he was excited and got the group. So I thought it might me all right.
I guess I was kinda wrong. This book just doesn't make any sense. I could go into more detail, but Troy Brownfield over at Newsarama has pretty much taken all the words out of my mouth.
Go read his review and then come on back. I'll wait.

Hmm, hmmm. La la la la...

Oh, hi! Okay: First of all, I don't hate it quite that much. But it's close.
What is the timeline on this thing? Are they all attacked at once? They couldn't get ahold of Dick to let him know what was happening, because his comm was cut while he was fighting. And how long was his fight that they got ahold of Batman and he got to Dick before Dick was done? Or did the other attacks happen before Dick's? And how did they get away.
Especially Donna. She was out in space with Kyle, gets attacked by some tentacle thing, and then has time to get free, come back to earth and change clothes. All the while that Dick is running around with glass sticking out of his neck. !!??? And where did Kyle go? He was a Titan once. He did get attacked same time as Donna. Were they just like "Okay, see ya later!" !!???
About the only thing I didn't hate that most people seem to have a problem with is the return of Trigon. I love him. I hope he turns out to be cool. But really, this should have been a lot more Raven oriented for Trigon's return...
All in all, there were some highlights in the artwork :). However if these weren't my favorite characters, I probably wouldn't be back. But I have to keep reading to see if maybe it gets better. Please.

And now for something completely different: Here's a review of the book from an alternate universe. I really, truly cannot believe we read the same book. I so wish I could love it as much as this guy did.

7 comments:

  1. I'm officially dreading this already. I won't get mine until next week, but that's fine. Why does Judd have to be so bad when he's bad? I love GA/BC. I don't get it.

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  2. You, above anybody else, know how much I love the New Teen Titans gang. Hell if not for them we wouldn't even know each other!!!
    This book just didn't live up to what it should've been.
    And it really surprises me because GA/BC is one of my favorite reads right now.

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  3. Wow, that's a really dramatic panel of Gar turning into a flying squirrel. I don't really care for the art in this, but I am happy to see Gar drawn as he should be, a little bit buff and very hairy. I really hated it when Gar was suddenly being drawn like he was 16 again.

    I was wondering if you'd like the new book or not. Hope it gets better for you. This still has to be better than the Gar has a mullet/Raven is an evil stripper era though, right?

    Mike

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  4. Not a fan of the muttonchops, but Gar's body is definitely drawn the way it should be. And I only included the transformation panel because his shorts came off (I'm such a perv), lol!
    Naked Wally was pretty hot, too.

    And why a damn squirrel? They don't really fly. They glide. Wouldn't it have been more advantageous to turn into something that could've gotten away a lot quicker/easier? Like, I dunno, a fly or something?

    I really hope this turns out better than mullet!Gar and stripper!Raven. But we'll have to wait and see.

    Well, no it couldn't possibly get that bad.

    I hope...

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  5. I read that major spoilers review also and had the same reaction as you: how could he have read Titans #1 and ended up giving it five stars?

    I just don't understand. i guess he's just one example of why something like Hulk #1 by Loeb does so well when excellent comic books like Blue Beetle flounder in the cancellation danger zone.

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  6. As silly as the flying squirrel is, I'll never forget the chuckle I got when I saw the cover for Teen Titans #1 by Johns/McKone paying homage to New Teen Titans #1. Only instead of Gar turning into a tiger, he's turning into this cute little monkey just charging at the reader. I knew right then and there that this time the gloves were off:)

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  7. J - I've actually found a couple other positive reviews, too. Maybe my (our) expectations were too high. And I'm usually very easy to please. But this just didn't make much sense to me. I don't know...

    Mike - Cutesy for a non-story related cover I can deal with. But when someone's being attacked by (I'm guessing, since none of the attacks were made clear) an avalanche of lava...why would you choose the form of a squirrel to escape!?

    It just don't add up!

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