Comic Stack 08/12/15 – Teen Titans Vol. 1: Blinded by the Light by Will Pfeifer, Kenneth Rocafort (Illustrator)

Genre: Supeheroes

Publisher: DC Comics (August 11, 2015)

Tiara’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this comic was provided to me by DC Comics. I would like to thank the author and the publisher for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.

Confession time. I’m a really huge fan of the Teen Titans cartoons in all incarnations, but I’ve never taken time out to actually read a Teen Titans comic. Well, I take that back. I might’ve read a couple of issues that were worked into a larger crossover plot, but I’ve never read a whole volume of their comics. So, I saw this as a huge opportunity for me to finally try the book. Even if I haven’t been too impressed with much of The New 52, I liked the idea of a fresh start with this comic. Besides, I was ready to meet the new Power Girl after she garnered so much buzz when she was initially unveiled.

This book was… Well, it definitely isn’t the worst thing I’ve read in The New 52 lineup. Right now, I’m reserving that exclusively for Harley Quinn’s book, which by the way, I still dislike. In this book, which is part one of a larger story, the gang–consisting of Red Robin (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Bunker (Miguel Barragan), Beast Boy (Garfield Logan), and introducing Raven, as well… herself–as they stop a series of attacks that are aimed at hurting a large science corporation known as S.T.A.R. which has a leader-type, Manchester Black, that tries to convey cool professionalism while he randomly appears throughout the story shirtless sporting a big Union Jack tattoo on his chest… seriously. Who does that?

Later in the story, they pick up a new teammate in the form of Tanya Spears who is the new Power Girl after the old Power Girl decided she was about to bounce back to her own earth. However, the world needs a Power Girl, so she passed her legacy on and even gave legal rights to Tanya to use the name, despite the fact that she’s not even in the same universe anymore.

While there was a large focus on the S.T.A.R. story line and what their motivations are, the story did take some downtime to allow us get to know our heroes a little better by having various vignettes appear throughout the book.

We learn that Miguel sparkles, is very vocal about LGBTQ people being treated as people, and seems to be giving in to some adrenaline rush that sees him becoming increasingly violent when dealing with situations.

Cassie is having a hard time dealing with her estranged mother who dislikes her poor career choice of being a hero. Also, there’s a gang of Wonder Girls roaming the streets attacking people when they aren’t stalking her. Despite Cassie seeming very connected, she didn’t realize there was a gang roaming the streets in her honor. They’ve even been on television, but her mother had to tell her they existed.

Raven meets her number one fan, Raven. No, not herself. Some girl in a band loves Raven. She wanted to be a hero, but realized she had no powers, so she started a band that  writes songs all about Raven, the real Raven, and decided that was the same thing as being a hero. That’s how superheroes work, right? Strange things happen when they try to combine Raven’s spells with music.

Tim is being Tim as usual. Before The New 52, I always said that Tim was the most like Batman in his intensity and skills. Turns out that still holds true in these new comics. He seems to be picking up some of Batman’s ego, as well, and just like Batman he seems to know everything ever.

Tanya shows up and explains how she became the new Power Girl and how the Teen Titans are doing this hero thing wrong. She packed a spare costume, y’know, just in case when she came to check them out.

Beast Boy is… Well, he’s… He’s working on learning more forms or something. He’s really just comedic relief in the book. This is pretty much his whole function other than some recon. 

I thought it was good to have these, but some portions of these story felt a little too much like an “And so…” blase type of stories, especially Tanya’s, which really lacked the emotional depth that she was trying to get the Titans to understand. They also could take readers out of the larger story a little abruptly, and some of it felt blown out of proportion. What I mean is, yeah, Red Robin has an ego, but it’s treated like this thing that is already out of control when that’s not how I read it or I didn’t feel the story really conveyed that. And there were these odd moments where I’m not sure if Wonder Girl was feministing or what when she randomly dropped lines about “woman’s work” and leaving the boys to think about what Tanya said. It just felt a little like it came out of left field. However, these things still added components to their characters that will hopefully fill them out later on.

Overall, I can’t say I’m impressed, but it didn’t let me down like some other books have, probably because I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. It doesn’t make me want to rush out and buy Teen Titans, but I could see myself picking  up volumes as they became available. I can say I loved the art. About halfway through the book, though, it started to look a little different, as if less care had been taken with some of the later panels. It was still nice art, but some panels just started to looked a little rushed and messy at times. It was an okay book. That’s about the best way I can describe it. It wasn’t terrible. It was great. It was interesting enough to keep my attention, and it didn’t turn me off to more stories about the team. At the end of the day, what more can you ask for from someone as picky as I am?

Also, Cassie’s mom was asking the real questions in this book. Because what the hell, Manchester Black, you can’t keep showing up trying to be professional with no shirt on with your Union Jack tattoo (DC still thinks they’re punny, I see) whenever you feel like it. Why is Cassie’s mom the only one who points out that this is a problem?