We're still rolling through the first
storyline in the Teen Titans series from the early 00's. Or aughts.
Ugh, what an ugly word. I'd have went with the zeroes, personally,
that sounds way cooler than the aughts. That sounds like something a
toad would say or something. This is what happens when people don't
ask my opinion of the important things! Speaking of which, here's
the final part of that Titans story.
Teen Titans #5(Jan. 2004)
Summary: The Young Justice Titans lay
the literal smackdown on Deathstroke's candy ass, with Superboy
preparing to finish the baddie off. However, Jericho manages to jump
out of Deathstroke's body and into Superboy's. Superboy goes on a
bit of a rampage, which allows the older “Teen” Titans to show
up. This leads to Jericho jumping into Kid Flash, followed by
Starfire, before Raven randomly arrives on the scene. Raven
absorbs(I guess) Jericho, thus ending his threat. She spouts a bunch
of nonsense(with I'm sure tons more coming when we get to her
storyline...) before she is forcibly teleported away.
Yeah, I ask myself that same question often while reading these comics...
Why did we need 2 panels for the kiss? I mean, I totally got what was happening in that first panel...
Summary: I was getting into this issue
with the Jericho body jumping stuff. You know, wondering how the
Titans would defeat him. However, we get a literal Deus Ex Machina
here as Raven inexplicably pops up, gets rid of Jericho and
disappears as quickly... Now THAT is some lazy-ass writing! I mean,
she literally shows up, solves the problem and leaves! So yeah, that
was a letdown to what was a pretty good fight. From there we get our
first Wonder Girl/Superboy kiss of the series, as well as Bart sort
of/kind of explaining why he was Kid Flash now, “Well, I read a lot
of books, and don't want people to think I'm impulsive anymore, so
viola!” Impulse is one of my all time favorite characters, but the
wild change in Bart's attitude doesn't bug me much because the two
Barts are SO different I consider them completely different
characters. Come the next issue we're going to get a JLA appearance,
followed by, I'm guessing, that Raven story... And THAT is something
I am dreading!
OMG, you guys are back! Welcome! Dystopia indeed! I'm still reading my 40 or so titles a month, and the only one I'd say you might want to read is "The Wild Storm" by Ellis. Otherwise, stay in the past! Looking forward to seeing what you guys unearth!
ReplyDeleteHey JW, it's legitimately good to hear from you! I don't know how guys like you and JT do it with the current books! You're a stronger soul than I am... And not only reading them, but blogging as much as you do about them! It's damn impressive. Quick question about Wild Storm, is it set in the actual DCU?
DeleteI was just randomly looking through my reading list, which is sadly filled with disontinued blogs, and saw your post about this blog. Exciting! Honestly, I think I have a huge cull coming. The events have been so bad lately, and I just can't deal. I've been reading old Amazing Spider-Mans to cope. On Wild Storm, no, it's its own universe. They made that pretty clear with the second issue, when Henry Bendix appears totally different from the way he appeared in the DCnU. So, it really is an updating of the Wildstorm universe.
DeleteHA! Yeah, I saw some of the dredge you have to work through over at your blog... I honestly don't know what Marvel is thinking half the time... At least DC seems to be trying to make up for the last however many years of nonsense they put everybody through with the awful New 52, but Marvel just seems painfully disconnected from their fanbase. JT's been selling me on a few DC books, while everything I've seen and heard about Marvel is just the pits.
DeleteThanks for the info on Wild Storm. I couldn't really tell where it was set in your post about the first issue. I was always a bit of a sucker for Grifter and the Authority guys... I may wait for the first trade with this and see if it's my cup of tea.
JW?! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes! Hey dude!
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of sore eyes.... I hated this issue SO much. The fight seemed so meh, because if I'm Jericho and I'm in the body of Superboy or Starfire, why would you EVER change bodies?! Superboy should've been able to crush the titans with ease, especially after Jericho had done it as Slade... I mean, he didn't have full control but still!
Also, Cassie comes off looking terrible here. She uses the lasso she doesnt want, she reveals that she's been gone for DAYS and hasn't checked in with her mom once, then she's surprised for some reason that Wonder Woman has tracked her down! And I could've done without the page long exposition of Conner lives on a farm, blah blah blah, stuff that doesn't really matter. How about you guys talk about how fucking weird it was Raven showed up or Jericho wasn't dead or Cyborg re-routes circuits from one side of his head to the other?!
See! I don't get it!! I swear I really liked this series back in the day! But I'm totally with you here, this issue was the shits! Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't just stay as Superboy if you're Jericho... Or hell, become Kid Flash and run away if you don't want to face the Titans Together!
DeleteBut Superman used to like on a farm when he was a kid in the 1950's, so it's SUPER important!! Yeah, I didn't even really think much about Cassie just leaving and not telling her mom anything. It's weird, because this series, and the next(New 52 one) really made Cassie bitchy and unlikable in their beginnings, which I never really understood. I didn't hate her in Young Justice, but here she'd infinitely hateable.
And one more thing, I can not stress enough how much I hated Raven popping up and taking Jericho away..... That was the laziest writing I have seen in some time... If you can't think of a way for the Teen Titans to defeat Jericho, then don't write the story!!! Just do a Deathstroke story without Jericho! Raven showing up and leaving was one of the worst things I've read in some time...
Hey, JT! Glad to see the band's back together!
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