Titans # 1 review from DC Comics written by Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott

There’s a lot of stuff going on here in the first issue but I wanted to first write about how Taylor and co was positively stepping in the right direction towards making the Titans into the new Justice League after the events of Dark Crisis aka Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.

We all know that the League would return eventually but the timing here under the Dawn of DC banner is absolutely great.

It’s also a pay off to the long game they introduced back in Dark Crisis when young Jon Kent created his own Justice League in response to Dick Grayson’s inaction to form a new one and deal with the threats. And because he saw what just happened in that book to that team, Nightwing took his sweet time and reformed the Titans now operating on a bigger scale and acting as the Justice League.

If there’s a small gripe I would have about this is it sorely lacks the “legacy” element for the team that could have really made them more believable as the premier super team in the DC Universe and thats the lack of legacy characters aka the sidekicks who kick started the Teen Titans years ago.

What we do have is a cohesive team able to respond and deliver precise actions orchestrated by Nightwing himself. Throughout the issue we get small doses of what makes each member powerful in their own right without the need to be this ultra massive powered being. Just the right amount of superpower can still do significant good and I liked this in the book.

To say that you need to read Dark Crisis to get a better handle in things is too much but if you do have the time that book has significance here like the moments between Gar and Raven who has been badly injured during the crossover event; or the appearance of Peacemaker secretly working for Amanda Waller and whatever agenda she has right now.

Of course if you read the finale for Dark Crisis you’ll know that Waller is up to no good again and she has both a male and a female Peacemaker working for here.

Aside from the Raven and Beast Boy subplot, there’s also the “murder mystery” that they opened the book revealing a founding member of the team to have died right inside their new tower in Bludhaven. Unfortunately we spend less time on that end and more on the attack by Titano as well as the Raven/Gar romance.

All good though as readers are not hampered with too much plots and we have a cohesive story that gives us how the team as a whole and the members deal with these types of crisis.

The art by Nicola Scott is also very very nice to look at. I re-read the book a number of times because of the art alone. This is definitely going to be one of my pick ups when they release a trade paperback collection or the first volume.

Titans # 1 Review Verdict:

10

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