Teen Titans – Titans Around the World

Teen Titans – Titans Around the World, by Geoff Johns & Tony Daniels, DC Comics

DC FALL into a Marvel book collection neurosis with this one; a seeming abject fear to explain and put in perspective to the general book purchaser what this might all be about. Kid sidekick superheroes in a team framework, sure. And if we’re familiar with the scenario from times gone by, we’re keyed in for where this might be going, but to head us off into an epic adventure without outlining what has gone before (Stating that it happens after “The tragic events of the Infinite Crisis” means nothing without putting that in context).

It takes a while for even those of us brought up on the original Titans, or even subsequent versions, to get a fix on where this is going; partly that’s because this reader couldn’t stop tutting over all the new versions of characters, or slips in continuity as recalled by him, and then wondering: did he really care?

It’s an uphill battle as fights ensue and you try to piece together who’s who and where their particular back story fits into the current scenario, but here goes: Cyborg’s been brought back to life (did you know he was dead?) but Robin (which one, you say) can’t do the same for Superboy (eh?), it does however bring Wonder Girl back into the fold (she’s blond so looks more like the old Earth 2 Fury, but fans will know how this all ties in I guess) and subsequently results in an emotional dalliance the characters would prefer to forget. The Doom Patrol are back, and, I think, in a way that could lead to interesting possibilities. Villains come and go as other past kid heroes flit in and out and some are revealed to be baddies themselves, all in a search for Raven and ultimately a resolution that tries to say something on the subject of friendship.

There are some nice moments but you need to have been following this series for a while not to get a headache piecing the characters together.