Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Teen Titans #1


Damian is going old school Marv Wolfman with his Teen Titans. He's bringing together a bunch of young heroes so they can all deal with his family issues.

In Marv Wolfman's Teen Titans of the 80s, the Titans fought Raven's father, Jericho's father, Changeling's father, Starfire's sister, Wonder Girl's godparents and eventually, as Troia, her son, and all of Dick's Batdaddy issues. Cyborg had some pretty cool grandparents and his father was a dick but I don't think he actively tried to destroy the Teen Titans. He probably had an experiment or two that got out of control though! It's hard to remember the Cyborg issues because he's one of the most boring characters ever created. Even Marv Wolfman became so bored with him that Cyborg spent about four years as a brain-dead, remote-controlled lump of metal. Although that probably had more to do with the then editor, Jon Peterson, who was trying to turn the Titans into the X-men in the 90s. Anyway, now it looks like Damian has put together a team to battle his granddad! Just like old times!

Since Benjamin Percy is writing this series, should we start a pool for how long until he tells us that racism is bad? I've got my money on this first issue!

This issue begins with Damian celebrating his 13th birthday with Alfred and a rabid bat loose in the kitchen. Maybe it's just another of his pets. He probably named it Dadsniff. The sniff is because it always makes him cry when he calls it dad and then he didn't want people to know he was crying so he said the sniff was part of the name. Most of the things I own have sniff in their name!

Percy's characterization of Damian is pathetic! He's showing his emotions and thanking Alfred and enjoying vanilla and strawberry cake! What the hell is this?! Percy had better not turn Damian into Tim Drake Lite or I'll have a stroke! I mean another stroke! I've probably had two dozen since The New 52 began and I decided it was a good idea to read them all. Most of those were caused by Grifter and Ann Nocenti!

Oh! I have an aside! I've never played a single Final Fantasy game and after seeing the commercials for Final Fantasy XV, I'm super glad I never have! All of the characters look like major douchebags!

So the birthday was in the past. The comic book begins in the present where Damian has all of his future friends strung up so he can tell them that he wished to have a superhero team and now they have to help make that wish come true. Most of them will probably be all, "Sure! I'm not mad at you at all for kidnapping me and ruining my life!" Although Starfire might be a little bit upset because she has a terrible temper. Also because she was trying to save some people enslaved by human traffickers when Damian nabbed her.

Since the future Teen Titans don't seem to be angry enough at Damian, he decides to insult them for a bit. He's really proving to be his father's child.

Damian smugly tells each future Teen Titan the reason he was able to catch them all so easily. He's wrong on every account. The reason he was able to catch them because he ambushed them when they weren't suspecting an ambush. Any supervillain worth their death laser knows that you can always defeat the hero in the first issue of a story because they aren't suspecting trouble! It's practically the only way superhero stories begin!


It actually wasn't insightful at all. But Percy nailed how his writing is super annoying!

Damian introduces the kids to his pet Goliath. While he does that, I'm busy wondering if it was wrong to masturbate to Starfire's comic book all those times now that she's about to be a member of the Teen Titans. She's probably twenteen, right? Is that a number that doesn't make me a sex pervert?

Starfire destroys the electro-shackles imprisoning all of the future Teen Titans so that they can get their asses kicked by Damian again. Just like he wants! I'm sure he takes no pride in defeating them all when they weren't suspecting his attack. But he'll definitely take pleasure in destroying them not that he's made them all angry.

Let me take a moment to say this fight that I haven't read yet should end in Damian whimpering naked on the floor as Kid Flash throws his clothes on the lawn and pours bleach on them. Also Damian should have many third degree burns, cobra bites, and severe psychological trauma from a trip through Raven's soulself. But Damian can't lose because Batman never loses and Damian is basically Tiny Batman. I mean, Batman loses sometimes! But he never completely loses! And he definitely never loses when it's a battle against other heroes. Oh, and when the Justice League have to lose in the first issue of a five issue story, Batman is always the last one standing. I wonder if any time somebody says Batman in a meeting at DC, they have to take a break so everybody can change their underwear.

After the fight which consists mainly of Beast Boy getting punched into an octopus, Kid Flash catching that octopus, Raven putting Goliath to sleep, and Starfire shooting one starbolt at Robin and missing, Robin decides to give them the Teen Titan Leader Speech.


Strong?! They didn't do anything as a team! Unless he's just talking about Starfire's crotch from behind game. That really is strong!

Damian declares that they're the new Teen Titans! And Garfield is all, "What the fuck?! If you want a team, you should ask your friends!" And then Doc Holliday is all, "I don't." I mean, Damian is all, "I don't have any friends!" And then everybody is all, "Oh no! Batsniff! Batsniff! Boo hoo!"

After Damian declares he has no friends and he's a virgin and he's a little bit into smothering bats and hiding them around the mansion, he explains how thirteen is supposed to be the worst year of your life. Is that true? Who told him that?! Was Alfred ranting and bullshitting because he was drunk on cooking sherry during Damian's birthday party? I think I had my first major crush when I was thirteen. Before that, I had a few minor crushes like Grace Bamberger and the girl in the Elfquest t-shirt.


And you know the best thing to do with a fist!

It doesn't matter what you thought the best thing to do with your fist is because it was probably way more perverse than what I was thinking. Unless nothing is more perverse than anal fisting?

Damian nailed his characterization of the previous incarnations of the Teen Titans. I'll even allow, being that this is Rebirth, that he's talking about Dick's old team too! Boy what loser jerks those guys were! And three of the members of this team were on that team!

Everybody sort of agrees to be part of the team because Beast Boy likes having friends to joke around with and get foot massages from (apparently), and Raven is super emo and lonely and only pretends to not like hanging out with her friends, and Kid Flash needs to find a place to fit into this universe, and Starfire loves to fuck. So they're all on board!

The story has an epilogue which covers the end of the day on Damian's 13th birthday. It's the day he becomes Tiny Batman but instead of a bat crashing through the window, he lets the bat trapped in the house out. It's symbolic or something! It's like he's pushed his father away to become a man! Except Batman is never around so he Damian had to do this whole symbolic thing instead of the usual thing young boys do where they slit their father's throat and then fuck their mother in his congealing blood.

Oh! There's a double epilogue in this issue! The other epilogue shows graduation day in the League of Assassins. Ra's al Ghul has trained up an elite squad of five assassins who will hunt down the Teen Titans. They're called the Demon's Fist and you all definitely now know the best thing to do with a fist!

The Review!
This is shaping up to be another Teen Titans book where the Titans do nothing heroic at all! They simply gather together to save themselves and emerge from the shadows of their parents (or grandparents (or sisters (or children from the future))). I don't mind so much because this group of Teen Titans has Damian instead of Tim Drake. That automatically makes it better and more interesting and way sexier even though I don't find Damian sexy at all. It's just that Tim Drake was negative sexy. I didn't learn that racism was bad this issue, so I guess I already lost the pool. I'd feel better about the loss if Batcow had made an appearance. When is Kid Flash going to find out that he's got to take care of a cow as part of his duties?

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