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Review Date: 05/08/2009
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Teen
Titans #70
Publisher: DC Comics
Sean McKeever: Writer
Joe Bennett: Pencils
Jack Jadson & Belardino Brabo: Inks
Rod Reis: Colors
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DC's Teen Titans comic book title is up to issue
#70 this month, a pretty solid run for any title these
days. In the past year I reviewed DC's
other long-running teenage-hero team title, Legion
Of Super Heroes, so I thought I'd give Teen Titans
a review and see how its currently holding-up.
Issue #70 is Part 3 of an ongoing multi-issue
story arc entitled "Deathtrap," and is scripted
by Sean McKeever with an art team of Joe Bennett,
Jack Jadson and Belardino Brabo.
I was hoping for good things with this title, which
I enjoyed very much back during its initial run in
the Silver Age, but unfortunately I was disappointed
for a few reasons. The main flaw of issue #70
is the plot, which I honestly can't summarize for
you. The best I can make of it is that some
foe sabotaged the Teen Titans aircraft, resulting
in an extended crashlanding sequence for the first
half of the story, followed by the Titans standing
around whining about the crash and bickering with
each other for the second half of the issue.
There is a clearer secondary sub-plot in which
one Teen Titan stands vigil over another comatose
Titan hoping that his friend recovers, but its a very
brief and passing storyline within this particular
issue.
You'll notice that I haven't named any of the Titans
so far in this review. That's because very few
of them are recognizable characters unless you're
a dedicated monthly reader of this comic title.
Combine that fact with McKeever's dialogue style in
which speakers rarely mention anyone's name and you've
got one confusing group of teen heroes. Many
DC and Marvel team titles give a boilerplate id summary
of the group members on page one of an issue.
Here, all we get is the statement "Since the days
Robin first appeared, teenaged heroes have gathered
together to take on evil and learn from each other
as the...Teen Titans." Note to DC: if you insist
on needlessly summarizing the basic bio
facts for Superman and Supergirl at the beginning
of each issue of their respective comics, the least
you can do is tell us who these less familiar folks
are in this title.
In sum, Teen Titans #70 is just down-right rambling
and confusing. Granted, I'm not a regular reader
of the title, but even dropping into Part 3 of an
ongoing story arc shouldn't lack this level of understanding,
of either the storyline or the team's basic membership. So
my advice is to skip this issue and if you're looking
for an understandable and enjoyable comic starring
a teen ensemble, pick-up a copy The Mighty Avengers-Dark Reign #24
that I reviewed last week, which features The Young
Avengers. At least that issue's writer,
Dan Slott, tells us who the characters are
and gives us a story that can be understood.
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Justice
Society Of America #26
Publisher: DC Comics
Geoff Johns: Writer
Dale Eaglesham: Pencils
Nathan Massengill: Inks
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Justice
Society Of America #26 is a landmark event, in
that its the last issue in this title written by the
renowned Geoff Johns. Johns jumpstarted the
return of the Justice Society in this current Volume
Three of the title back in 2006. For the uninitiated,
The Justice Society was actually the first superhero
team in comics history, created by DC back in 1940.
Johns brought the team back in this current run with
the premise that the Golden Age Flash, Green Lantern
and Wildcat recreated the team by adding a much younger
generation of new heroes to continue the Justice Society
tradition. The result over the past four years
has been the issuance of a very well-crafted and popular
comic series featuring this combination of old and
new generations of superheroes working together and
learning from each other's generational perspectives.
The plot of issue #26 centers around a surprise birthday
party for Stargirl, one of the teenaged members
of the group. While it may sound mundane as
the focus of a superheroe comic book story, its actually
the perfect story structure for Geoff Johns to give
us his goodbye to the title that he resurrected so
beautifully. Johns crafts a story that well-balances
involvement by all of the Justice Society members
and their extended friends and family. Within
the simple context of the party, everyone's personalities
are effectively featured. At times very moving
and heartfelt, at times funny and lighthearted, the
story is a wonderful tribute to both the Justice Society
and the concept of superheroe comics in general.
It struck me after I finished reading this issue that
Johns has produced something very unique with his
farewell issue, in that he combines modern-day storytelling
with a very old-fashioned warmth and characterization
of the Justice Society members that just isn't seen
in today's comic books. Without overanalyzing
it all, the combination of these throwback story features
with a modern-day situation just left me with a good,
satisfying feeling inside, that this is what superhero
comic books are supposed to be all about. This
isn't something that comes along every day in today's
comic world, so while I also recommend picking-up
the two or three graphic compilations of issues #1
through #25 that are available at That's Entertainment,
I urge you to read Justice Society of America #26
now, as Johns's goodbye effort also serves as
a wonderful introduction to his classic four-year
run on this premier comic book superhero team.
A quick final comment: check-out in the back of this
and other DC titles this month the five-page preview
for the return of Animal Man, with issue #1 in stores
on May 27th, as well as the one-page announcement
in the DC Nation column of the upcoming Wednesday
Funnies comic, an interesting DC experiment based
on the newspaper Sunday Funnies format.
This just in!
Good King Leonardo has proclaimed By Royal Decree
that we add some variety this week from our standard
superhero comic review fare with the classic literary
comic book review below:
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Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest was
for you to submit to us your favorite television cartoon
show, explaining why you like the show so much.
And our winner is (drumroll please)...Ray Loughlin III
with his submittal for the very popular show Sponge Bob
Squarepants. Ray writes that "I really enjoy this
cartoon because it is very funny. It is a different
kind of humor. You never know what will happen next
in the story." Ray mentions the many enjoyable supporting
characters on the show, adding that he thinks that Patrick
The Starfish is the funniest character on the show..."he
is a starfish and doesn't have a brain. So he really
says and does some really stupid things that keep me laughing."
An excellent choice of
a favorite show with a good explanation of why it is his
favorite. So congratulations, Ray, from the Bongo
Congo judging panel, and enjoy your $10.00 gift certificate
prize to That's Entertainment!
Stay tuned for an
upcoming new contest announcement in next week's column.
Happy comic book reading until then, and see you next
week right back Here In Bongo Congo!!!
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