Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Terror Titans # 1 (of 6)

By Koppy McFad
October 4, 2008 - 23:31

The 'legacy' villains who battled the Teen Titans are capturing teenaged superheroes and forcing them to fight to the death for the entertainment of the Dark Side Club.

This is a grim and gritty book that tries too hard to impress the readers by showing how badazz the characters are. Aside from the fact that the plot of this story was cribbed from a JSA book that appeared several years ago, the creators add some teenage angst with the Terror Titans squabbling among themselves. Adding extra tension to the story is the Ravager, a former Teen Titan who has gone over to the "dark side."

This is actually a cross over with FINAL CRISIS but this just gives the book an even more complicated back story than is necessary. It is almost like this book is trying desperately to link itself to the big, main event that dominates DC Comics right now. But it just leaves the title looking like an afterthought in the greater scheme of things.

The 'protagonist' of the story is Ravager who is eager for a fight, either with the rest of the Terror Titans or with the innocent pawns of the Dark Side Club. The problem is, that the character is so unlikeable, it is hard for anyone to care about her. Did the DC editors think that people would be struck by her murderous attitude that they would embrace her the way they have embraced Wolverine or other killer heroes? Well, they are going to have to do better.

The rest of her fellow Terror Titans are even more contemptible, despite some attempts to give them some personality and back story of their own. So we are left with a book where the readers look forward to having some real heroes show up and stomp the Terror-ists into the mud.

Maybe there is some sort of redemption that will be achieved before the end of the story. More likely, we will be left with a dangling plotline that will be settled in the pages of the TEEN TITANS about six months later. At any rate, Ravager is already complicit in the death of one teen superheroine so it is hard to see how she can be redeemed at this point.

 The art is powerful, well-framed and captures the sordidness and violence of the story well. Of course, the story is purely sordid and violent so there is not much more to capture.

Oh, a few minor superheroes get killed off, just to shock us. The death list so far includes "Molecule,' the teen version of the Atom and 'Fever,' a once-charming character from the John Arcudi version of the Doom Patrol. Guess she had to die since the TITANS writers don't know how to write charming characters. 

 

 

Rating: 5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12