Jul
14
2017
0

Titans #13 Review

Written by: Dan Abnett

Art by: V Ken Marion

Publisher: DC Comics

The latest arc of the Titans ends a little uneven. Recent arc deals with adding another member to the team, and that is mostly fine except there is a lot of usual storyline tropes being used here.

Abnett’s familiarity with the characters still shines here which is really a saving grace of this issue, and whenever we have that dynamic book works on all cylinders. Problem here arises from repeated explanations and what the main mission of the arc is. We are told what the Titans are there for at least four times in this book and there really was no need for that. The final action sequence is adequate however it does seem there was a ton of grand standing by the villain which has also lowered the stakes of what is going on as well.

V Ken Marion takes over the art duties from Brett Booth and most recently Kenneth Rocafort and the art change mid arc is also very problematic, as the art styles of each of the said artists is quite different. Marion’s art is very much in line with Booth however certainly different enough to be distracting. His action sequences are fantastic however, especially the scenes with Wally as he is dealing with his new reality.

This particular issue also ends with a cliffhanger that could be seen from mile away, and even if the script flips on it, it would still be very generic way to end an issue. Abnett’s strength was always with the way that our heroes interact with each other, with a bond of friendship and family, however this particular issue has a lot of repeated lines of dialogue and overall sense that for the first time in this book that the writer cannot pick a direction for the book.

Hopefully this is only temporary, as Titans was a relatively solid book since the Rebirth started and once we move onto a different arc perhaps this will all be cleared up, but as it stands Titans #13 is the weakest issue in the series by far.