REVIEW: No more ‘Teen’ with ‘Titans #1′

The Team is back and they’re doing the best they can to get back their history. TITANS #1 starts off with Wally recounting what happened in the DC Universe: Rebirth #1, as this series would directly tackle the whole reason why Rebirth came to be. We get to see the tandem between the Titans that fans have missed since The New 52 started. The teasing and jokes about each other are back. We see that their friendship wasn’t stained despite the altering of their memories. The main focus though is getting Wally’s memories sorted out by Lilith. But there’s a problem, one that we have seen in the Rebirth one-shot.

[CHECK OUT… REVIEW: Rebirth again in ‘DC Universe: Rebirth #1′]

Linda Park.

Despite the fact that Linda has forgotten who Wally is, he still loves her and considers her as his lightning rod. He can’t stop thinking about her which makes it hard for Lilith to see through Wally’s memories while he disappeared. Linda, despite not remembering still feels connected to him and plans on finding out who he really is. Sadly she also thinks he might be a villain of sort. Hopefully, love would find the way as Wally wouldn’t be complete without the love of his life.

One of my favorite parts would be the discussion between Roy and Donna after a nicely done action scene. We see Roy telling Donna how he knows about the ‘darker’ side of things as he was once a heroin addict. It’s once again refreshing to see these two, who were on and off dating each other when ever the Titans were reformed, discuss the mistakes Roy have done in the past and how he regrets it. It makes you hope that maybe they’ll get back together again as that is one of the most reoccurring topics in the past Titans run which will probably give you a bit of nostalgic feel to it.

Dick Grayson skills as a leader is once again shown and it’s pretty nice to see he’s still good at it. Makes you remember that Nightwing is quite a team player that hasn’t been shown much in his New 52 runs.

The villain for the series is also introduced in this comic. Abra Kadabra is back and he claims to be the reason Wally disappeared. How true this is, we do not know yet but it’s intriguing to see what really his role is in the whole story.

The pacing was nice, if not a bit fast. Dan Abnett had managed to capture each of the character’s personality nicely along with their personal interaction. It’s a bit distracting though that Roy calls each of the member with their surnames, but can be chalked off as an effect of their altered history. Though started of lightly as we are shown how the team bounced back into friendship well, it still had depth and emotions that I would hope to see more. The plot is a bit shaky, but could be forgivable due to it establishing the story line.

Brett Booth paneling was to die for. The flow was certainly interactive in a way which makes one remember how the old Titan comics was paneled but still has the modern style of doing it. It keeps each pages alive and fun to read. Though there are parts that seem to be a bit sloppy, they are pretty consistent. Andrew Dalhouse’s colors are vibrant and gives the pages more life. It gives the tone that despite the series to be serious as it’ll deal with the main Rebirth plotline, it’ll still be light and fun as most of the Titans run in the past. Norm Rapmund’s ink gave each pages a more powerful impact to the readers. Each of them really pops out, especially a particular part with Donna.

In short, Titans #1 brings back a lot of legacy and worth a read for those Titans fans out there. It’s still messy, the plot though hinted is still not fully grasped and it’s still all over the place but it’s getting there. Couldn’t really fault it much as we are being reintroduced to more than one character with possible character developments in the future in just a few pages. It’s very promising and quite exciting to see how the story will play out in the future.